1885.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 525 



Ribes aureum, Pursh. (Buffalo Currant.) 



The only Currant seen ; in shady ravines ; rare. 



Cocculus Carolinus, DC. 



Very common climber along streams, with edible red berries the size 

 of small peas. 



Lippia lycioides, Steud. 



Very common shrub on rocky slopes, with long sprays of white flow- 

 ers exquisitely fragrant. Foliage eaten by cattle, sheep and goats. 



L ant ana Camara. L. 



Low bush, with dark green foliage and handsome golden-orange 

 flowers, considered poisonous to sheep and cattle in Southeastern Texas; 

 it is noticed they always shun it, even where grass is scant. 



HERBS. 



Rumex hymenosepalus, Torr. (Cafiagre.) 



This Dock or Sorrel, a noted tannin plant, is easily distinguished by 

 its very large, ovate-lanceolate leaves, a foot or more long, but more 

 particularly by the large membranaceous, pinkish sepals, half an inch 

 or more broad. Common west of the Pecos, in valleys and generally 

 not far from streams. Thrives best in light, sandy or gravelly soil. I 

 have seen it flourishing, near El Paso, on sand hills 30 feet or more above 

 the level of the Eio Grande. 



Annual, chiefly propagated by its tubers. Stem 2 to 3 feet high, 

 withering early in summer. Followed under ground, it becomes white 

 and slender, and at a depth of about a foot gives off a first cluster of 

 tuberous roots which lead to other clusters, so that a single plant often 

 yields ten to fifteen tubers. Each of these is 2 to 4 inches long and 1 

 to 2 thick, with yellowish-brown pulp very astringent and bitter to the 

 taste. 



When dug out during the winter, Cafiagre tubers can be kept a year 

 or more without deteriorating or impairment of their germinative power. 

 If planted in the spring, they sprout in three or four weeks. At San 

 Antonio, where Colonel Terrell, U. S. A., had quite a number planted, 

 apparently under favorable conditions, they nearly all sprouted in 

 time and the young plants thrived until they became 6 inches or more 

 high when they suddenly withered and died; whether from drought, 

 careless tilling, or other cause, I was unable to ascertain. 



According to the analysis made by the Department of Agriculture 

 (Report for 1878), the air-dry roots, with 11.17 per cent, of moisture, 

 contain 23.45 per cent, of tannic acid, equivalent to 26.30 per cent, of 

 tannin in strictly dry root. This tannic a-cid is of the variety known 

 as rheo-tannic acid and identical with that existing in rhubarb. Be- 

 sides this acid, alcohol also extracts some sugar and a red substance 



