THE PRAIRIE LEGUMES OF WESTERN MINNESOTA. 



By Lycurgus R. Moyer, Montevideo, Minn. 



It may seem presumptuous in one whose knowledge of field botany 

 is only that of an amateur to come before this Academy with a paper 

 on so threadbare a topic. The general subject of the Minnesota flora 

 has already been ably discussed by Dr. Upham in his "Catalogue of 

 the Flora of Minnesota," published as Part VI. of the annual report 

 of progress of the Geological and Natural History Survey of Minne- 

 sota, for the year 1883. This scholarly work, while admittedly in- 

 complete, was contributed to by botanists from all parts of the state. 

 and represented at the same time the field observations of Dr. Upham 

 himself while engaged in the actual field work of the geological sur- 

 vey. Eight years later, in 1892, there appeared the much more 

 elaborate and pretentious work of Prof. Conway MacMillan, entitled 

 "The Metaspermae of the Minnesota Valley." Of this work it may 

 be said that it was based on insufficient field work, and so abounds in 

 'Conclusions not v/arranted by the facts. Valuable papers on the 

 Flora of Minnesota appeared from time lo time in the "Minnesota 

 Botanical Studies," particularly the papers by Sheldon, Heller and 

 Wheeler. The only special report on the flora of western Minnesota, 

 is a paper by William A. Wheeler, entitled "A Contribution to the 

 Knowledge of the Flora of the Red River Valley in Minnesota," (Vol. 2 

 Minn Bot. Studies 5G9), in which there are enumerated twelve prairie 

 plants and shrubs belonging to the Leguminosae. The second volume 

 of Britton & Brown's "Illustrated Flora of the Northern United 

 Statds and Canada" appeared in 1897, and covered western Minnesota 

 in a more satisfactory way than any other publication. It seems like- 

 ly, in view of the Vienna agreement, that its system of nomenclature 

 will soon seem antiquated. Robinson & Fernald's "Gray's New Manual 

 of Botany" is a very helpful book, but its plant descriptions are too 

 brief to be entirely satisfactory, and it already appears that it omits 

 some Minnesota plants. Coulter & Nelson's "New Manual of Rocky 

 Mountain Botany" is a disappointment in that it is quite locally con- 

 fined to a small part of the Rocky Mountain region with Wyoming 

 as a center, and does not purport to cover the plains and prairies 

 at all. It has been the hope of western botanists when they found 

 that the "New Gray's Manual" was limited to the regions east of the 

 western boundary of Minnesota, that the New Rocky Mountain Botany 

 would cover the adjacent regions to the west. The book was there- 

 fore a disappointment, but it leaves the field open for some enthu- 

 siastic young man to write a plains fiora, or perhaps a Flora of the 

 Mississippi Valley. It may be said that the plains flowers are not 

 very attractive, but it will be found that they are well adapted to 

 their environment, and therefore worthy of careful study. 



It is perhaps generally known that western Minnesota is for the 

 most part a high rolling prairie, from 1,000 to 1,800 feet above the 

 level of the sea. The largest area of level land in this region is the 



