80 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



of these leaves springs a single flower which Wood says is 

 fragrant but which does not appear to be always so. Pos- 

 sibly it is owing to its rarity that technical botanists fail to 

 agree on its color. Gray calls it purple, or whitish ; Britton 

 makes it purple varying to white and Wood calls it white or 

 rose-colored but adds that the outer sepals are dotted with 

 purple. It is difficult to understand what these authors mean 

 by purple. The purple of the ancients was what we would 

 call a brilliant red, nearly the color of the British flag. Mod- 

 ern purple is supposed to run all the way from lilac and violet 

 to mauve, but as long as we have these separate names for 

 the different colors or shades it is scarcely scientific to lump 

 them all under the term purple. In the vicinity of Joliet, 

 Aneiiwuc Caroliniana is fairly abundant and the plants con- 

 form to the book descriptions in having white flowers varying 

 to rose-color. There is in addition a form exactly matching 

 in color the early violets and this form does not appear to 

 intergrade with the others. In order to give it a distinctive 

 name we may call it Anemone Caroliniana forma riolacca. 

 It resembles the type in everything save the deep violet- colored 

 flowers. 



Western Plant Names. — The various species of Bro- 

 diaca are known as "fool's onion," the leaves, flowers and 

 bull)s closely simulating Alliuni, luit wholly without alliace- 

 ous taste or odor, so that the hungry traveler who thinks he 

 is going to have a feast is badly fooled! B. Douglasii is 

 sometimes known as "wild hyacinth," though, as you remark, 

 this name more properly belongs to Camassia. The many 

 species of Calochortns are collectively known as "Marioosa 

 lily, "and locally in Western Oregon as "cat's ear." from the 

 fine wool on the inside of the petals. This name properly 

 belongs to Hypocliaeris radicata, which in the Nortliwest re- 



