Short on the Botany of Illinois. 
187 
trees, and indeed of all other woodly plants, except along 
the margin of water courses which occasionally pervade them. 
Thirdly—‘■The Barrens,’ or tracts somewhat intermediate 
between the two former, being sparsely covered with oak 
trees of several different kinds, and of considerable size, with 
a dense undergrowth of various shrubs and annual plants. 
This third region bears a close relationship, both in appear¬ 
ance and productions, to those districts in Kentucky, which 
are called ‘•Barrens’—tracts of country which seem to be in 
a state of transition from more open prairies to densely tim¬ 
bered forests. 
The vegetation of these three districts is, of course, essen¬ 
tially different; but apart from the presence or absence of 
trees, wdiich constitute the grand feature of distinction, the 
annual and suffruticose plants are widely different, and indeed 
in many respects entirely dissimilar. It is, however, to the 
productions of the open prairies that I shall' chiefly confine 
myself in this communication: and even they vary greatly as 
the surface of the prairie may be high, rolling, rich and dry, 
or low, flat, wet and clayey. 
The first sight of a prairie with which we were greeted 
was in the neighborhood of Terre Haute, on the eastern 
side of the Wabash, and consequently in the State of Indi¬ 
ana. In approaching this new and apparently thriving town, 
from the east, over the national road, the eye is filled with 
the prospect of an extensive plain entirely destitute of all 
timber-trees, and stretching to a great distance both above 
and below the town. Such a view, agreeable at all times, 
w r as peculiarly so as it opened suddenly upon us just after 
emerging from the heavily wooded forest through wdiich we 
had traveled all day. The Terre Haute prairie, how r ever, 
has been all reclaimed, or rather, botanically speaking, dese¬ 
crated by the hand of man, and no portion of it now remains 
in a state of nature. Corn, grass, small grain, and other 
cultivated crops now'’ occupy the hundreds of acres, which 
lately bloomed and blossomed with indigenous productions; 
and almost the only relics of these to be seen, were occasion- 
