THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



93 



examples of the latter. A number of the characteristic plants 

 have much longer tap roots than do even nearly related species 

 which are to be found in the harder subsoil of the steppe ; a few 

 including the cacti, bush morning glory and psoralia have 

 organs for storage. 



If it were not for the permanent streams with their fringe 

 of marsh-loving herbs and of chokecherry, plums, buffalo' berry 

 and Juneberry bushes, all more or less overrun with wild grape 

 vines, the sandhills would not be so popular ; though on account 

 of the large, juicy (even if somewhat bitter) sand-cherries alone 

 they would be visited by the Indians and settlers. The choke- 

 cherries are the largest and most desirable of all that I have 

 ever seen. In some seasons the raspberries toO' are plentiful. 



The predominant species are perhaps the following : The 

 bunch grass {Andropogon scoparkis) is dominant. The sand 

 grass {Calomovilfa longifolia) and the spear or needle grass 

 (Stipa comata) are common. Andropogoih Hallii is occasion- 

 ally abundant on the upper slopes and the tops of the ridges. 

 Grasses growing between the bunch grasses are hair grass 

 (Erogrosfis fricJiodes), Indian millet ( Orysopsis cuspidata) , 

 Black Grama (Bouteloua Iiirsitta) and the sand-burr grasses 

 ( Ccnchnis tribuioides and C. carolimamts) . The shrubs of the 

 sandhills are Sand-cherry (Pntmis Besseyi), Chokecherry 

 (Pruiuis inelanocarpa) , the plum {Prunus americana) , Spanish 

 bayonets {Yucca glauca), bush morning-glory {Ppoinoca Icpto- 

 phylla), poison ivy (Rhus Rydbergii) , Dogwood {Cornus 

 stolonifera rip aria) , prairie willow {Salix humilis), lead plant 

 (Aiuorpha cajwscejis) , buffaloberry {Lepargyraca argcntea) ,^ 

 wild rose {Rosa Arkansana and suifulta). The most common 

 trees are the hackberry {Celtis Americana) , elm ( Ulniis fiilva) 

 and the cottonwood {Populus Sargentii) and even these are 

 few and small. 



The most conspicuous of the herbs are perhaps the annual 

 eriogonum, the Prickly Poppy {Argeinone intermedia) , the 



