THE PLANT WORLD. 105 



the cavities a soil had lieen formed and ])lants nre o-rowinsf. Little 

 Clip-like hollows that were dry, and sometimes scarcely lari^^er than 

 one's fist, hold such plants as Solldago jimcfa and Trisetum svl>spica- 

 tum. Larger and deeper bowl -shaped hollows contained water in ad- 

 dition to the soil, or were very moist. The water made a little muddy 

 pool at the bottom of the shallow cavity. A difi'erent plant society 

 had established itself under these hydrophitie conditions. It was 

 mainly composed of Prkaida Jfista.'^-^micd, Pinguicula vuglaris and 

 Scirpus caefipitosus. The Primula and the Schpuft were rooted in the 

 soil, the Pinguicula grew on the more naked sides of the bowl near 

 the edge of the water. These hollows were kept well supplied with 

 moisture by rains, and beino- oenerallv near the edo-e of the mass of 

 rock when they had these three plants, would readily be sprinkled with 

 spray from waves dashing against its vertical sides, or when the waves 

 ran high would get a heavier bath from the broken crests. The three 

 l)lants, being wet rock and swamp species, found in these hollows a 

 cono;enial home. 



C'hicaa'o. 111. 



SOME NAMELESS PLANTS. 

 By A. H. CuRTiss. 



ONE source of vexation to travelling botanists is the finding of 

 plants which, while presumably new to science, are undeter- 

 minable because of the entire lack of flowers or fruit. In 

 Florida I have met with a number of plants of this sort and most of 

 them still remain unnamed. 



The most remarkable of these plants grows on the southern edge 

 of the Everglades. It appears to be entireh^ leafless as well as flower- 

 less, being mostly a thick green vine running about among grass iind 

 bushes, and resemblint; nothincr so much as the slender o-reen snake 

 Avhich is frequently seen in Florida gliding through bu? lies or dro])ping 

 from branches of trees. What might be teiined rudimentary leaves 

 are found in a few brown biact-like scales. In 1881 I sent a specimen 

 to the Department of Agriculture, and Dr. Vasey suggested that it 

 might be YaniUa planifoJ ia . I was told that the same plant is rather 

 common in the Bahamas, and I presume it is identical with an un- 

 named plant mentioned in Baron Eggers' Flora of St. Croix and the 

 Virgin Islands, but of slenderer growth. It is described as follows: 



