and handsome foliage, must be highly ornamental : the 

 wood, being excessively hard, is preferred by the natives 

 to any other for making their arrows ; and as it does not 

 spontaneously grow in their neighbourhood, they travel 

 annually to a considerable distance South-west, to pro- 

 cure it. About the village of the Osage Indians a few 

 trees have been planted, from which one has been in- 

 troduced into one of the gardens at St. Louis on the 

 Mississippi. Perfect seeds from the last-mentioned tree 

 were given by Mr. Lewis to Mr. M'Mahon, nursery and 

 seedsman, at Philadelphia, who raised several fine plants 

 from them, and in whose possession they were when I 

 left America. The other plant alluded to is called by 

 Mr. Lewis '' A bulbous Rush, which serves the Indians 

 for bread." Of this I have only seen the root, which is 

 of a yellowish -brown colour, about the thickness of a fin- 

 ger, and jointed ; on each joint, which are about three 

 inches asunder, several tubers of about an inch and a 

 half long are produced, of an oblong ovate shape, ta- 

 pering into a point towards the end ; these tubers are 

 filled with an exquisite white and fine farina, resembling 

 starch ; these roots are used in the same manner as those 

 of Psoralea esculenta, vid. vol. ii. p. 475. I take this 

 to be a larger species of tuberous Cyperus. 



While I was thus engaged in describing and figuring 

 those new acquisitions to the American Flora, another 

 opportunity offered to augment my resources. Mr. 

 Aloysius Enslen, who had been sent to America by 

 Prince Lichtenstein of Austria, as a collector of new 

 and interesting subjects of natural history, returned to 

 Philadelphia from his extensive travels through the 

 Western Territories and Southern States. This gentle- 



