15 
abundant fruit. A single specimen of Aconitum uncinatum, L., 
was found on a high bank, and Jpomea coccinea, L., with Chrys- 
opsis graminifolia, Nutt, grew wild in cultivated grounds. 
But Asheville is too civilized, and walking was far from agree- 
able in that dusty, hilly region, so we took the afternoon train on 
the W. N.C. R. R., reaching Black Mountain Station in the 
evening. Here, indeed, all else save the hotel is wild and beau- 
‘tiful. In the valley on the eastern side of the railroad there is a 
mica mine, to which we walked the morning after our arrival, 
botanizing as we went. The woods were sandy and dry, and 
autumn was suggested by the tint of the Sorrel Tree and the 
brown nuts of the Chinquapins. Gerardias were in bloom. 
G. purpurea, L., and G. Skinneriana, Wood, and Solidago 
Boottii, Hook, were collected. Helianthus occidentalis, var. Dow- 
ellianus, T. and G., and Coreopsis sentfolia, Michx., added to the 
list of yellow blossoms. The prostrate plants of Lespedeza striata, 
Hook. and Arn., carpeted the ground along the roadsides; and 
Cuscuta compacta, Juss., climbed up the Blueberry bushes; 
Cacalia atriplicifolia, L., and Polygala fastigiata, Nutt., were in 
bloom in the meadows. 
It was as a special treat that we had decided at the last to 
ascend Mt. Mitchell, for having thoroughly explored the Roan 
we had little expectation of adding much to our collections, only 
we should have come away dissatisfied had we failed to climb 
this, the highest mountain east of the Rockies. Unlike the 
Roan, however, it has no carriage road up it, so that the 
ascent has to be made on horseback, and instead of a big hotel 
full of people, on the summit there is only the rock-encircled 
grave of Elisha Mitchell. Like the Roan, its base is wooded and 
heavily timbered with magnificent forest trees and a dense under- 
growth of Rhododendron and Laurel along the streams. These 
were numerous, and we crossed and recrossed them many times 
in our winding ascent. I longed to visit these wilds in spring to 
see the flame-colored Azalea in bloom, whose fruit-laden branches 
hung over our path. Of low plants there were few in bloom in 
the shady woods. Diéphylleia cymosa, Michx., grew in hollows 
of the streams, and Amianthium muscetoxicum, Gray, and 
Aster Curtisii, T. & G., along the path, Among the ruins of the 
