^Y\\ BOTANY. 



general outlining of the range is out of the question. However, it is rather 

 as an experiment that any discussion of the matter has been attempted, with 

 the hope of arriving not at any positive conclusions but possibly at indications 

 of the results that may be looked for from a more thorougb and extended 

 consideration of fuller and more reliable data. 



The total number of indigenous phsenogamous species enumerated in the 

 Catalogue as growing in Nevada or Utah is 1235, representing 439 genera 

 and 84 orders. Of these, 3 orders, 14 genera and 62 species have been found 

 only in the more southern portion of the territory, and 6 orders, 49 genera, 

 and 248 species only in the Washoe, Wahsatch, or Uinta Mountains, leaving 

 76 orders, 376 genera and 945 species for the known flora of this portion of 

 the Basin proper. 



The alkaline group, comprising 19 orders, 37 genera, and 49 species, is 

 predominantly Chenopodiaceous and Gramineous, the first named order giving 

 one-fourth of both genera and species, and with the Oraminem, Composite, 

 and Cruciferce, including more than half of each. It is also decidedly western 

 and is more strictly confined to the Basin than any other groujT, only two- 

 fifths of the species occurring upon the Pacific slope and one-fourth upon the 

 Atiantic. This is noteworthy in connection with the fact that large areas of 

 the Basin were at a comparatively recent geological period occupied by fresh- 

 water lakes. More of the species tend southward than beyond the British 

 boundary. 



The aquatic and meadow group embraces 170 species, representing 100 

 genera and 42 orders. The only very prominent orders are the Composites, 

 OraminecB, and Cyperacece, which include one-third of the genera and two- 

 fifths of the species. The Scrophulariacece, Legutninoses, and Rosacece make 

 up more than half of the species and 45 per cent, of the genera. The species 

 are very widely diffused in all directions, more than one-third being arctic or 

 subarctic, three-fifths reaching the Atlantic and four-fifths the Pacific side of 

 the continent, while one-fourth are decidedly southern.^ Half of the com- 

 posite species are asteroid, the remaining species and two-thirds of the genera 

 being equally senecioid and ligulate. 



The next group of plants, representing the desert flora, includes 38 



' By an oversight a numbor of species, well known as extending into Mexico, failed to be so noted 

 in tlie list. Such in division (c.) are the species of Cardamine, Potentilla, Gcntiana, Ceratojphyllum, Siay- 

 rinehium, JSleocharis, PTiragmites, Triticum, Banunculus aquatilis, Juncns Baltious and hufomiis, and Sdrpus 

 validus. Carex disticlia should also he inserted before C. stipata. 



