PRAIRIE-FLOWERS OF EARLY SPRING. 93 



have sixteen species of trees yielding wood heavier than water. Nearly 

 all of these are in the Southern States, and several are confined to the 

 extreme south of Florida, which is a tropical or sub-tropical region. 

 The Southern pine {Pinus palustris, L.), from which we get an excel- 

 lent lumber, besides pitch, tar, turpentine, etc., is nearly twice as heavy 

 as the Northern or white pine {Pi?ius strobits, L.). The very hardy 

 box-elder yields only a light wood. It would seem that firmness of 

 texture and great specific gravity of wood are not characteristics that 

 accompany ability to induce wide ranges of conditions and sudden 

 changes in temperature. 



The little everlasting, with leaves like the plantain, although cov- 

 ered with a soft, silky wool, is the earliest representative of the largest 

 of all the natural orders of flowering plants, the Compositaz or sunflower 

 family. It does not announce its coming into bloom by any display of 

 showy colors, and the young naturalist could be forgiven for either 

 not seeing it, or not desiring to struggle with it, through the bewilder- 

 ing maze of the key to the genera of this difficult order. 



The Viola cucullata of Aiton has gone, and in its place we must 

 write V. palmata, var. cucullata. Dr. Gray, in his recent revision 

 of the North American violets, of which he finds thirty-three species, 

 has restored Viola palmata of Linnaeus. This is a very variable spe- 

 cies. There seems to be no part of leaf or flower that is not subject 

 to a wide range of variation, unless we except the three-valved pod 

 with its single cavity. Many species of violets are remarkable for a 

 second kind of flowers, which are inconspicuous, closed, and self-fertile. 

 They may be found in all stages of development beneath the soil and 

 throughout the growing season. Last autumn the writer gathered a 

 quantity of the seed from the underground pods and mixed them with 

 seeds from pods produced by the ordinary flowers, and no one of the 

 many persons to whom the mixture was submitted could detect any 

 difference. Yesterday (October 14th) a class of one hundred students 

 in elementary botany analyzed the Viola palmata, L. Abundant ma- 

 terial for this exercise was obtained on a piece of land near a railroad 

 that had been burned over during the prolonged drought which lasted 

 for more than two months in midsummer. The plants having passed 

 through so severe a season, which was followed by abundant warm 

 rains, perhaps have been deceived, and are arrayed in the garb they 

 had prepared for spring. The form with entire leaves the old V. 

 cucullata tinge the bank of the railroad-track with their unusually 

 high-colored flowers, while the palmata is abundant on the higher 

 land. The V. delphinifolia (Nutt.) is our most common violet of 

 spring, but it has not been found in bloom this autumn, nor has any 

 other than the ones mentioned been reported, although we have eight 

 or more species and some varieties in the State. 



The 20th of the month of showers, of smiles and tears, as the 

 poet would say or has said, brought out the Amelanchicr Canadensis 



