BOTANICAL, INDEX, 
9:t 
the Yuccas, being nearly 5 inches across, and are produced in a large panicle, while 
the succeeding fruit hangs in a large cluster, somewhat resembling the banana. 
This fruit is also the most important article of food furnished by any member of this 
interesting family of plants. 
Yucca Whvpplei is also occasionally met with near here, which is quite an interest- 
ing if not an attractive species. It is also a 
stemless variety with few striated glaucous 
leaves channelled on the upper side, rounded 
or obtusely angular underneath, slightly 
serrate-scabrous on the margins, about 18 
inches long and half an inch wide, convo- 
lute and spiniferous at the apex, fruit coro- 
naceous, three-lobed, 1% inches long, and 
nearly the same across, flowers in a Spread- 
ing panicle »n a stem from 2 to 3 feet high. 
The bruised root of all the Yuccas were 
formerly used very extensively by all the 
natives, at least on the Pacific coast, for 
making a soap-suds in washing, and at the 
present time it is not an uncommon sight 
to see the semi-civilized Indian and her 
Mexican half sister still using this vegeta- 
ble soap — which they call “Amole” — in the 
Mexican villages, even as far north as Utah. 
It certainly possesses the economic advan- 
tage of always being handy and ready for 
use, on the desert plateaus of the - West, 
while if these miserable and indolent people 
were to depend upon their own exertions 
for making their supply in the ordinary 
mode of making soap, there would probably 
be very little soap used by them. 
Like the cactus the yucca family are so 
formed by nature, when there is moisture 
the plant absorbs or takes up a good stock, 
which the cuticle holds from evaporation 
Fig. 214. Yucca Angustifoiia. under the scorching heat of the summer sun. 
SUMMER BOTANIZING IN UTAH. 
BY MARCUS E. JONES, SAl.T LAKE CITY, UTAH. 
[The following summary of Prof. Jones’s summer’s work, is so very interesting 
that we have taken the liberty of making an extract from his private letter for the 
benefit of the readers of the Index. In doing so we would say, that his collection 
for the past few years have been among the most valuable contributions to many of 
the choicest herbariums, both in Europe and America, of any from Colorado, Wyo- 
ming and Utah, while his observations and investigations in this field of study are 
eagerly sought for by botanists in all countries. We are promised additional con- 
tributions from his pen as soon as time will permit, which we hope will be ready for 
the January number. — Ed. Bot. Ind.] 
if work began by a trip through the snow, 350 miles south of here, in 
March. 1 arrived in St. George about April 1st, where I collected for a 
month, and found very many valuable plants and a few new species, (find- 
ing some 200 species. 1 These plants of South Utah have always been 
greedily sought for, for it is seldom that a botanist is willing to take a 
team and drive 350 miles into such a country to secure plants; for the 
hardships are very great. On the way back, in May, I found several new species as 
well as others of value. I reached the City on Mav 10th, and spent most of the sea- 
son in exploring the Wasatch and Oquirrah mountains. In June I went to Frisco, 
nearly on the border of Utah (west), 100 miles north of St. George, where no other 
botanist had been. There I found many very interesting plants and perhaps 6 new 
species. I consider the work done there the most valuable of any done during the 
season. The work of the season numbers about 1000 species, and nearly 20 new 
^ species. I collected 40,000 specimens. I have been collecting for three years in the 
