THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 31 



portions of Texas and Louisiana and well toward the southern 

 portions of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. This does not 

 mean that killing frost will occur in the localities and on the 

 dates specified every year, but that in the long run it occurs, 

 as indicated, in half the years. — Florists' Review. 



Erigenia Bulbosa. — When I was a boy in northern Ken- 

 tucky, Erigenia bulbosa was the first vernal flower. We would 

 rake away the heaps of beach leaves in the woods on the first 

 warm days in March and find the little umbels of white flowers 

 already unfolded. The little tubers were very eagerly sought 

 after by the children, who would organize regular hunting- 

 parties and bring them in by the quart. They had a delightful 

 nutty flavor, and were a real delicacy. Locally they were 

 known as turkey-peas — a name that I have never heard applied 

 to these tubers elsewhere; nor have I ever known any other 

 region where the edible qualities of the plant were as much 

 esteemed. — James C. Nelson, Salem, Ore. [Although the 

 little plant mentioned by Prof. Nelson is common in many parts 

 of our country it has never made much of an impression on 

 public fancy and several of the popular flower guides do not 

 include it. Those who know it usually call it Erigenia, though 

 the children dub it pepper-and-salt from the appearance of its 

 stamens and the poetically inclined botanizer mentions it as 

 daughter of spring and harbinger of spring, these terms being 

 rough translations of the scientific name. — Ed.] 



Lycopsida and Pteropsida. — Students of plant evolution 

 have reason for believing that all vascular plants may be 

 divided into two groups which have been named the Lycopsida 

 and Pteropsida respectively. The Lycopsida are distinguished 

 by many small leaves and by having their sporangia on the 

 upper side of the sporophylls or spore-bearing leaves. None 

 of the plants belonging to this group ever produced seeds. The 

 group was once very widely distributed, but it is now on the 

 decline and represented by only a few living forms, such as the 



