THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 35 



zoospores, each of which is provided with a pair of hair-like or- 

 gans, by means of which it swims about in the ice-cold water, 

 and eventually developes into a new plant. Yet with all this 

 need of extreme low temperatures for growth and reproduc- 

 tion these snow plants, if kept in a dry condition, are capable 

 of retaining their vitality for months, although exposed to 

 comparatively high ones. 



Besides red snow there are found, in various parts of the 

 earth, brown snow, green snow and yellow snow, each owing 

 their color to the presence of different algae. Nor does this 

 exhaust the richness of the snow flora, for in all over seventy 

 species of plants grow in snow and ice. Almost all are algae. 



SOME DAKOTA WILD FLOWERS. 



By H. Tullsen. 

 (Concluded.) 



]\ /lAXY and diverse are the species belonging to the pea 

 ''•'''• family that we find in the Great Plains region. The 

 kinds of Astragalus, or milk-vetch, are almost without end. In 

 early summer the pretty bluish flowers of the Psoralea, or In- 

 dian turnip, make their appearance. The roots of this plant are 

 peeled and used for food to a great extent by the Indians and 

 half breeds. The soup, or broth, made by boiling these vege- 

 tal^les with pork I have found very palatable, though the roots 

 themselves are tough and tasteless. As this may be considered 

 one of the most useful of the pea family found growing wild, 

 so the next one to be mentioned is certainly one of the most 

 beautiful, wild or cultivated. Let whoso will boast of his ex- 

 tensive collection of sweet-peas at home, and we shall bear him 

 no envy ; for growing wild in exuberant profusion we have a 

 sweet pea (Lafhyrus ornatus) with which the cultivated kinds, 

 be they ever so varied, cannot compare in the freshness of their 

 beauty. I concede that a white man can do anything and 



