BOTANICAL NOTES. 1 67 



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Botanical Notes, Containing a Description of a New 

 Trillium. By Edward T. Nelson, Ph. D., Profes- 

 sor of Zoology, Geology, and Botany, in the Ohio 

 Wesleyan University. 



No doubt every collector's experience is much the 

 same as my own. Eyery season he will notice varia- 

 tions in plants not recorded in botanical works, pecu- 

 liarities in growth, colpr, or size, small things in 

 themselves yet of interest to all who are likewise en- 

 gaged. There is a brotherhood in science and thus the 

 private property of each soon becomes the public 

 property of all. During the Summer of 187 1 I no- 

 ticed a few points of^intcrest connected with Indiana 

 flowers, and some of the more interesting I shall 

 mention in this article. 



Mistletoe. [Phorodcndron jlavcscejis.) This par- 

 asitic plant being rather abundant I took occasion 

 during the Summer to note, first: On what trees is it 

 found?, second: Does it seem to injure them? I find 

 that the habits of this plant vary in different places 

 in regard to the trees upon v/hich it makes its home. 

 In southern Indiana, as far as my observations go, it 

 is never found on the Oaks, while in other parts of 

 the State and the West it is chiefly found on the 

 Oak. It would be of interest to determine whether 

 there is any difference in the plants growing in differ- 

 ent localities. I observed hundreds if not thousands 

 of trees, with special reference to the question and 

 did not find a single Oak covered by the parasite 

 although the oaks were well represented in the forest. 

 In a contracted area where the trees could be easily 

 counted I found that out of one hundred and' twenty 

 trees burdened with the Mistletoe one hundred and 

 nine were Elms, mostly the Ulmns Americana, 

 but now and then the Ulmus fulva, nine were the 

 common Sweet Locust {Gledilschia triacanthns), one 



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