54 THE PLANT WORLD. 



settled iTpon ns after passing" that portion of Colorado, in the 

 vicinitj of Leadville, where the railroads must attain an eleva- 

 tion of ahont 10,000 feet. 



Again ohservation gave place to sleep, and morning found 

 us in the alkali desert of eastern Utah, which is no more unin- 

 viting to the agriculturalist than it is interesting to the botanist. 

 Its array of such halophjtes or xerophytes as the yuccas, cacti, 

 greasewoods, seablights and sage brush is a revelation to the 

 botanist who has hitherto seen these plants only in herbaria. 

 There was no grass visible, at least in rapid passing; and the 

 vegetation was scattered over the dry and wonderfully carved 

 clay and alkali so scantily as to scarcely obscure it at any point, 

 wliile large areas were apparently bare of vegetation. The 

 plants collected or seen while the train made short stops east of 

 the AVasatch Mountains were an AfripJc.r, probably A. arcjentea, 

 Liipimis argopliyUus, another Atriplex collected in young con- 

 dition but perhaps .1. volutans, the greasewood ( Sarcohatus 

 verrmculatus) , spike grass (DisticJilis spicata) and Agropyron 

 occidentaJe, the first few on the higher grounds and the others 

 on lower ground, usually along the streams, where Populus an- 

 gusti folia also grows more or less successfully. The surface 

 was wonderfully carved, apparently by water, with here a flat 

 surface, then beautiful carvings like roclies moutonnees, there 

 high buttes and mesas, usually bounded on all sides toward the 

 top by hard rocks. Perhaps the most wonderful scenery of this 

 region is where the Book Cliffs are seen to the north of the Rio 

 Grande Railway and the snow-capped tops of Mounts Wass 

 and Peale thirty or forty miles to the south and rising more 

 than 12,000 feet above sea level. 



As one approaches the Wasatch Mountains, the desert con- 

 ditions become gradually less severe and bunch grasses and 

 scrubby conifers appear quite commonly; while in the valleys 

 are seen luxuriant irrigated fields of trees, especially poplars 

 and willows. Also yuccas are seen for the first time in Utah, 

 and lichens, which were so scarce in the dryer portions of the 

 desert as to escape notice entirely in rapid passage, are seen 



