2 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



thus combining the botanical name with the name by which 

 they are commonly known. 



A few days later the next common flowers appear — two 

 members of the parsley family Peucedaniim villosiim and P. 

 nudicaule — they do not appear to have a common name. P. 

 villosuni is much more common than the other, growing in 

 nearly all bare spots in what is called gumbo soil where very 

 few other plants will grow. The umbel of yellow flowers on 

 stems 3 to 8 inches high from the root resembles the flowers of 

 the early meadow parsnip. There are two or three finely 

 dissected leaves from the root usually spreading out or lying 

 flat on the ground so that the flowering stem stands up above 

 the leaves. P. nudicaule is usually found growing in thick 

 grass along the river, the flowers are white and the leaves 

 much thinner. 



Phlox Hoodii is another common plant in bloom about this 

 time. These are small, stiff, pale green plants, like a spruce 

 twig, two or four inches high, with numerous small, white, 

 five-petalled flowers. Sometimes there are so many flowers 

 on a plant that they form a thick mat three or four inches in 

 diameter when they are quite showy. 



The two species of buffalo-berry are in bloom now, but 

 the flowers are not conspicuous, being in small close clusters 

 around the stem, the staminate and pistilate on different 

 plants. On the Canadian buffalo-berry the leaves are the 

 most showy part of the plant at this time, the two rusty- 

 backed leaves at the end of each twig lightly folded together, 

 look like rusty spear-heads sticking out in all directions. 



Following these, all damp rich spots on the prairie and 

 along the sides of coulees, begin to grow yellow with large 

 patches of the prairie thermopsis {T. rJioinhifolia) resembling 

 patches of dandelions in bloom as we see them in the East. 

 They are one of the most showy flowers we have here, the 

 plants growing from 4 to 5 inches to a foot high with tri- 



