BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 25 



The Mfditerranean desert of America is elevated about 5,000 feet above the ocean, 

 so its waters would naturally sink in the earth. Then there are no mighty rivers feed- 

 ing it, much less a Gibraltar strait, bringing in a flood from a neighboring ocean. 



Tiie towering rim of mountains on tlie West prevents the moist winds of the Pa- 

 cific from entering the basin; the lofty Eastern rim bars out the (iulf winds; the lower 

 North and South rims admit only the hot, dry. South winds of tlie Colorado to sweep 

 over the basin, absorbing at theii- founts the few meager springs tli;>.t rise at the moun- 

 tain borders; so we have an immense frying pan or bake oven, as if scooped out of the 

 highest mountains of North xVmerica. 



It is oblong-elliptical in shape. Its western end rests ujjon the snow-clad Sierra, 

 the eastern upon the lofty Wasatch range — a spur of the Rocky Mountains. On its 

 smooth bottom are ranged, side by side, steep ranges of mountains running north and 

 south, like cross-bars of a gridiron. The highest of these, the Humboldt range, divides 

 the basin exactly in the center, and the short livers running from the mountains on all 

 sides form sinks or salt lakes in each end, to which numerous systems of hot springs 

 add alkali, sulphur and other mino'als, so that the sinks are generally extremely oflen- 

 sive. 



The most important rivers of the eastern depression are Bear river, on the north, 

 and Sevier on the south, each emptying respectively into Great Salt Lake and Lake Se- 

 vier. The rivers of the west end are Humboldt and Susan on the north, debouching 

 respectively into Humboldt sink and Honey lake; and Walker, Carson and Truckee on 

 the soutli, filling respectively Walker, Carson and Pyramid lakes — the latter of which 

 Tve iiropose to visit. 



And now, dear readers, you must allow me the privilege of walking, to gather and 

 study the plants by the way. See here, before getting out of Sierra valley, what beauti- 

 ful specimens of the four new AHtragali, viz: A. Lemmoni, A. Fulsifero', A. Wehberi 

 and A. (unnamed), each particularly abundant along the bottom and sides of Beckworth 

 pass, as if the seeds were sown here ])y the water current surging through here ages 

 ago. 



FLORA OF THE GREAT RASIX. 



Emerging through this cleft in the high Sierra, and coming into full view 

 of the shimmering basiu below, with the suow-tipped Humljoldts in the distance, 

 I will leave j-ou to contemplate the scene, while I pick up this desert plumb, 

 Pntniia Aiidersoni, this worm bush Havcohcttus vermiculatm, the first of the des- 

 ert plants met with on the down grade. 



Here on the floor of the basin, radiant with beauty, grows the only plant Dr. Gray 

 will allow named for him on the western continent, Grayia 'polygaloides. It is a bush 

 two to five feet high, densely crowded with spikes of flat circular pods, half as large as 

 five cent coins and red as cherries; '-neat but not gaudy," is the Doctor's apt descrip- 

 tion. 



A large part of the flora of the basiu belongs to the order of 67i(?//f/7)c/rf«, or the 

 goose-fool family, distinguished by their thick, hairy, succulent leaves, often shiny 

 .stems, and the extreme loneliness of the entire order, with the exception of the (Jniyin 

 mentioned. The order most numerous is ihe one everywhere most abundant, found on 

 every spot where vascular jilants may thrive, the immense order of (Jompositce, or sun- 

 flowers. This order comprises al)out 10,000 species, and forms, according to Humboldt, 

 one-ninth of all the flowering plants of the gl.'bc aiul one-half of its trojjical flora. 



Chief among this order in the basin is the renowned ''sage brush," a name loosely 

 ai)plied b< several kinds of plants having tlie same ashen hue, and found on the great 

 arid plains from the tbre-sl-clothed slopes of the Sierra to the bottom lands of the iVIis- 

 souri. 



