186 
dred. Considering the highly interesting 
character of the country to be explored, 
and the difficulty of getting access to it 
(the whole journey to and from St. Louis 
having to be made on horseback), the 
terms are certainly extremely moderate. 
Should the collector give satisfaction to 
his employers in this expedition, it is their 
intention to send him to the southern parts 
of Florida and Alabama. 
" MONOGRAPH OF NORTH AMERICAN. 
CYPERACEJE.—By John Torrey.” 
We have just received the loose sheets 
of this very important paper from our in- 
defatigable and excellent friend, Dr. Tor- 
rey, and we regard it as the most valuable 
contribution made to American Botany of 
late years. The interesting tribe of plants 
of which it treats are, so far as North Ame- 
rica is concerned, now made familiar by 
the joint labours of Torrey and Gray, and 
established with a precision, to which, 
through the admirable specimens in Dr. 
Gray's two volumes of the Graminew and 
Cyperacez, no other portion of the North 
American Flora can pretend. It is impos- 
sible, in the limits of this article, to do 
justice to the industry and sagacity of Dr. 
Torrey in this elaborate Monograph. He 
has made the inestimable writings of our 
great countryman, Dr. Robert Brown, the 
object of his especial study, adopting, with 
some modifications the classification of the 
learned Nees ab Esenbeck, one of the wor- 
thiest disciples of the immortal author of 
the Prodromus Flore Nove Hollandiz. 
- *Orrey exhibits a tabular view of 
m "^ American genera of Cyperacez, 
ged according to the Synopsis of 
Nees, with the number of species belong- 
ing to each genus, and the proportion which 
ing interesting extract from his introductory 
observations ;— 
“Of the tribe Cyperee the greatest 
Proportion belong to the southern States. 
The genus Cyperus scarcely extends into 
Canada, and in New England seven or 
been found. 
: eight species only have Pro- 
BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
ceeding South they become more freq 
and the maximum is attained about 
Gulf of Mexico. Kyllingia does not | 
cur North of Pennsylvania. Mariscus i 
found throughout the United States, : | 
Dulichium, a doubtful member of this 
tribe, has an equally extensive range, — 
** Hypolytree constitute a small trib 
States, only in the vicinity of the 
rida, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
and Eleocharis has a similar range. Er i 
phorum is a northern genus, only one c 
its species extending beyond Pennsylvania. 
Chetocyperus is peculiar to the South. 
North America South of Canada. | 
* Rhynchosporee are, with few excep- 
tions, southern plants. Dichromena 18 
not found North of Virginia, nor far from 
the ocean. Two Psilocarye are southern, 
and a third has been observed only m 
Massachusetts. Of the twenty-eight spe | 
cies of Rhynchospore, but four are found 
as far North as Boston, and only eight 
long to the middle States : the remainder 
Of the two species of Ceratoschanus, 
inhabits a large part of the United States 
South of Delaware, and West of the ae 
sissippi; the other is found only im ^* 
ngland. 
trj 
“ The tribe Cladiee is ropes 
two species of Cladium, one of whieh” 
northern, the other southern. $ 
* Of Sclerieæ we have but two no 
and eleven species, two or three of T 
have an extensive range in lat 
longitude, but most of them are 5° 
and confined to the vicinity of the 
