20 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



Whatever the order or genus, all is modified to conform to the requisites of this 

 hot region ; tliick leaves to hold the moisture wlien the suu is liigh; copious, non-con- 

 ducting hairs, to prevent exhalation; sharp, forbidding spines, to ward oflT enemies of 

 the animal kingdom. This spinescent cliaracter is most puzzling to tlie reflecting 

 mind. What need of such pr itection in a region so desolate, so unfrequented ? The 

 rich open prairies and forests of other lands invite population. This arid, seemingly 

 waterless basin is clothed, except wliere bleak alkali and salt deserts prevail, with 

 dense, thorny, almost impassable sage brush, as if to guard a priceless treasure. And 

 Darwin says it is so. He affirms that here are reservoirs of elements now unfit for use,, 

 which the art of the coming man will turn into verdant forests or beautiful fields, as 

 the needs of a teeming population will demand. Corroborative of this theory, uiost 

 wonderful vegetable growtlis are now seen in the valley of the Jordan, tilled by the de- 

 voted Mormon, and in the vallej^ of the Carson, verdant with alfalfa; botli of these val- 

 lej's immensely changed in value as the result of irrigation skillfully applied on a 

 large scale. But I must hurry up or you will leave me pondering here in the sand. 



The first of the valleys between the cross-bars of the gridiron is Long valley, 

 threaded in winter and spring by Long Valley creek, rising near Reno and running 

 north to Hone}- lake. Passing down it 25 miles we turn eastward through a cattle range 

 enclosed by a fence of matted willows, climb the first ridge and Soda Lake valley is be- 

 fore us. The lake is a yellow pool of salt, alkali and sulphur. Crossing to the second 

 ridge and climbing it, we look over into Winnemucca valley. On the pass at our feet 

 is a beautiful ScutelUiria miiui (Gray), a new species. It maintains its green, robust look 

 by means of reservoirs of jilaut food stored in its thick, necklace-like, subterranean 

 stems. The next is Warm Spring valley, quite large and important. Through it passes 

 the road from Kenoto Surprise valley and Fort Bidwell. Passing around a sand moun- 

 tain, gemmed with rare (Enothei'ds, we ascend an arm of Warm Spring valley, move 

 over a high pass and drop into a valley so walled in with sheltering ridges as to aftbrd 

 a surprisingly large and varied flora. 



^]very mile of our progress to this point has been marked by decreasing verdure 

 and the appearance of the peculiar ashen, dwarfed, desert plants. But here in this lit- 

 tle valley all the species met with on the way are crowded, while hosts of strangers ap- 

 pear. In rapture, I named it for the veteran botanist, 



GKAY'S VALLEY. 



Here in this secluded garden of the great basin is the natural home of tlie sand and 

 sun-loving plants, too numerous to name — all putting on their gayest appai-el and ex- 

 haling the richest perfumes, as if to prove the oft-quoted lines: 



PuH mauy a flower is bom to blusli unseeii 

 And waste its sweetness on the desert air. 



Here tlowvishes, Tetradiimia spinomt, with strong, hooked prickles; the monster 

 7 Iielpodiuiti, t\n\r to six feet high. Up on the hot sand bluffs stands, sentry-like, the 

 scrubby crucifer Staiilei/a pinnatifidti . with spikes of yellow flowers 18 inches long, ter- 

 minating upright ; white limbs four to six feet high. On the clean sand i)j^ our feet 

 nestles the curious Coldenia auttallii, the purple Gonanthus aretioides, the yellow Em- 

 nieraiithe ghuidulifei'd, the snake-head like Anisocomu ncaule and several species of the 

 ever beautiful (Enotherus-, but most striking of all uprears the rare Ahruuut Gnix-Maltm 

 of Dr. Kellogg, holding at arm's length its large balls of pink flowers. Over the dry 

 water-course, Gleoine luted peers ; from the rocks on each hand hang Perddemous and 

 Areiianas. while the gorgeous Esrhseholtzid shows its red eyes between the clefts, and 

 the immortal Lemsia redimva on the gravel above aspires to notice by creeping to the 

 edge of the precipice. 



This plant is well named rediviva. Roots gathered nearlj' two j'ears ago are grow- 

 ing still in their papers despite heavy pressure, illustrating the power with which they 



