KALM'S ST. JOHN'S-WORT WEST OF MICHIGAN. 73 



while collecting in 1883, along the east bank of the Menominee river, 

 which forms in part the boundary between Michigan and Wisconsin. 

 It grew on the rocks of a wild locality called " The Sandy Portage," 

 a few miles south of Quinnesee, Mich. There is no reason why it 

 should not be present on the rocks of the opposite bank in Wisconsin. 

 The species should be looked for in a goodly part of the northern half 

 of the State where the proper conditions for its growth exist, in the 

 sandy and rocky areas bordering streams and lakes. Neither the 

 rocks nor sands where it flourishes are always or necessarily " wet." 

 In the dune region by Lake Michigan it frequently affects rather dry- 

 ish conditions, though commonly growing not far from the water of a 

 neighboring slough or hollow, where water stands during some por- 

 tion of the year. We may judge of plants as of men, by the company 

 they keep. Its companions are frequently such plants as Aqiiilegia 

 Canadensis., Litliospcrniuni Jiij'tuin, Liipimis perennis ; shrubs like 

 Vacciniiini Pennsylvaniciun, V. vacillans, Gaylussacia resinosa, Rosa 

 huniilis, and trees such as the Black Oak {Quercus velutina). Sassafras 

 and the Gray and the White Pine. It is unusual to find it in the 

 woods proper, but in open spaces between the tree border and the 

 grasses and sedges of the sloughs, or such wetter-ground shrubs as 

 Rosa Carolinia7ia, Potentilla frnticosa and the Aronias. Mingling its 

 bright yellow with the paled shade of yellow shown by the shrubby 

 Potentilla, it may be seen among the dunes covering large plots with 

 an abundance of yellow flowers and with pretty scenic effect. 



It is to be hoped that our hand-books of botany will, in the 

 future, give the plant a geographical range more in accord with the 

 facts of its distribution. From the reading of the latest, that of Brit- 

 ton and Brown, it would almost seem, at the north, to be restricted to 

 the province of Ontario — "Niagara Falls to Sault Ste. Marie along 

 Lakes Erie and Huron; also at Mushoka, Ont.," a range literally 

 taken from Macoun's " Catalogue of Canadian Plants." But the lit- 

 erature for its more extended range has existed for some time, all of 

 it by no means inaccessible, though perhaps easily overlooked. Much 

 delving in local catalogues ^is still needed to get the proper range of 

 many of our plants, together with the study of their environment for 

 a just understanding of their ecology. 



Chicago, 111. 



Mr. L. H. Dewey describes in the current number of Erythea a 

 new weed which has made its appearance at several points in the 

 Pacific States. It is the Molucca Balm {Molncella IcBvis'L.), a member 

 of the Labiatae, frequently cultivated in gardens for the sake of its pecu- 

 liar green flowers, which resemble shells. The plant is a native of Asia, 



