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[26] 
In the following spring Dr. Wislizenus accompanied the Missouri vol¬ 
unteers, under Colonel Doniphan, from Chihuahua to Parras, Saltillo, 
Monterey, and Matamoros. 
Zealous as ever, he again made large collections on this tour, but his 
duties as a military surgeon occupied his timetrather more than the nat¬ 
uralist should have desired. Nevertheless his collections are very full. 
Fortunately Dr. Gregg accompanied the same expedition, and also made 
rich collections in that almost unknown region, which we may consider 
as the southwestern limits of the valley of the Rio Grande. 
Before going into detail I will only remark here, what a reference to 
the map and sections will more fully present, that the country between 
Chihuahua and Parras has a general elevation of from 4,000 to 5,000 feet; 
between Parras and Saltillo it rises from 5,000 to 6,000 feet, and thence it 
rapidly descends towards the lower Rio Grande. 
South of Chihuahua, a curious leafless Euphorbia was collected, with 
tuberous roots and leafless stem, nevertheless apparently a near relative 
of E. cyathophora. Here, for the first time, Berber is trifoliata , Morie., 
was met with, which appears to inhabit the whole middle and lower val¬ 
ley of the Rio Grande, as we find it again in this collection from Monte¬ 
rey, and Mr. Lindheimer has sent beautiful specimens from the Guada- 
loupe, in Texas. 
Echinocerei and Echinocacti appear in greater abundance. The redis¬ 
covery of the beautiful Echinocereus pectmatus (Echinocactus pectifiatus , 
Scheidw., E. pectiniferus, Lem., Echinopsispccliuata„ Salm, in part) is 
peculiarly interesting, as it furnishes the means of proving a Texan 
species, which has been confounded with it; to be entirely distinct. The 
description of the plant, (which died without producing flowers,) found 
in several works, as well as in the latest publication on Cactaceae , before 
me, of Foerster , Leipzig , 1846, was made, as Prince Salm informed me, 
from specimens sent from Chihuahua by Mr. Potts; it entirely agrees 
with my specimen from the same region. But the description in Foers- 
ter’s work of the flower of a specimen in Cassel, flowering in 1843, (not 
on shorter petioles; some of the lower joints about 6 lines in diameter, 
the upper ones much less tumid; pedicells 1 to 3, lowest even 4 inches 
long; involucrum about 1 line long and wide, always 5 toothed, including 
25 to 30 deep red flowers; lobes/about equal ; nut olive green acuminate 
rtlirec winged. Sirijtflariy near E. iuflaium, Ton;, and Frem., perhaps 
| too near to be specifically separated; but apparently distinct by the hairy 
^leaves and bracts, the furcate division of the stem, the large number of 
flowers in each involucrum, and perhaps their purple color, (not men- 
- tioned by Torrey.) # p/ /y 
{ Phaseolvs bilobatus, n. sp., caule prostrato, pilis retrosis hispido; 
foliolis adpresse pilosis reticulatis, lateralibus sUbsessilibus inaequaliter 
ali' ' ’ ’ ’ ' 
tbilobatis, terminali petiolulato, lineari-oblongo; pedunculis folia longe 
superantibus multifloris; cplycis hirsuti laciniis subulatis tubum aequan- 
tibus; leguminibus compressis, hirsutis, curvatis; seminibus laevibus. 
Common about Cosihuiriachi, flowers in September. Resembles Vh. 
lleiospermus, T. and Gr., but the brown-red flowers, and legumes much 
smaller; shape of the leaves very characteristic. Legume 9 lines long 
and I line wide, seed very small. 
/ 
