91 
I first saw the plant in 1857, when it made its appearance on my 
place simultaneously with Lespedeza striata, and I attribute its 
introduction here to the servants, who formerly had frequent inter- 
course with those at the Belleville factory. I have seen the plant 
in numerous places along the South Carolina Railroad, and also in 
Savannah, and there is scarcely a roadside within many miles of 
Augusta, if the soil is sandy, that is free from this plant. While it 
seems to prefer sandy localities, it will grow quite luxuriantly on 
clay soils. Mr. Ravenel gave me its name many years ago. 
Clerodendron Siphonanthus.—In 1870 a friend gave me a 
water color painting, which he made in 1854 or 755, of a plant 
found growing at Charleston, S. C., in which city he then lived, 
with a request to give him the name of the plant. Not recognizing 
it, I sent the drawing to Mr. H. W. Ravenel of Aiken, S. C., who 
was also unable to give the name, and I afterwards sent the draw- 
ing to Dr. George Thurber for the purpose of ascertaining its name. 
Tn 1873 I found numerous specimens of the plant in a garden in 
Augusta, from which I procured some flower stems and sent them 
to Dr. Thurber, who in a few days replied to my query, by giving 
it the name— Clerodendron Siphonauthus. I at the same time sent 
specimens to Prof. Asa Gray, who wrote me afew days after Dr. 
Thurber, giving it the same name. When Mr, Ravenel received 
the drawing, he informed me that the plant had been growing in bis 
garden for several years, it having been sent to him from lower 
South Carolina, but that his produced white flowers. The drawing 
was made from plants found on Sullivan’s Island, in Charleston 
harbor, it being supposed that the seed was introduced with ship’s 
ballast, unloaded at the island. Being in Macon, Ga., in the fall of 
1873, I saw several specimens of the plant in the garden of Wm. 
B. Johnston, Esq., to whom I gave the name, which I had recently 
received from Drs. Gray and Thurber, and it being difficult to 
remember, wrote it down for him. : shawl 
Ihave both the yellow and white flowered forms in cultivation, 
the latter from Mr. Ravenel. The plants perfected their fruit in_ 
the fall of 1874; it is a fleshy berry of an intense sky-blue color. 
P. J. BerckMANs, 
I feei quite sure that I saw Acanthospermum described in one 
of the southern agricultural journals, several years ago, but not 
having access to a file of these, I am unable to give the reference. 
Grorce THURBER. 
§ 94. Phaseolus multiflorus.—In “ Vegetables cultivated by the 
Indians, II.” (Bur. p. 87) it is said that “ Dr. Trambull thinks the 
American bean described by Cornuti, pp. 184-5, could not have 
been P. multiflorus, L., as the seeds were ‘subrotundi et nigri.’” 
The present writer having given expression, at the same place cited 
just above in your article, to a different view, it is proper to say 
that Willdenow who, and not Linnus, was the author of P. multi- 
florus, founds the latter directly on Cornuti’s plant. (Willd. Sp. 
Pl. 3, p. 1030.) As to Purslane we cannot, except by inference, 
earry it further back than “the first settlement of the country,’ 
which is the date assigned in the note on Josselyn. 
