200 Rhodora [October 



Calluna vulgaris in Southern New Hampshire. — Through 

 the kindness of Mr. Clarence H. Knowlton of Chelmsford, Massa- 

 chusetts, I am enabled to add Calluna vulgaris from New Hamp- 

 shire to my list of New England Ericaceae. A cross should be 

 entered for this State, as Mr. Knowlton has sent me specimens of 

 the plant. These were accompanied by the following note under 

 date of September 21, 1902 : — "While on a botanical excursion in 

 Pelham, N. H., Sept. 13, 1902, my attention was called by chance 

 acquaintances to a small clump of heather. It grew in moist grass- 

 land beside the so-called ' mammoth road,' the old-time stage-route 

 from Boston to Concord, N. H., less than half a mile from the 

 Massachusetts line. It grew across the road from a house, but not 

 in a place where it would be set as a garden plant. The present 

 occupants of the place have no knowledge of the time of introduction, 

 and it has probably been in existence for several years. The new 

 electric line from Lowell to Pelham passes the bush, which seems to 

 have suffered from hard usage during the construction of the railroad. 

 This is, I believe, the first record of the plant in New Hampshire." 



I have now seen Calluna vulgaris from Maine (Cape Elizabeth), 

 New Hampshire (Pelham ), Massachusetts (Andover, Halifax, Nan- 

 tucket, Tewksbury and West Townsend), and Rhode Island (Great 

 Island). If it grows in Vermont or Connecticut, the vigilant botan- 

 ists of these States will not leave it long undiscovered. — Walter 

 Deane, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 



Destruction of our Native Flora, A Plea for Informa- 

 tion. — Now that public interest in the protection and preservation of 

 our native plants is being aroused, it is most desirable that full and 

 accurate information should be obtained in regard to the causes 

 threatening the extermination of our more beautiful and rarer wild 

 flowers in different parts of our country. Some of these causes will 

 be found inevitable, some preventable; all of them need study. 

 Information especially should be obtained in regard to the depreda- 

 tions, often tortious, on our plants for commercial purposes. With 

 facts before us some effective action may be taken, while ultrasenti- 

 mental arguments accomplish nothing. Realizing this need of col- 

 lecting evidence relating to the needless destruction of our flora, the 

 Society for. the Protection of Native Plants has recently appointed a 



