KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 51 



portion of the stem below the ground — three inches of it — is entirely sheathed 

 with radical scales and leaves. Then the leaves, instead of being bipinnate 

 or ternate-pinnate, are bipinnately or terpinnately divided — the segments 

 pinnatifid or bipinnatifid. Occasionally the seeds are greatly inflated, be- 

 coming nearly half as thick as wide. An examination discloses a small, 

 dark-colored coleopterous insect, seen nowhere else. In early seasons, the 

 plant blossoms as early as February. The other is also a small umbelliferous 

 plant, Cymopterus montanus, three inches high, blossoming toward the close 

 of the month. It may be distinguished from the Feiccedanum by its verni- 

 cose leaves, and its seeds with five or six vertical wings each, while the Peu- 

 cedanum has but two. 



Astragali are quite numerous and abundant; all blossom in April and May. 

 Among the first is Astragalus caryocarpus, commonly called "buffalo pea." 

 The blossoms vary on different plants, through all shades, from a pale straw- 

 color to a rich crimson. They all change to yellowish in fading. The fruit 

 is somewhat edible when young and tender. It is occasionally used as a sub- 

 stitute for green peas or asparagus. It is said by frontiersmen to possess 

 powerful pectoral properties, clearing the throat and making the breath flow 

 freer. The fruit, when ripe, resembles, in color, shape and size, a shell-bark 

 hickory-nut, but is very light and corky. 



A similar plant, blossoming at the same time, is A. Mexicanus. The color 

 of blossom is about the same, with nearly the same variations. The habit 

 and general appearance of plant and leaf are also much the same, and the 

 plants are very apt to be confounded in the herbarium. An intimate ac- 

 quaintance shows recognizable diflTerences. In the latter, the stems, at the 

 base, are smaller, harder and darker, and are more prone to cast root at the 

 joints. The leaflets are a little more slender, and the pubescence, (what 

 little there is,) is sparser and more closely appressed. But the fruit, when 

 ripe, differs greatly. The pods are much smaller, harder, have a deeply sul- 

 cate ventral suture, and a hard, sharp, afllexed point. 



Another astragalus that is quite showy is A. mollissimus. The flowers, a 

 purplish straw color, are not showy, though the plant is quite so in the win- 

 ter, with its large, green, very wooly leaves. I am informed by Prof. Popenoe 

 that this is the "loto" plant, said to be poisonous to stock, though I believe 

 they do not generally eat it. 



A plant that is apt to be mistaken for an astragalus is Oxytropis Lambertii. 

 It grows very abundantly on dry hillsides, each plant sending up numerous 

 tall, loose racemes of crimson flowers. A hill covered with these looks like 

 an immense floral mound. 



There is a sort of dandelion (Troximon euspidatum), with long, wavy-edged 

 leaves. The flowers resemble the old-fashioned dandelion in many respects, 

 and, like that, close in the evening and damp weather. 



Abundantly, in some spots on the prairie, we find the wild onion {Allium 

 reticulatura), with its pretty clusters of piuk, star-shaped flowers, six inches 



