SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOOTHILL 
VEGETATION OF WESTERN NEBRASKA! 
CHARLES E. BESSEY. 
In another paper read before this section? I have spoken of 
the general features of the foothill portions of Nebraska, and 
I need do no more here than to say that the foothill region 
includes a belt from 100 to 200 kilometers in width, covering 
the extreme western counties and lying for the most part west 
of the 102d meridian. It is characterized physically by two long 
ridges which extend out from the Wyoming Mountains to the 
eastward. The northern one is Pine Ridge, with an elevation 
of about 1500 meters, and the southern one Cheyenne Ridge, 
with an elevation of 1700 meters. Each slopes gradually to 
lower levels, and, after 200 or 300 kilometers, they are raised 
but little above the surrounding country. It must be borne 
in mind that the whole of the western portion of the state is 
greatly uplifted, the general level for the last one-fourth of the 
surface being fully 1200 meters above the sea. 
A recent botanical journey of about 175 kilometers in this 
region enables me to present at this time a few features of the 
vegetation which have not hitherto been particularly noticed. 
At Alliance in Box Butte County, the point of beginning, 
the surface is a gently undulating plain, with an elevation of 
1200 meters above sea level. Here, as far as the eye can reach, 
there are no native trees whatever and scarcely any shrubs. 
The plants which dominate everywhere are Agropyron pseudo- 
repens, Stipa comata, Bouteloua oligostachya, and Bulbilis dacty- 
loides, with Opuntia mesacantha and Cactus viviparus abundantly 
Scattered among the grasses. Lepidium intermedium entered 
into these grass formations quite constantly, and in some places 
constituted nearly, if not quite, one-half of the vegetation. 
1 Read before section G of the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science, Aug. 11, 1897. 
*“ Are the Trees Receding from the Nebraska Plains?” since published in 
Garden and Forest, Nov. 17, 1897. 
