286 THE PLANT WORLD 



Briefer Articles. 



SOME INTERESTING PLANTS FORMERLY ABUNDANT NEAR 



GERMANTOWN, PA. 



In looking over the herbarium of the late William Wynne Wister, 

 Mr. Stewardson Brown, curator of the Botanical Section of the Academy 

 of Natural Science in this city, has found a great amount of material of 

 interest in general, and to the members of the W^ild Flower Preservation 

 Society in particular, so that I have appended a small list in order to show 

 what ravages have been committed within a few years as well as to show 

 what a fine flora was around our town but a short time ago. 



This collection was the result of the labors of a gentleman of leisure 

 and a lover of nature with a keen observation. It comprised a period of 

 about fifty years, actually beginning with a portion of the farther time, 

 and the records are very clear, complete, and unusually interesting, so 

 that the Botanical Section can be congratulated upon acquiring such a 

 natural history prize. 



At the time most of this was made Germantown was not so easy of 

 access nor the business center that it is now, but was largely given over 

 to fine residences with ample grounds attached. 



Now, however, solid sections of houses cover most of the territory, 

 and steam and trolley roads appropriate their share, while the few re- 

 maining hills and hollows once so beautiful with the choicest of forest 

 flowers have suffered alike by the hands and feet of the picnic multitude 

 and other city outgrowths. 



These are some that graced the hills, and kindly note them well : Large 

 Yellow Lady's Slipper {^Cypripedimn hirsuhim) , Tubercled Orchis {^Peru- 

 laria flava) , Yellow Fringed Orchis {Blephariglottis ciliaris), Northern 

 Pogonia {Triphora trianthophora) , Rose Pogonia {Pog07tia ophioglos- 

 soides). Heart-leaved Twayblade {Listera cordata). Fen Orchis {_Leptorchis 

 Loeselii), Green Adder's Mouth {Ac/iroant/ies nnifolijini) , Arethuse (Are- 

 thzisa bidbosa), the various coral roots {Corallorr/iizas^, Fringed Gentian 

 i^Geiitiana crinita) , Venny wort {Obolariavirgi?iica), Bog Bean {Menyanthes 

 trifoliata), Rose Pink {Sabbatia angularis), Pursh's Phacelia i^Phacelia 

 Purshii) . 



Even the lowly fern forms shared the same extinguishing fate, and 

 the botanist will kindly note the following : Scott's Spleenwort {Asplen- 

 ium ebe7ioides), Wall Rue Spleenwort {Asp/euii/m Riita-muraria) , Nuttall's 

 Spleenwort {Asplenium pimiatifidum) , together with the tall member of 



