Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean: Vol. 2, Pt. 2

BOTANICAL REPORT.
Botanical -Report, by JOHIN TORREY and ASA GRAY, upon the Collections made by Captin
GUNNISON, Topograph7ical Engineers, in 1853, and by Lieutenant E. G. BECKWITa,
Third Artillery, in 1854.
I.-Plants collected by Mr. James A. Snyder, under the direction of Lieutenant E. G. Beckwith, U. S. A., in an expedition
made under his charge firom Great Salt Lake, Utah Territory, directly west to the Sacramento valley, in California, in the
months of May, June, and July, 1854.
II.-Plants collected by Mar. F. Creutzfeldt, under the direction of Captain J. W. Gunnison, U. S. A., in charge of exorations
for a railroad from Fort Leavenworth, via the Kansas, Arkansas, and Huerfano rivers, the Sangre de Cristo Pass, San Luis
valley, Coochetopa Pass, Grand and Green rivers, and thence into the Great Basin, in the vicinity of the Sevier or Nicollet
lake. The collection was made from early in June to late in October, 1853.
PART I.
Plants collected by Mr. JAMES A. SNYDER, under the direction of Lieutenant E. G. BEOKWITH,
U. S. Army, in an expedition made under his charge from Great Salt lake, directly west, to
the Sacramento valley, in California, in the months of May, June, and July, 1854.
AQUILEGIA CANADENSIS, Linn.; Torrey and Gray, Fl. 1, p. 29. In a canon east of the Sierra
Nevada; June 17. Few phanerogamous plants of this country have so great a geographical
range as has this species, (including the A. formosa, Fisch7er,) namely: from lHudson's Bay to
Florida and New Mexico, and from Unalaschka to California.
DELPHINIUM MENZIESII, DC, Syst. 1, p. 355; Hook. Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1, p. 25. Near Great Salt
Lake. Also, in a valley of the Sierra Nevada; with an incomplete specimen of what may be
a white-flowered variety; May and June.
ESCSCI-IOLTZIA CALIFORNICA, Cham. and Nee, Flor. Phys. Berol. p. 3, t. 15, non Lid.
Sierra Nevada; June 25.
TURRITIS RETROFRAcTA, Hook7. Fl. Bor.-,4mer. 1, p. 41. Summit of a mountain in the Great
Basin east of the Sierra Nevada. In flower only; June 1.
ERYSIMUM ASPERUM, )G.; Torr. and Gray, Fl. 1, p. 95. Mountains near Great Salt Lake;
May.
SPRAGUEA UMBELLATA, Torr. P1. Fremont, in Smithson. Contrib. p. 4, t. 1. Summit of Noble's
Pass, Sierra Nevada; July 3. The specimens of this interesting Portulacaceous genus accord
with those of Col. Fremont, who alone has gathered the plant hitherto; but being younger,
the corollas are more conspicuous, and the scarious sepals not so large.
LEWISIA REDIVIVA, Pursh, Fl. 1, p. 368; Hook. and Amr. Bot. Beech. p. 334, t. 86. On the
Sierra Nevada; June 25.
SIDALCEA MALV.FLORA, Gray, P1. Wright. 1, p. 16. Mountains east of the Sierra Nevada;
June 14.
VIOLA BECKWITHII, (n. sp.): subcaulescent; ascending stems abbreviated; cauline leaves biternately or pedately parted, decurrent on the margined petiole, the lobes or segments oblonglinear, hirsute-puberulent; stipules minute, scarious, entire; sepals linear, obtuse, ciliolate;
lower petal barely saccate at the base, purple, with yellow claws, the two upper shorter and
deep violet. On the slope of a mountain between Great Salt Lake and the Sierra Nevada;