The flowers are white, having in the calyx a tinge of brownish purple. They are about as large as those of G. coccinnea. The plant is three or four feet high, the leaves small and short, and the stem slender.
This is the fifth species of gaura we have met with west of the Mississippi. The G. biennis of the Eastern States has not hitherto been found here.--JAMES.
[57] The entire courses of both streams lie within the state of Texas; they head in the Staked Plains and flow southeast to the Gulf. The Colorado (Blood Red) was named Brazos del Dio (Arms of God) by a Franciscan monk; but the Mexicans confused the streams and exchanged the names.--ED.
[58] The misinformation was not necessarily given intentionally. Many of the rivers of the southwest are colored red, and the Mexicans habitually called them Rio Colorado (Blood Red River). Especially was the Canadian so known; the upper Red seems to have been called Rio Negro. The Indians borrowed the Spanish nomenclature.--ED.
[59] Alexander Wilson (1766-1813), the son of a Scotch weaver, came to Philadelphia in 1794. After working as printer, weaver, peddler, and schoolmaster, his natural love for the sciences, quickened by the acquaintance of William Bartram, led him (1804) to begin the excursions and collections which resulted in the _American Ornithology_ (Philadelphia, 9 vols., 1808-14). Much of the plate work for these volumes was personally prepared by Wilson. His death was due to exposure in swimming a stream to capture a rare bird.--ED.
[60] Charles Alexander Lesueur (1778-1857) was the author of numerous studies of molluscs and reptiles, which were published in various scientific journals. During a residence at Philadelphia (1815) he was a contributor to the _Journal_ published by the Academy of Sciences. Upon returning to France, he became curator of the Havre museum.--ED.
[61] This is Dry River, in Texas, a short distance above the Antelope Hills, of Oklahoma. It is noted by Lieut. J. H. Simpson (1849).--ED.
[62] This is a portion of the country famed for the supposed cure of consumption.--ED.
[63] On this day the party probably crossed the line between Texas and Oklahoma. The Antelope Hills lie south of the river at this point.--ED.
