GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 749 



tremely inonotonous, as a few species exhaust the number, aud you can 

 observe but au endless display of individuals. As justly remarked by 

 C. C. Parry, in his " Botany of the Mexican Boundary," " the peculiari- 

 ties of the scenery of a country depend upon its vegetable productions." 

 Thus one who has ever traveled across these sand deserts will not fail 

 to i)icture them in his memory, connected with the universally prevalent 

 gray or dull olive color of the herbage. Hence, owing to the immense 

 number of individuals represented by only a few species, the scenery of 

 the country has an unpleasant sameness. The extensive plains exhibit 

 ii monotonous succession of the same forms, and the botanist, knowing 

 exactly what to expect, loses the zeal he would possess in a more varied 

 region. Occasionally, where a stream has made a richer soil, there is a 

 change from desert to valley flora, and the more brilliant hues of the 

 vegetation, from the delicately tinted petals to the rich green leaves, is 

 a wonderful rest to the eyes and awakens new zeal. 



On all these plains an entire absence of trees is noted, except a few of 

 stunted growth along the larger streams ; while the mountain-ranges 

 are sparingly timbered with Comfenv from base to summit, intermixed 

 aloug some of the foot-hills with " bitter cottonwood." Upon the plains 

 around Ogden a variation in the flora is noted as we near Great Salt 

 L;)»ke. The higher types seem unable to exist in the strongly alkaline 

 soil, and give place to the CJienopodiacecv. This family is well represented 

 here, as is common along all bodies of salt water, not so much by 

 the number of species as by the immense display of individuals. Small 

 Polygonums and EuphorMas also mat the ground in places, but are by 

 no means so abundant as the Chenopods, chiefly represented by the 

 genus Obione. Wherever the soil is largely charged with alkali the 

 ^^ grease-wood^'' {Sarcohaf us vermiculatvs) is very abundant. In almost 

 the same situations were always found the Halostachys occidentaUs, Sali- 

 cornia herhaeea, and Eurotia lanafa, as well as numerous other cheno- 

 podiaceous plants. 



Farther back, toward the mountains, the higher types appear again, 

 and with a greater richness of color than seems ijossible in such soil. 

 Of course the Artemesias are common everywhere, and especially A. 

 tridentata, completely covering the plains and far up the mountain 

 slopes. Among the shrubby Artemis'ias can be seen the beautiful Calo- 

 chortus NiUtalUi, the '-'Sego" of the Mormons, numerous P/<?ox(?-s' and 

 Gilias, brilliant-flowered Cacti, several species of Eriogonum, chiefly E. 

 ovaUfolium, E. JieracJcoides, and E. umbellatum, several species of (Eno- 

 fJicra, Astragalus, Fhacelia, and many others equally important that 

 might be mentioned. Along the water-courses may be seen two bright 

 Mhnulij M. Leicisii and M. lutens, several labiate plants, two species 

 of rose, B. fraxinifoUa and R. hlanda, many Eaminculaccce, the two 

 brilliant Capparidacecc, Clcome aurea and Cleome iniegrifoUa, several 

 Onagraced', &c. 



All of these orders are far surpassed by the Co7npositw, both in the 

 great variety of si)ecies and the immense display of individuals. Se- 

 reno Watson estimates that they comprise one-seventh of western col- 

 lections, and he by no means overestimates them. 



II. The flora of the mountain-ranges. The plants collected from the 

 Wahsatch Mountains, near Ogden, are, for the most part, sub-alpine,' aud 

 almost identical with those collected at equal altitudes on the Tetoa 

 Range, and seem to be identical with those common to ev^ery range in 

 the i!^orthwest. But the T(5tons rise so much higher, and are exposed 

 constantly to such severe cold from snow and winds, that, above 10,000 

 feet, 1 gathered a flora such as I saw nowhere else on the trip. Appar- 



