JO THE PLANT WORLD. 



lines, that are awaiting elucidation on every hand. The life-history 

 of very few plants is so well known that nothing remains to be found 

 out. But above and beyond this is the pleasure of knowing some- 

 thing of the life and activity going on around us. No matter how far 

 he may wander, the botanist is ever at home, for the plants are there 



also. 



* * 



Persons desiring specimens of the Sword Moss described in the 

 last number may obtain them by sending a request accompanied by a 

 two-cent stamp to Mrs. Elizabeth G. Britton, New Dorp, Staten Island, 

 N. Y. 



NOTES AfID NEV5. 



The genus Astragahis ( Milk -Vetch ) is probably the largest genus 

 of flowering plants in the world, over 1,300 species having been de- 

 scribed. About 250 species are natives of North America. 



The origin of the name flower-de-luce or fluer-de-lis, the common 

 name of the iris, is of much interest, and has given rise to no little 

 controversy. By some it is derived from fleur-de-Louis^ from its hav- 

 ing been assumed as his device by Louis VII. of France. From this 

 it is supposed to have undergone various changes, having been in all 

 probability contracted into fleur-de-luce, and finally into fleur-de-lys 

 or fleur-de-lis. By others the name fleur-de-lys has been derived from 

 Lays, in which manner the twelve first Louis signed their names, and 

 which was easily contracted into Lys. Still others consider it means 

 the flower that grows on the banks of the river Z,w, which separates 

 France and Artois from Flanders. 



Dr. J. N. Rose, of the U. S. National Museum, has just returned 

 from a five months' collecting expedition to Mexico. His first stop 

 was made at Guaymas on the West Coast, where he remained for sev- 

 eral days. Thence he went to La Paz in Lower California, and from 

 there to Mazatlan and Acaponeta, where he joined Mr. E. W. Nelson 

 of the U. S. Biological Survey, and together they crossed the two ranges 

 of the Sierra Madre. These mountains rise in some places to 9,000 

 feet above the sea. Most of the collecting was done in the States of 

 Durango, Zacatecas and Jalisco, in a region never before visited by a 

 botanist, and Dr. Rose brings back a magnificent collection of 2,000 

 numbers and over 1,500 species. The party came out on the eastern 

 side near Guadalajara and Dr. Rose also visited the City of Mexico on 

 his return. 



