1885.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 465 



Vol. VIII, Wo. 30. Washington, D. C. Sept. 23, 1885, 



a very fine grazing region. Several of them are shaded with Cotton- 

 wood. Farther down the Red River is often dry, the timber scant or 

 absent, and the grass very poor on the sandy plains. 



Pease River and the Big Wichita run through arid, treeless plains . 

 occasional clumps of Hackberry and Willow, and stray Cottonwood, are 

 found in side canons. Near its mouth the Big Wichita is well tim- 

 bered. 



THE PECOS. 



The Pecos is not a wooded stream. Near its mouth, where its swift, 

 muddy, and saline waters run through a deep, rocky valley, are clumps 

 of Texas Green Ash (Fraxinus viridis, var. Berlandieriana), Willows 

 (Salix nigra and longifolia) and Hackberry. Common here are the 

 beautifully penninerved shrub, KarwinsTcia Humboldtiana, and the ever- 

 green Guayacan (Porliera angustifolia) reaching an altitude of 15 feet. 

 In a side canon I noted other arborescent shrubs, Quercus undulata, var. 

 pungens, Fraxinus Greggii, Forestiera reticulata. I failed to see the Pis- 

 tacia Mexicana, a small tree found hereabout by Bigelow. In this 

 vicinity were collected the following handsome and remarkable plants : 

 Pentstemon baccharifolius, Amoreuxia Wrightii, and Hibiscus cardio- 

 yhyllus. 



On ascending the river the timber becomes very sparse; it increases 

 slightly near the mouth of Independence and Live Oak Creeks and 

 then disappears. Both of these creeks are good running streams, the 

 former watering a grazing district noted for its excellence, the latter 

 fringed with Live Oak and Cedar. 



Above Live Oak Creek, the Pecos, a full brimmed, muddy river, from 

 <S to 15 yards wide, meanders for several hundred miles through sandy, 

 naked, broken plains, whereon neither topography nor vegetation be- 

 token its course. The shrubbery on its banks consists of low Mezquit, 

 Lote-bush (Zizyphus), Capul (Condalia obova* <), Creosote-bush (Larrea 

 Mexicana), Junco (Kceberlinia spinosa), Cenizo (Atriplex canescens) and 

 Lycium Carolinianum. The Long-leaved Willow (Salix longifolia) 

 grows in small clumps on the banks, often in company with a Grounsel- 

 bush (Baccharis angustifolia) which spreads in many places its showy 

 white panicles. Close to the water grow commonly : Statice Limonium, 

 Samolus ebracteatus, Eustoma Russellianum and a giant form of Aster 

 divaricatus. 



The prevalent grass of the Pecos flats, and often the only kind, is 



Sporobolus airoides, with erect culm, 1 to 3 feet high, and loose, open 



panicle ; it is distinctly salt to the taste and caused severe colic in most 



of the mules and horses of our party. Cattle readily eat it, and with 



Proc. Nat. Mus. 85 30 



