136 THE PLANT WORLD. 



It would be interesting to know just how each of these plants was 

 first introduced into this country; whether by accident or design. But 

 whatever their means of emigration they have usurped the soil, and 

 are here to stay. 



August 2, 1900. 



M 



A VISIT TO THE HOME OF NEVIUSIA. 



By Charles Louis Pollard. 



ANY years ago a clergyman of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in com- 

 pany with one of the professors in the State L^niversity there, 

 discovered on the banks of the picturesque Black Warrior 

 River an odd-looking shrub. The season was springtime, and the shrub 

 was putting forth a profusion of white flowers which strongly indicated, 

 in their general structure, an aflinity to the Rose family. After a 

 vain attempt to identify the plant by consulting Chapman's flora, the 

 discoverers followed what was in those days the universal practice, — 

 they sent the plant to Dr. Gray, at Harvard. To their surprise, a 

 reply came from the great botanist stating that the plant was not only 

 unknown to science, but formed the type of a new genus of Rosaceae, 

 well marked in its characters, and remarkal)ly distinct even from the 

 exotic genera to which it was most nearly related. As the clergyman. 

 Dr. Nevius, had conducted most of the correspondence, Dr. Gray 

 naturally gave him the honor of a dedication, and the plant was pub- 

 lished as Neviusia Alahamensis. 



During a recent collecting trip in the South a visit was made to 

 Tuscaloosa for the purpose of seeing this and other rare plants of that 

 region, and 1 was most fortunate in meeting Prof. W. S. Wyman, who 

 was Dr. Nevius' companion on the trip during which the discovery 

 was made. From his interesting account I learned that Dr. Gray 

 erred ascribing the discovery of the plant to Dr. Nevius; for it was 

 first observed by Dr. Wyman, who had proceeded some distance ahead 

 of his associate. These facts never have been made public, so far as 1 

 am aware, and it is unfortunate that the laws of botanical nomenclature 

 forbid the substitution of Wymania for N'cvlusia. 



The original station for the plant was, as stated, on the banks of 

 the Black Warrior River, not far from the University. Unfortunately 

 blasting operations along the river front have completely destroyed it 



