8 Holm — Additions to tJie Flora of WasJiington. 



The discovery of species new to a local flora is always a 

 great encouragement to the explorer, but it is nevertheless just 

 as important to discover a well known but rare species in new 

 localities; the rediscovery of an apparently lost or extinct 

 species seems to us to be still more interesting and important, 

 and we may cite among such instances the flnding of Aralia 

 quinquefolii(, Oicuta hulhifera., Phylhinthxs and ( ^i/f<topteris bul- 

 h if era. 



It is surprising to see how many rare species may be found 

 in old, well known localities, when these are visited regularly 

 every month. Frequent excursions to Great Falls, Marshall 

 Hall, Surattsville, etc., have brought forth a number of rare 

 plants, hitherto overlooked, and even the old and well explored 

 region around the Reform School seems to furnish an almost 

 incessant increase of new or rare plants. On the other hand 

 some of the older and most interesting localities are rapidly un- 

 dergoing destruction, as for instance the famous Terra Cotta 

 swamp, which at present is almost entirely changed to a miser- 

 able "corn field," and many of the species which were reported 

 from that region are no longer to be found there. So much the 

 more does it seem necessary to keep permanent track of the 

 representatives of our local flora before the immediate vicinity 

 becomes altogether transformed to building-lots and gardens. 



In the present list some very interesting contributions have 

 been kindly furnished by Dr. E. L. Greene, Messrs. Thos. II. 

 Kearney, Jr., Wm. R. Maxon, G. W. Oliver, and Wm. Pal- 

 mer, whose names a])pear in connection with their respective 

 discoveries; where no collector is named, the species has been 

 found by the writer himself, and the plants are all deposited in 

 his private herbarium. The species marked with an asterisk 

 are new to the local flora. 



I. Clematis Virginiana L. 



Four Mile Run; marshes near Kenilworth. 



12. Ranunculus ambigens Wats. 



Muddy creek-bottom near Marshall Hall. E. L. Greene. 



13. Ranunculus pusillus Poir. 



In a pool among the rocks near Sandy Landing. 



15. Ranunculus abort! vus L., var. micranthus Nutt. 



Not uncoijimon in the woo(^s between Sa,ndy Landing and Great Fallsi 



