64 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



land is nearly level, broken here and there by valleys cf 

 streams. One can often travel many miles on the uplands 

 with no perceptible undulation to break the monotony of the 

 level plain extending to the horizon on all sides. There are 

 no trees, no shrubs (though many of the plants have a lig- 

 nescent base), no tall herbs. The distribution of Malvastrum 

 coccineum shows fairly well the extent of this region. Our 

 collections show the eastern limit of this species to be the 

 following counties: Republic, Cloud, Ottawa, Ellsworth, 

 Rice, Stafford, Pratt, Barber. East of this region there is 

 much prairie on the uplands, but it decreases as one goes 

 eastward, so that in the eastern counties the amount is com- 

 paratively small as to total and limited in extent as to 

 individual areas. 



The following plants are characteristic of the western 

 plains: Erysimum, asperum, Polygala alba, Malvastrum coc- 

 cineum, Linum rigidum, Sophora tomentosa, Psoralea tenui- 

 flora, Cereus viridiflorus (S . W. Kansas), Opuntia Rafinesquii, 

 O. Missouriensis , O. fragilis, Gutierrezia Euthamiae, Aplo- 

 pappus spinidosus, Evax prolifera, Engelmannia pinnatifida, 

 Thelesperma gracile, Artemisia Wrightii; Senecio Douglasii, 

 Cnicus ochrocentrus, Asclepias Jamesii, Krynitzkia crassise- 

 pala, Ipomoea leplophylla, Solanum triflorum, Ohamaesaracha 

 sordida, Verbena bipinnatifida , Cladothrix lanuginosa, Che- 

 nopodium olidum, C. Fremonti incanum, Allium Nuttallii, 

 Aristida purpurea, Munroa squarrosa, Elymus Sitanion. 

 The following also extend further east: Kuhnia eupatorioides, 

 Liatris punctata, jSolidago Missouriensis, Ambrosia psilosta- 

 chya, Lepachys columnaris, E chinospermum Redowskii occi- 

 dental, E volvulus argenteus, Solanum rostratum, Oxybaphus 

 angustifolius , Andropogon furcatus, Andropogon scoparius, 

 Chrysopogon nutans (these three grasses are predominant in 

 the eastern prairies), Schedonnardus Texanus, Bouteloua oli- 

 gostachya, B. racemosa, Buchloe dactyloides, Koeleria cristata, 

 Eatonia obtusata. 



In the so-called " second bottom " of the valleys are found: 

 Cleome integri folia, Astragalus mollissimus, A. gracilis, 

 Cucurbita foetidissima, Sporobolus airoides.' 



