56 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



flowers. These flowers open about two hours before sunset, and roll up close 

 early next morning. 



A certain tribe of Leguminosre, including the Psoralea, Amorpha, Dalea, 

 Petalostemon, etc., is well represented here. Common peculiarities of these 

 plants are, that they have yellow, thick-barked, strong-scented roots, gland- 

 ular or dotted leaves, and more or less imperfect flowers. Most of them 

 bloom in midsummer. I have already mentioned Astragalus and Psoralea, 

 which bloom earlier. 



Of Amorpha there are two species {A. yridicosa and A. canescens), both 

 common. Both have handsome little terminal spikes of sweet-scented blue 

 flowers, the former very dark-blue, the latter sky-blue. There is only one 

 petal — the banner — which enwraps the blossom like a cloak. The latter, 

 which is commonly called "shoe-string," or "devil's shoe-string," is remark- 

 able for its long, tough, slender roots. I have traced a root, not exceeding 

 half an inch thick at the surface, straight down to a depth of twenty -six feet. 

 Several divisions of the root, before reaching that depth, reduced the thick- 

 ness to veritable strings. 



Petalosteraons are frequent. There are three species (P. violaceiis, can- 

 didus, and villosus). The peculiarity of these flowers is that there are no petals 

 proper, but five alternating stamens are converted into petals, four of them 

 oblong, and the fifth one, that takes the place of the tenth stamen, cordate. 

 They are all raised on claws. 



There are three species of Dalea, namely, laxiflora, alopecuroides, and aurea. 

 Dalea laxiflora has a peculiarity of its own. It has but nine stamens, the 

 tenth one being converted, as in the Petalostemons, into a cordate banner. 

 It would thus seem to form a link connecting these two genera. This plant 

 is otherwise interesting in its beautifully plumose calyxes. The spike is 

 slender and loose — the flowers arranged in three ranks that run a little 

 spirally up the stem. 



Hosachia Purshiana is very common. There are two strongly -marked 

 varieties of this species. The first is small, say six inches high, slightly 

 branched, grows abundantly on uplands, blossoms in June, ripens in July 

 and August, and is much eaten by sheep. The second is eighteen to twenty- 

 four inches high, very branched, grows mainly in bottom lands, and sparsely 

 in uplands, blossoms in July and August, and ripens in September. An im- 

 portant peculiarity of this variety is, that when standing alone and in nowise 

 crowded, it throws its branches invariably north and south alternating, and 

 its branchlets crosswise. Before the branchlets appear, the leaves face east 

 in the morning and west in the evening. At such times the plant has a very 

 flat appearance, being often two feet high and the same in breadth. After 

 the branchlets* grow, and the blossoms are open, that flat appearance is lost, 

 the leaves face up, and the plant becomes a little more irregular, though the 

 north-and-south direction of the branches is never wholly lost. The plant 

 commences branching at about six inches high, and from that up, bears in 



