THB PLANT WORLD. 167 



it. Jack oaks are jack oaks the world over. Always the twisted black 

 trunk, with scales of rugged bark just ready to fall off, the same dark 

 green paddle-shaped leaves, the same half dead bristling branches, the 

 whole thing too large for a shrub and too small for a respectable tree. 

 In the jack oak timber the ground covering is the same too; a scant 

 growth of bunch grass, a few tall spindling sunflowers and other weeds, 

 and the rest sand; sand into which the wagon wheels sink over the 

 fellows, and through which the tired horses drag the heavy wagon. 

 Only occasionally does one encounter an open space where the grass 

 grows high, and even these glades are but a temporary relief and by 

 contrast only serve to increase the monotony. 



There is one flower, however, that grows abundantly in the sand 

 hills and particularly in the more open spaces among the trees that 

 may be considered the one redeeming feature of a jack oak forest. It 

 is the tall yellow evening primrose {^^nothera rJiomhipetala). It is 

 a tall wand -like plant 3 to 5 feet high, with clusters of bright yellow, 

 four-sided flowers an inch or two in diameter. It frequently grows in 

 clumps on the sides of sand hills, and when seen in the early morning 

 before the ephemeral flowers have begun to wither, it is a sight not 

 easily forgotten. 



But any number of species of beautiful flowers cannot compensate 

 for the drear}'^ monotony of a journey through the jack oaks. The tree 

 is practically worthless, except for fuel, and the trunk is so gnarled 

 and knotty that its value in this line is considerably lessened. It is too 

 small for lumber, and rots so readily in the ground that it cannot be 

 used for fence posts. In central Oklahoma, however, it is in many- 

 localities the only native tree that grows. For this reason it supplies 

 quite a large area with fuel, and is therefore of considerable economic 

 importance. 



The University of Oklahoma, Oct. 22, 1900. 



Mr. Edward L. Morris has published, in the Proceedings of the 

 Biological Society of Washington, a paper on some West Virginia 

 plants, being in part an enumeration of his collections made during 

 the past season in the southeastern part of the state. It includes 47 

 species unreported from West Virginia, and two new subspecies. Poly 

 pod'min rnlfjnre orc<)j^>Ji'hiii( and Yexnonia gujuniea 'piihescens^ 



