THE PLANT WOKLD 151 



RARE PLANTS AND THEIR DISAPPEARANCE. 



By L. H. Pammel. 



ACOEKESPONDENT at Corydou, Iowa, Mr. T. S. WTiittaker, has 

 sent me a specimen of Veratrum Woodii, which is one of the 

 rarest plants in this State, with the following explanatory re- 

 marks: 



"I send you by this mail under separate cover a specimen and 

 stalk of a plant found growing wild on the prairies. The specimen I 

 send is hardly a fair sample, as they usually grow to the height of from 

 three to five feet, and the flowers are two or three times as large. It is a 

 new plant to me, and I have failed to find any one who has ever seen 

 one before. I found them first eight years ago this season growing in 

 a ' sloo ' on the prairie — extending uj) and down for about one-half mile 

 were probably several hundred of the plants in sight. I gathered prob- 

 ably fifty of them and took them home and used them to decorate a 

 church with — pulpit and organ. They created general interest, but no 

 one had ever seen one before. 



" I went back early in the fall to get some roots or seeds, but the 

 * sloo ' had been burned over, and not a sign of them could be found. 

 Every time I passed by there — summer or winter — I looked to see 

 them — none there. Five years after (three years ago this summer) I 

 found about two dozen of them in the same locality. They were in full 

 bloom. I went out next day; took a couple of boxes in a buggy, and a 

 spade, and dug up four of the plants, roots and all, dug up sod for 

 about eight inches each side of the plants, then cut the sod away until 

 they would fit in the boxes. I brought them home, set them out very 

 carefully, and they did not wilt at all. They have come up every sea- 

 son since, but this is the first time they have blossomed, and only two 

 have bloomed this season. 



" The one I send you is about three feet high, and has only four 

 branches to the flower, whereas they generally have ten or twelve, mak- 

 ing the flower much larger than this. The two plants had six flower 

 stems and flowei-s, two on one and four on the other, but the ■^ind blew 

 a tree on them and damaged part of them. I do not understand why 

 they are no larger, unless perhaps on account of the extremely hot, dry 

 weather. I have been out to where I got these, and found but one 

 plant growing, and that not going to blossom. I took it up and brought 

 it home. 



"I presume this is a well-known plant to you, but I have hved 

 here forty-three years, and these are the only ones I have seen, and I 

 fail to find any one that has seen them before. I presume the birds 

 dropped the seeds at first." 



