THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 103 



the journey the greater will the changes be. There are 

 some plants, to be sure, that are seldom missing during 

 the blooming season. One of these is the flea-bane {Erig- 

 iron) whose insignificant daisy-like flowers may be seen 

 throughout the summer season in all the Central and 

 Eastern States. Another is the common buttercup 

 {Ranunculus acris) though in some sections other species 

 take the place of the common one. But ordinarily a few 

 hundred miles is sufficient to carry one out of the range of 

 a given species, or at least out of the center where it is 

 plentiful. A fe^A^ days ago I had some excellent illustra- 

 tions of this in travelling from Joliet, 111., to Binghamton. 

 Shortly after leaving -we began to pass through masses of 

 a pink phlox-like flower, which though I had never seen 

 it growing I assumed to be Phlox pilosa. It had the 

 general habit of Phlox divaricata but with blossoms of 

 the same color as those of the moss pink (P. subulata). 

 All along the line of the Michigan Central from Chicago 

 to Detroit it was the most abundant and the brightest 

 object in the landscape. Then it suddenly vanished and 

 was seen no more. Along with the phlox was the common 

 blue flag. It appeared at intervals all along the way, but 

 it w^as most abundant, or at least most noticable, in 

 southern Michigan. Such masses of Iris I have never seen 

 equalled elsewhere, except, perhaps, in Louisiana late in 

 April. Still another color-note in the Michigan landscape 

 I utterly failed to identify. Possiljly some Michigan cor- 

 respondent can enlighten me. It was a deep rich yellow 

 but was not a buttercup, nor a dandelion, nor Rudheckia 

 hirta. It had the look ot a Composite and I think is a 

 plant new to me. 



East of Michigan Cit3^the lupine began to appear and 

 soon the roadsides were blue with it. Later this gave 

 place to the purplish-lavender clumps of beard-tongue 

 {Pentstemon puhescens) and for long distances this color 

 took its turn in being the dominant one. No doubt a few 

 days or weeks will see this color give way to a new one, 

 but at the time of our trip it had no near competitors. 



