THE PKAIEIE FLOKA OP BOX BUTTE COUNTY. 



The prairie in Box Butte county was covered with Agropyruin 

 glaucum and Sflpa coiudfa. the former, appai'ently, predominating 

 on lower or waste ground, the latter on high ground. Bulbtlis 

 ilactyloides was found in small patches, and Oryzopsis cuspiddia, 

 a typical sand hill species, had wandered out along the trail seven 

 or eight miles from the hills. 



The most striking flowers of the prairie were Tradescantia vir- 

 ginica, Erysimum asperiim, Liipinus plattensiH, Spiesia lani- 

 berti, Astragalus adsurgens, and Thelesperma filifolmm, all very 

 common. Pentstemon a.lbidus, Astragalus mollissimus, and £'1*/- 

 geron pnmilus were also common near Alliance. As one ap- 

 proaches the sand hills, these disappear. Monarda citriodora 

 becomes very common on the prairie, and Phlox douglnsii and 

 Polygala alba on the hill-sides. 



Several of Vthe typical 'sand hill plants had wandered out on 

 the prairie and were found within a few miles of the Sheridan 

 county line. Stipa comata Tradescantia virginira, Phlox doug- 

 lasii, and Planiago patagonica var. gnii.phalioides were common 

 to, the prairies of Box Butte county and the sand hills. 



NOTES ON THE FLORA OF BROWN, ROCK, HOLT, AND ANTELOPE 



COUNTIES. 



We saw only the worst parts of Sheridan and Cherry counties. 

 But on leaving the lake region, we came at once upon the best 

 part of Brown county. We left the lake region of Cherry county 

 through a wet valley over thirty nailes in length, in which, for the 

 last few miles, flows a branch of Plum creek. This valley had 

 most of the chai-acteristics of the ordinary wet valley, but the soil 

 was better, and in the last third of the valley it was not so marshy, 

 and the hills at the sides were not so completely ^of pure sand. 

 The commonest plant in this valley was Froelichia, floridana,. Be- 

 sides a large number of wet valley species, we found as we pro- 

 gressed the ordinary prairie flora. Soon after entering Brown 

 county, we came quite suddenly upon a new region. One of the 



