74 Rhodora [APRIL 
SIEGESBECKIA ORIENTALIS IN ILLINOIS. 
EARL E. SHERFF. 
PRIOR to his death in 1882, Elihu Hall had gradually built up a 
large private herbarium, consisting of specimens from many parts of 
the world. A good portion of these were collected by himself in the 
western United States and determined by Asa Gray.! 
It was Mr. Hall’s custom to take seeds from various specimens col- 
lected by himself or obtained through exchange and to plant these 
upon his large estate near Athens, Illinois. This was done for several 
hundred species. After his death, no special effort was made to pre- 
serve any of these introduced species that might have been left, and 
what proportion of these have survived until the present day is a 
question naturally of interest. 
In August, 1916, upon the recommendation of Dr. C. F. Millspaugh 
of the Field Museum, Mr. O. E. Lansing, Jr. and myself were com- 
missioned by the Field Museum to visit Athens, Illinois, and make 
a thorough reconnaissance of the flora in the immediate vicinity of 
the Hall estate. Our instructions were, not only to obtain a repre- 
sentative collection of plants from that vicinity but to look with 
particular care for all exotic species that might have survived from the 
days of Elihu Hall’s activities. 
On reaching Athens, August 25th, we were entertained at the Hall 
estate by Mr. Julian Hall and family and were shown the utmost 
courtesy and kindness in the prosecution of our work. Immediately 
upon our arrival, we had our attention drawn to a large, coarse com- 
posite that was very common along the pathway from the dooryard 
to the barnyard and near certain fences. Aside from this species, 
which later was determined by Dr. B. L. Robinson as Siegesbeckia 
orientalis L., no trace could be found of the many introductions that 
had been made years before.2 Reference to the collections in the Field 
Museum Herbarium showed a specimen of precisely the same species, 
from the Bebb Herbarium. This plant had been collected by Elihu 
Hall, August 24, 1867, from among his plants under cultivation, and 
1 Concerning Elihu Hall’s life and travels, see Bot. Gaz. VII. 126 (1882), ibid. IX. 59 (1884). 
Concerning his herbarium, see Bot. Gaz. LXIL. 239 (1916). 
2 Except certain trees and ‘perennial herbs, such as violets, that had been set out about the 
yard and had received some degree of protection. 
