344 



[TAB. LXX.] 



SOME OBSERVATIONS ON A NORTH AMERI- 

 CAN PLANT, SUPPOSED TO BE THE LEW- 

 ISIA OF Mr. PURSH. 



In the 2d vol. of Mr. Pursh's Flora Americce Septentrionalis, 

 p. 368, that author has given a new plant under the name of 

 Lewisia rediviva, and the genus he thus distinguishes : " Cl. 

 and Ord, Polyandria Digynia. Cal. 7-9-phyllus, scariosus. 

 Pet. 14-18. Stylus 3-fidus. Caps. 3-locularis, polysperma. 

 Semina nitida." I am not aware that authentic specimens of 

 this exist in any Europaean herbarium ; and all we know for 

 certain of it, therefore, is from Mr. Pursh's description. It is a 

 plant, he says, " with a fusiform, branched, and blood-coloured 

 root, bearing radical, linear, and somewhat fleshy leaves; a 

 single or 2-flowered scape; the 7?ec?{ce/ jointed at the base. 

 Calyx coloured, scariose, from 7-9-leaved, patent; leaflets 

 ovate, acute, concave, the interior ones narrower. Petals 14— 

 20. Filaments 14-18, shorter than the calyx. Anthers erect, 

 oblong. Style filiform, trifid above. Stigmas 3, bifid. Capsule 

 oblong, 3-celled; the cells 2-seeded. Seeds lenticular, shin- 

 ing, black." He farther observes, that the specimens were so 

 tenacious of life, that roots taken from the herbarium of Mr. 

 Lewis, and planted in a garden at Philadelphia, vegetated and 

 continued to grow for a year; when they appear to have been 

 lost. Pursh did not find the plant growing, but describes it 

 from the herbarium of M. Lewis, Esq. who gathered it on 

 the banks of Clark's River. 



Mr. Nuttall does not appear to have seen the plant; for, 

 in his Genera of North American Plants, he adopts Pursh's 

 character, and expresses his regret that that author did not 

 give a figure of this very interesting plant. 



On Mr. Drummond's return from his arduous travels 

 among the Rocky Mountains, he brought with him some 

 small bags of a dried root, white and brittle, which are col- 

 lected and dried for food by the natives of the western side 

 of the Rocky Mountains, and which they take with them on 



