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. 4, Pt. 3

BOTANY.
crassa, spongiosa. ilerba Californica, glabra. Foliadeoomposita. Involucrum oligophyllum
Involucella 6-8-phylla.
CYNAPIUM? (MICROTENIA) BIGELOVII. Hill sides, near Murphy's, California; May 16. Stem 3 feet
or more in height. Lower leaves a foot long, ternately decompound; segments pinnately incised,
with linear-lanceolate lobes. Umbels on long naked peduncles. Rays about 12, 2 or 3 inches in
length. Involucre of 5-6 linear leaves. Involucels somewhat lateral, the' leaflets lancelate
and reflexed, longer than the flowers. Umbellets moncecious, many-flowered; the male fl(wers
mostly central. Petals apparently white. Fruit (immature) about 3 lines long; the ribs very
indistinct. Vittee extremely minute, forming an almost uninterrupted circle around each mericarp. Differs from Cynapium in its much more compressed fruit, nearly obsolete ribs, and in
having an involucrum. Very likely the mature fruit would show other differences.
THASPIUM MONTANUM, Gray, Pl. Fendl. p. 57, and P1. Wright. 2, p. 65. Sandia mountains,
New Mexico; October.
CONIOSELINUM CANADENSE, Torr. & Gray, Fl. 1, -p. 69. Near Santa Antonita, in mountain
marshes; October. In fruit.,
DEWEYA? ACAULIS (sp. nov.): humilis; foliis 5-9-foliolatis e rhizomate repente crasso scapum
nudum simplicem subequantibus; foliolis cuneatis sessilibus acute trifidis quandoque 3-5-fidis
lobis patentibus acutis integerrimis; umbella solitaria; fructu subtereti, valleculis uniyittatis
In crevices of rocks near Santa Antonita, New Mexico; October. Of this there are only one or
two specimens in the collection, with some mature fruit, but no flowers. The genus is altogether doubtful; but it may, perhaps, be referred to Deweya until it is better known; although
the fruit is but slightly campylospermous, so that the plant should, perhaps, be referred to
the Seselinee. The seeds and the root-stock have a pleasant aromatic odor, much as in Ligusticum; from which genus, as well as from Deweya, our plant differs in the single large vitts
which fill the narrow intervals between the thick and corky, almost winged, rather obtuse ribs.
DEWEYA ARGUTA Torr. & Gray, Fl. 1,. 641. Near San Gabriel; March 22; in flower.
/. foliis triternati-sehtis; involucellis elongatis. D.? (n. sp.) Benth. -P1. Hartw., p. 312
Durand, Pl. Pratt. p. 89. Mountains near Oakland; April 5; in flower only. The Oakland
plant must be only a form of D. arguta, with the leaves more divided than usual.
APIASTRUM ANGUSTIFOLIUM, Nutt. tin Torr. & Gray, Fl. 1, p. 644. Hill sides, Napa valley;
April 26; plains near San Gabriel; March 23. We doubt whether A. latifolium is a distinct
species from this.
ARALIACE.
ARALIA RACEMOSA, Linn. Spec. 1, p.273? Bolinas bay, California; April 19; scarcely in flower.
The inflorescence is less compound, and the serratures of the leaves are much coarser than in
the eastern plant. Very likely this will prove to be a distinct species.,
CORNACE2E.
CORNUS NUTTALLII,- udubo, Birds of Amer. t. 367; Torr. &'ray, Fl. 1, p. 655; utt.
Sylv. 3, p. 51, t. 97. C. florida, Hook7. Fl. Bor.-Am. 1, p. 277, (ex parte.) till sides and
ravines, Duffield's Ranch, Sierra Nevada; May 12; in full flower. This beautiful treeattains
its highest perfection in lower Oregon, where Mr. Nuttall found it growing seventy feet high.
The involucral leaves vary in form. They are sometimes nearly as broad as in C. florida.
CORNUS SESSILIS, Torr. (in Durand, P1. Pratt. p. 89): floribus paullo ante folia late ovata subtus
pubescentia nascentibus; involucri foliis acutis; petalis acuminatis. (TAB. VIII.) Wet ravines
near Grass valley, California; May 20; with young fruit. A small tree, (10-15 feet high,) with
smooth, slender, flexile branches. Leaves 21 inches long and 1 inch wide, dull, closely approximated towards the extremity of the flowering branches. Umbel 15-20-flowered, appearing
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