BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 271 
North-American Botany. 
The distinguished and veteran botanist and traveller, Nuttall, 
has recently returned from another visit to America, where he has 
again happily been engaged in furthering the cause of Botany in 
the New World. While at Philadelphia, he inspected a collection 
of plants recently made by Mr. Gambel, during some extensive 
travels between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific. Unfortu- 
nately that portion gathered between the Missouri and Santa Fé 
was wholly lost ; or, at any rate, was committed to the charge of a 
person who never delivered itat its place of destination. The existing 
collection consists of about three hundred and fifty species, and 
was made on the route from Santa Fé to California. Among 
them are plants of considerable interest, especially some obtained 
on the island of Catalina, off the coast of San Pedro: and in par- 
ticular a shrubby Scrophularinea, with rather large, tubular, 
bright scarlet flowers (Gambelia, Nutt.), somewhat allied to Gat- 
vesia, Ruiz and Pav., and another shrubby plant, of dubious affi- 
nity, 4—5 feet high, with cuneate, small, entire, alternate leaves, and 
white flowers, not very unlike those of Pœony, as large as apple- 
blossoms; but its striking character consists in the presence of 
an arillus, forming a cup around the seeds, torn into so copious a 
fringe, that, on first opening the capsule, the seeds seem almost to 
be wrapped in tow. Of this collection Mr. Nuttall has described 
more than one hundred of the new or hitherto unrecorded species, 
which we believe will appear in the ‘Transactions of the Academy 
of Natural Science of Philadelphia. Mr. Nuttall brings word 
that the North American Flora of Messrs. Torrey and Gray is 
about to be continued immediately, and this is welcome intelli- 
gence to every botanist. | 
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