THE OLD FIELD PINE IN NEW JERSEY. 25 



ity, I was nonplussed. The outlook for finding one individual tree 

 somewhere in Cape May county seemed very dubious; but on the fol- 

 lowing day Mr. Price drove me around the region and I maintained 

 a sharp watch for any long-leaved pines. We finally left the road at 

 Cold Spring school-house and entered a patch of woodland by means 

 of a well-defined wagon track. The trees were mostly Querciis alba, 

 Q. ilicifolia, Q. digitata, Q. PJiellos and Q. rubra, with scattered trees 

 of Pinus Virginiana and P. rigida, and a typical pine barren under- 

 growth. The first pine met with on the edge of the woods at once 

 attracted my attention and it proved to be a thrifty P. Tceda, some 

 thirty-five feet tall, whose status as a native could no more be doubted 

 than could that of any other tree in the woodland. The search was 

 then continued through many miles of deciduous and pine woods, 

 and although hundreds of other pines with long needles were seen 

 and scores of them were closely examined, they all proved to be P. 

 rigida. 



The interesting question then arose whether I had by good luck 

 found Mr. Pinchot's tree, or whether I had found another specimen. 

 Subsequent communication between us assures the fact that two 

 trees have been located, quite a distance apart, and leads to the infer- 

 ence that these are not the only ones in the vicinity. In the mean- 

 time we may safely add P. Tceda to the native flora of New Jersey. 



While on a botanical trip towards the end of July, near Baltimore, 

 Md., we came across six or eight well-developed capsules of the Vir- 

 ginian snake-root {Aristolochia Serpentaria). It seems that this plant 

 seldom fruits, so that our find may be considered a good one. At 

 Loch Raven, near Baltimore, this species is quite plentiful, growing 

 in pine woods, and in one place on some rocky ledges with no great 

 supply of soil. It was from the plants in the latter situation that the 

 capsules were obtained. Not knowing their rarity we did not search 

 very carefully for them, but simply examined one or two of them and 

 saved four or five to show to botanical friends at home. As well as 

 we can remember there were two or three capsules left on the plants. 

 One of the countrymen who first showed me the plant in the pine 

 woods, pointed out that the tops of nearly all of them had been eaten 

 off. The only explanation he could offer was that some wild animal 

 sought it out for medicinal purposes, a fact no more surprising than a 

 dog's eating grass when unwell. No cattle or horses run in these 

 woods, and there is too little undergrowth to attract them. The 

 snake-root seemed to be the only plant injured. The countrymen 

 steep the roots in whiskey and take the concoction for colds. — C. E. 

 Waters^ Johns Hopkins University., Baltimore., Md. 



