110 THE PLANT WORLD 



were collected about the sources of the Canadian, by Dr. James, in Long's 

 Expedition ; but they were not described in my account of his plants. 

 The root, according to Dr. James, is annual, producing numerous thick 

 prostrate, but not twining stems, which are two feet or more in length. 

 The leaves are from two to four inches long, acute at each end, strongly 

 veined and somewhat coraceous. Peduncles an inch or more in length ; 

 those toward the extremity of the branches only 1-flowered ; the lower 

 ones bearing 2,3, and sometimes 4 flowers, which are nearly the size of 

 those of calystegia sepium, and of a purplish color. Sepals appressed, 

 about five lines long. Corolla campanulate-funnel form, the tube much 

 longer than the calyx. Stamens inserted near the base of the corolla ; 

 filaments villous at the base ; anthers oblong-linear, large. Style as long 

 as the stamens ; stigma 2-lobed ; the lobes capitate. Ovary 2-celled, 

 with two ovules in each cell." 



This species was again collected by Lieut. Col. W. H. Emory, be- 

 tween the middle of July and the middle of August, 1846, along the 

 upper part of the Arkansas and head waters of the Canadian, " " between 

 longitude 99° and 103° i' * * * between latitudes 38 and 36." 

 This Canadian River must not be confused with the one visited by Lieu- 

 tenant Long and Dr. James, for it is about 200 miles farther south. Dr. 

 Torrey, in "Appendix No. 2" of the report on Lieutenant Emory's 

 Reconnaissance, published in 1848, amends his former views by stating — 



" The stems are often erect, about two feet high, and of a bushy ap- 

 pearance. From the appearance of the specimens, I should suppose the 

 plant were a perennial, but according to Dr. James it is an annual." 



With this he figures on Plate XI a flowering branch, pistil, capsule 

 and seed, all natural size (see Plate V of this issue). A particular sta- 

 tion for this morning-glory is given as " Walnut Creek" (somewhat 

 west of Greatbend, Kansas), in the journal of Lieut. J. W. Abert of 

 Emory's command, under date of July 12, 1846. Lieutenant Abert says 

 further, under July 14, — 



"We were obliged to remain here all day, still waiting the pleasure 

 of the waters. In the meanwhile I set one of the men to work to dig up 

 a root of the beautiful prairie convolvulus iipomea leptophylla). This 

 man worked for several hours, for the ground was extremely hard, so 

 that he was at last obliged to tear it up, leaving much of the tap root 

 behind. This root extended for about one foot and of not more than 

 one and a half inches in diameter; then it suddenly enlarged, forming 

 a great tuber, 2 feet in length and 21 inches in circumference. The 

 Cheyenne Indians told me that they eat it, that it has a sweet taste, and 

 is good to cure the fever. They call it badger's food, and sometimes the 

 man-root, on account of its great size, for they say some of them are as 

 large as a man." 



In " Louisiana " along the Middle Fork of the Red River (now west- 



