232 THE PLANT WORLD 



which left no reasonable doubt after finding such unique leaves. "Man- 

 itoba and Texas," are the nearest points mentioned in the Illustrated 

 Flora. August 22, 1896, I found Trihulus terresfris in the village of 

 Newport, Rock county, very abundant, and observed during the two 

 })revious years. It formed a suitable companionship with the sand-bur 

 {Cenchrus frihuloides), with which it was so intermingled that collecting 

 it was a disagreeable task. It seemed possible that it had been brought 

 west in " relief goods," during the drought of 1894, as the burs will 

 stick even into boxes, and might be carried for long distances. It be- 

 longs on the Atlantic coast, as an accident from ballast, I suppose. In 

 1900, I found two or three hundred plants of Sisymbrium altissimiim in 

 a vacant lot in Ewing, the eastern village of Holt county. Previously 

 Minnesota had been the nearest locality. 



May 14, 1896, I found in Long Pine Caiion, Brown county, a plot 

 of Geranium maculatum about a yard in extent. Dr. Britton would not 

 believe that I could be correct until he saw it. It blooms profusely, 

 but spreads only by stolons underground, probably lacking cross fer- 

 tilization. A careful search has failed to disclose any other plants. 

 Whether this is a survival of ancient times when a moister climate pre- 

 vailed in this pai-t of "the great American desert," or how else it is to 

 be accounted for is a puzzle for the scientists. I have found no prob- 

 able evidence that any settlers brought it from the east, and I am con- 

 fident that no one in that \dcinity knows wdiere to find it. I did not 

 dare to disclose it to others for fear of its destruction. Two miles up 

 the canon, in 1899, I found Pyrola elUptica and Avena striata growing 

 together in a shady dell under black walnut trees. Pyrola had not 

 been found before in Nebraska, and Avena but once, in the northwest 

 corner of the State, over 250 miles away. 



In my yard in Long Pine, I found in May, 1898, about two hun- 

 dred plants of Erysimum repandum, a weed of Syria and Palestine. It 

 had been found once before, on ballast in Philadelphia, and mine was 

 the second collection to find its way into the National Herbarium. It 

 is slowly spreading into vacant lots, and maintains itself well on the 

 same spot. Will somebody account for it? The same year I found 

 Litliospermum arvense in a back yard in Long Pine — a dozen strong 

 plants — where it had never been seen before. It has been collected 

 at Lincoln, 250 miles east. My friends who found it on their premises 

 are acute observers, very fond of plants, and could not have passed it 

 by in other years. The next year it did not " show up," nor has it since. 



In Cherry county there are six miles of Galtlia palustris gilding the 

 marsh of Boardman creek. I know of no other locality nearer than 

 Iowa. In Sheridan county, which is west of Cherry county, I found 

 SoUdago speciosa abundant in a dry canon thirteen miles northwest of 



