452  Origin  of  False  Senega  Root  {Amsl™T;w9&Tm' 
to  identity  was  probably  adhered  to  without  showing  the  plant  to  a 
botanist. 
I  append  here  the  diagnostical  characters  of  P.  Beyriehii  as  given 
by  Torrey  and  Gray  (loc.  cit.),  and  which  are  in  part  included  in  some 
of  the  quotations  above :  Spike  dense,  acute,  flowers  on  very  short 
pedicels ;  wings  orbicular-obovate,  concave,  rather  longer  than  the 
broadly  obovate  lateral  petals  ;  capsule  oblong;  seed  very  villous  with 
appressed  hairs ;  lobes  of  the  caruncle  distant,  about  half  as  long  as 
the  seed ;  stems  numerous,  somewhat  branched  ;  leaves  linear  or  lin- 
ear-spatulate,  somewhat  glandular. 
Regarding  the  distribution  of  this  species,  Nuttall  states  that  it 
is  common  "  on  the  plains  of  the  Missouri "  and  "  in  the  upper  part 
of  Louisiana."  Nuttall  had  explored  the  country  along  the  Missouri 
river  in  1810,  when  the  territory  of  Louisiana  extended  northward 
to  the  British  possessions.  From  these  northern  plains  the  species 
extends  southward  to  Texas  and  into  Mexico.  Rothrock's  speci- 
mens were  collected  in  Arizona  at  an  altitude  of  over  7,000  feet; 
and  Watson's  remarks  quoted  above  refer  to  plants  coming  from 
several  Mexican  states. 
It  is  but  natural  to  expect  considerable  variation  in  a  plant  indi- 
genous to  such  a  large  portion  of  the  North  American  continent,  and 
that  these  variations  should  apply  not  only  to  the  size  and  shape  of 
the  stem  and  leaves,  but  likewise  to  the  underground  portion.  Many 
of  the  Mexican  plants  in  herbaria  agree  very  well  (root  excepted)  with 
the  Kansas  plant  in  my  possession  which  has  occasioned  the  present 
investigation ;  still  other  Mexican  plants  have  been  observed  as  Pol. 
alba,  in  which  the  inflorescence  was  decidedly  thicker,  more  conical 
and  less  acute  than  in  the  other  forms  from  Texas  and  farther  north. 
For  a  sample  of  this  false  senega  root  from  Kansas  I  am  indebted 
to  Messrs.  Peek  &  Velsor;  it  is  of  the  same  handsome  light  color  as 
the  false  senega  of  1876,  and  agrees  in  all  essential  characters  with  the 
false  senega  root  seen  since  then,  except  that  some  of  these  samples  are 
somewhat  darker  in  color;  but  I  have  never  seen  it  as  deep  brown  in 
shade  as  the  much  larger  northern  senega,  which  has  been  in  commerce 
for  about  ten  years  or  more.  The  following  description  of  the  sample 
before  me  applies,  therefore,  with  the  variation  mentioned,  to  all  the 
samples  seen  during  the  past  thirteen  years. 
Commercial  false  senega  consists  of  but  little  broken  roots,  the  total 
length  of  which  varies  between  four  and  six  inches.    The  head  has  a 
