12o 



glabrous. Petals oblanceolate, white, ^ longer than the sepals. Pods 



about 2 long and i^ wide, twisted, oval or obovate, nearly twice 

 as long as the stout, reflexed or widely spreading pedicels, arranged 

 about r' apart all along the stem with pedicels turned so that the 

 pods are all on the lower side of the stem, making the raceme appear 

 scorpioid. The stems show a decided tendency to twine, but they 

 seldom make a complete loop. 



This unique crucifer, which scarcely seems like a Draba^ I dis- 

 covered about fifteen miles south of the California line in Mexico 

 about sixty miles from San Diego, on April 7th, 1882. 



I have many specimens of a form of Clematis Itgustici folia with 

 perfect flow^er§. The plant grows along the coast, north of San 

 Francisco. 



The Tuckahoe- — In Virginia and in Maryland this name is applied 

 exclusively to that curious subterranean tuber, Pachyma cocas. This 

 tuber is found, I believe, in nearly all the Southern States, and as far 

 north as Kent County, Delaware. In Virginia and in Maryland, 

 whea large, they are frequently roasted and eaten with salt by the 

 negroes. This use of them they learned from the Indians, in whose 

 " bill of fare" the tuckahoe, so-called, was quite an important ele- 

 ment. It grovvs several feet below the surface of the ground and is 

 met with only by accident, as in clearing up the land and in making 

 ditches in damp places. When first taken from the earth the tubers 

 are soft enough to be cut with a knife- In shape, they vary, some 

 being oblong like a sweet potato, others globose and, with their coarse 

 brown bark, looking like a cocoanut. They also vary in size ; I have 

 seen them as large as a man's head. The internal substance is white, 

 has a fungoid odor and a taste that I have found mild and pleasant, 

 although it has been described as acrid. 



The tuckahoe is most mysterious in its habits. There is at no 

 time any external indication of its existence beneath the surface of 

 the ground. Hogs are very fond of it, and root it up as they do the 

 truffle. The internal substance contains an abundance of branch- 

 ing filaments; but no fertile form of the plant can be found, though 

 some effort has been made to do so the past two seasons. 



Tradition says that the Indians had another mode of preparing it, 

 b/ drying and pounding as they did corn, then converting it into 

 bread. 



Baltimore, Md. Mary E. Banning. 



(By request, we append the following additional notes on a pro- 

 duction that has always been a puzzle to botanists, and the origin of 

 which still remains a conjecture. 



M 



Jersey southward to the Gulf of 

 It is usually found at planting 

 time, when it is turned up by the plow. It often gives no indication of 

 having been attached to anything, although occasionally (especially 

 in the West) it has been found apparently parasitic on the roots of 

 large trees ; and, again, detached specimens have been found with a 

 piece of root enclosed in the mass. It was first brought to the notice 



