1887. | BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 219 
An excursion to the Platte. 
HARVEY THOMSON. 
I have thought an account of a botanical excursion to the 
Platte river region of Central and Western Nebraska might be 
of interest to botanists. I had been planning for some time 
to make a trip from Hastings to the Platte valley, but failed 
to make arrangements to go until May 21. The excursion 
was preceded by a preliminary trip May 14 for the purpose 
of selecting good botanizing grounds; also, another hasty 
trip was made to a point some three miles further up the 
river May 24. In all, points extending some four or five 
miles along the river were visited, and the list of plants may 
include some found in each or all of the trips. 
Sixteen of us started early in the morning of May 21 for 
a fifteen-mile drive over the prairie to the valley. Keeping 
directly north along the railroad toward Grand Island, 
where the land was cultivated, nothing of interest was found, 
except the occasional appearance of Taraxacum officinale 
about dwellings. This plant, so common everywhere in the 
East, was never seen here until within the last two or three 
years, but from its present growth it promises to become 
uite a pest to farmers. Six miles north of Hastings oh 
i the 
the prairie, and at long intervals a small farm-house. Some- 
times these were built of sod or were the much talked of 
fi 
which is still covered by the virgin sod. Out upon this 
prairie we found Viola delphinifolia and Callirrhoe alcaoides. 
