52 



THE PLAXT WORLD. 



Figure 12. Bouteloua oVigosiachya formation near Colorado Springs. _ The most 



prominent plant is Yucca g'lauca. Artemisia frigida gives the silvery 



appearance in the distance. 



were growing sparsely. Here we made a stop of nearly an 

 hour, and the writer took a rapid survey of the vegetation, 

 noting the cacti, some of them three or four feet high, and 

 collecting such x^rophytes as Yucca angiiMi folia, AtripJc.v con- 

 fcrfifolia. Gaum coccinea, Gaura parviflora, what was taken 

 to Ive a sjiecies of Tetradymia and a tliistle, probably Cnicus 

 7}cIsonii. The soil was clay for the most part and was colored 

 white in places by alkali, and yet in this desert, as well as west- 

 ward in Colorado, were seen numerous irrigated orchards and 

 fields of grass, alfalfa, corn and other crops. 



Passing westward from Pueblo along the valley of the 

 Arkansas river, one views the same general species forming the 

 plant population, but the country becomes more broken with 

 mesas and mountains visible in every direction. One sees 



