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452 The Mezquit. {May, 
crosses the Red river, and, entering the Indian Territory, passes 
north of Fort Sill, crosses the Canadian, and strikes the 37th 
parallel where the 100th meridian intersects it. Near this point, 
Mezquit creek, from Kansas, empties into Cimarron river. The 
northern limit may be said, practically, to be the 37th parallel; 
that is, the southern boundary of Colorado and Utah. It takes 
in the southern point of Nevada, the large desert tracks of South- 
eastern California, and, at its extremity, bends down towards Fort 
Tejon. The western limit is the rather uncertain line made by 
the western margin of the Mojave and Colorado deserts, nowhere, 
as far as I know, coming close to the shore of the Pacific. 
Description.—Shrub, or tree, with thorny branches and deciduous 
a i 
Bipinnate leaves, single or in clusters, mostly armed with 8 
pair of stout, straight, whitish thorns. One, seldom two, pairs of 
pinnz; these 3-6 inches long, bearing 8-15 pairs of leaflets, w^ 
are linear-oblong, ‘rigid, 1-2 inches long, and 134-3 lines mr 
varying much in size according to soil and stage of growth 
Petiole 2-4 inches long, minutely stipulate, bearing at its ap™* 
cup-shaped gland and\filiform appendage. 
Flowers 5-parted, a line or more long, 
pedicels; in axillary, short-peduncled, cylindrical spikes, con 
inches long; greenish-white at first, later more conspicuously 
low from the exserted stamen3} very frequent. Calyx S™ ak 
short, hardly half as long as the Cdgolla, with short, acu i, 
Petals valvate, narrowly long, free, gheenish or yellowish 
smooth outside, woolly within and at the ‘apex. Stamens pat 
exsert, straight and diverging, at least twice a3 long as mr B 
with versatile anthers ; the large, blackish connective ™ oly : 
ing at its apex a stalked gland. Ovary shortly stipitat®, . 
style with small terminal stigma as long as the stam“ lot | 
Ripe pods white yellowish, mottled with red; : -8 went the 
‘10-20 seeded; from 2 to 12, seldom more thar 5 % petwet 
; : icted 
same peduncle; linear, compressed, falcate, cons"! l 
the seeds, indehiscent. Exocarp ligneous and tc¥e ’ fi 
on short but distint 
baa gta inc] Sins <i 
thickish and spongy; endocarp papyraceous, incl an po | 
ii 
in separate, flat casings, quadrate from natural press 
obliquely in the pod of which they occupy ný 
breadth. | 
Seed oval, smooth, suspended from the ape of the 
