PLANTS FROM SOUTHEASTERN UTAH. 273 



degei was plentiful in front of the belt of trees, spreading 

 out in circular bunches sometimes nearly a yard across, 

 not yet in bloom but conspicuous because of the white- 

 veined leaves. The weeds of civilization have not yet 

 reached this place — not even CapseUa Bursa-fastoris or 

 Polygonum avicularb, usually the first vegetable emigrants 

 to a newly settled country. 



The next morning, July 12, we started down the San 

 Juan River. On the opposite side could be seen the 

 fields and flocks of the Navajos, the river forming part of 

 the Reservation boundary. Sometimes we rode under 

 the trees, but generally through the heavy sand, without 

 any protection from the burning sun. Chenopodiaceous 

 plants were very abundant, almost monopolizing the soil 

 of the argillaceous and sandy alkaline flats. Montezuma 

 Creek was passed — not a drop of water, where in the 

 spring a torrent of muddy water flows; next came Re- 

 capture Creek, the limit of Mr. Brandegee's exploration. 

 It was in the dry bed of this creek that Dicoria panicu- 

 lata occurred and an unusually tall Petalostemon candidns. 

 Datura meteloides opened out its magnificent flowers at 

 the base of the rocks from which the alkaline flats ex- 

 tended to the river, and Erigeron Bellidiastrum hugged 

 the same shelter. Atriplices grew dense and tall, but 

 were only beginning to bloom and in no condition for col- 

 lection or determination. Cycloloma platyphyllum looked 

 ghastly, being yellowish-white instead of the deep purple 

 with which I have always been familiar. 



As we approached Bluff City, the Mormon town that 

 is the extreme outpost of civilization, the bluffs which 

 rise on each side of the river — sometimes distant, some- 

 times near — arose to a more lofty height. About midway 

 on these cliffs the character of the rocks changes and the 

 change is marked from a distance by a line of green. 



