XI 1 
PREFACE. 
and handsome foliage, must be highly ornamental : the 
wood, being excessively hard, is preferred by the natives 
to any other for making their arrows ; and as it does not 
spontaneously grow in their neighbourhood, they travel 
annually to a considerable distance South-west, to pro- 
cure it. About the village of the Osage Indians a few 
trees have been planted, from which one has been in- 
troduced into one of the gardens at St. Louis on the 
Mississippi. Perfect seeds from the last-mentioned tree 
were given by Mr. Lewis to Mr. M c Mahon, nursery and 
seedsman, at Philadelphia, who raised several fine plants 
from them, and in whose possession they w T ere when I 
left America. The other plant alluded to is called by 
Mr. Lewis C( A bulbous Rush, which serves the Indians 
for bread,” Of this I have only seen the root, which is 
of a yellowish -brown colour, about the thickness of a fin- 
ger, and jointed ; on each joint, which are about three 
inches asunder, several tubers of about an inch and a 
half long are produced, of an oblong ovate shape, ta- 
pering into a point towards the end ; these tubers are 
filled with an exquisite white and fine farina, resembling 
starch ; these roots are used in the same manner as those 
of Psoralea esculenta , vid. vol. ii. p.475. I take this 
to be a larger species of tuberous Cyperus. 
While I was thus engaged in describing and figuring 
those new acquisitions to the American Flora, another 
opportunity offered to augment my resources. Mr. 
Aloysius Enslen, who had been sent to America by 
Prince Lichtenstein of Austria, as a collector of new' 
and interesting subjects of natural history, returned to 
Philadelphia from his extensive travels through the 
Western. Territories and Southern States, This gentle- 
