xlii 
BOTANY. 
general outlining of the range is out of the question. However, it is rather 
as an experiment that any discussion of the matter has beea- attempted, with 
the hope of arriving not at any positive conclusions but possibly at indications 
of the results that may be looked for from a more thorough and extended 
consideration of fuller and more reliable data. 
The total number of indigenous phsenogamous species enumerated in the 
Catalogue as growing in Nevada or Utah is 1235, representing 439 genera 
and 84 orders. Of these, 3 orders, 14 genera and 62 species have been found 
only in the more southern portion of the territory, and 6 orders, 49 genera, 
and 248 species only in the Washoe, Wahsatch, or Uinta Mountains, leaving 
75 orders, 376 genera and 945 species for the known flora of this portion of 
the Basin proper. 
The alkaline group, comprising 19 orders, 37 genera, and 49 species, is 
predominantly Chenopodiaceous and Gramineous, the first named order giving 
one-fourth of both genera and species, and with the GraniinecE, Coinposita^ 
and CruciferoB, including more than half of each. It is also decidedly western 
and is more strictly confined to th.e Basin than any other group, only two- 
fifths of the species occurring upon the Pacific slope and one-fourth upon the 
Atlantic. This is noteworthy in connection with the fact that large areas of 
the Basin were at a comparatively recent geological period occupied by fresh- 
water lakes. More of the species tend southward than beyond the British 
boundary. 
The arpiatic and meadow group embraces 170 species, representing 100 
genera and 42 orders. The only very prominent orders are the Compositce^ 
Graminea, and Cyperacece^ which include one-third of the genera and two- 
fifths of the species. The ScrophidariacecE^ Leguminosce, and RosacecB make 
up more than half of the species and 45 per cent, of the genera. The species 
are very widely diffused in all directions, more than one-third being arctic or 
subarctic, three-fifths reaching the Atlantic and four-fifths the Pacific side of 
the continent, while one-fourth are decidedly southern.^ Half of the com- 
posite species are asteroid, the remaining species and two-thirds of the genera 
being equally senecioid and ligulate. 
The next group of plants, representing the desert flora, includes 38 
' By ail iivt'i.sii;lit ;i nuiiilxu' of .spccio, wi ll known us extending into Mexico, failed to be -so noted 
in tlie list. Snch in division (c.) are the species of Cardamine, FotentUla, Gmtiava, CeratophyUitm, Sisy- 
fhicla)im, EJdtcharis. Phraiiuiih s, TrUkum, lunntncuhif! aqiialUifi, Jiincm Balticm and hufoniiis, axidi Scirpu a 
raJidiis. Carvx <l[:<tk-]ni nliould also be inserted before C. st'qmffi. 
