THE PLANT WOELD 201 



Bhus toxicodendron, Ambrosia fri/ida, Thalictrnm purpurascens, all the 

 harbingers of a mesophytic flora. Conditions, however, are near the 

 minimum for mesophytic vegetation, and no farther advance is possible 

 in the evolution of the island. 



In studying the island flora it may readily be perceived that it is 

 but a portion of the development of the mesophytic flora of the second 

 bottoms and of the uplands. Suppose we start with a prairie and a 

 river with all the soil conditions from the sandy low shore to the up- 

 lands. The vegetation near the water is the Salix nigra zone, next 

 comes the Salix discolor zone, third, the Popuhis monilifera zone, 

 fourth, the mesophytic zone, which passes from its meso-hydrophytic 

 conditions on the low bottoms to true mesophytic conditions on the 

 upper second bottoms, and as further development comes advancing up 

 the highlands and becoming meso-xerophytic on neutral ground. 

 Should our island in its evolution become attached to the mainland the 

 vegetation would advance interiorly as indicated. 

 Iowa City, Iowa. 



ORIGIN OF PLANT NAMES.* 



By Grace Stoddard Niles. 

 n. THE LADY'S SLIPPERS AND MOCCASIN FLOWERS. 



FOLLOWING Bninfels, Fuchs and Bock from 1530 to 1555, we find 

 that Dr Eembert Dodoens, physician to the Dutch Emperor^ 

 published an important History of Plants in the Low Countries 

 from 1555 to 1578. This work was translated into French, and Henry 

 Lyte of England translated it from French into English, January 1st, 

 1578, according to his Epistle to Queen Elizabeth. Mr. Lyte added, 

 therefore, to the original text all that he knew of English plants, and 

 their common names. There are very few extant copies of the original 

 edition of Lyte's English translation. As I possess one of these, I thus 

 have explanations of the origin of many common plant names known 

 to the early writers from Theophrastus to Lyte. 



Taking up the derivations of our lady's slipper, one must become 

 familiar with the mode of observation of the ancients. The leaves, 

 roots, shapes of flowers, and poisonous and healing properties had much 

 to do with the popular designations used. 



The natural order of classification followed today was unknown to 



early writers. Pliny ( 23-79 A. D.) knew and described species of Orchis, 



Satyrion and Serapias, but these names applied to two-leaved species of 



Orchis having spiked racemes. The earliest record of our lady's slipper 



* Continued from September issue. 



