S2 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



never been molested from that clay to this. Nor is it ever 

 likely to be touched save by the tooth of Time. 



Mr. George Foster Peabody, of New York, who has a 

 great love for such sentiment, has taken steps to prevent the 

 old tree from being molested. He has had granite posts placed 

 around the land the tree owns, and these are connected by an 

 iron chain. The ground has been filled in around the roots 

 and plenty of good soil has been placed there to give the tree 

 ample nourishment. A plate has been prepared with an in- 

 scription telling of the history of the tree. 



A NEW FORM OF PRUNELLA VULGARIS 



By J. C. Nelson. 



/^\XE of the most familiar plants encountered by the col- 

 ^■^ lector in the northern half of the continent from New- 

 foundland to Alaska and extending southward to Florida, 

 southern California, and the mountains of Mexico is the self- 

 heal or heal-all, sometimes known as carpenter-weed. It 

 seems able to adapt itself to a great variety of locations, grow- 

 ing on lawns and roadsides, in pastures and cleared ground, 

 often on the borders of woods, and extending to considerable 

 altitudes in the mountains. Unlike most Labiatae, it is not 

 distinguished by any aromatic odor, but has enjoyed consider- 

 able repute as a medicinal herb, and was supposed by the 

 early herbalists to possess great healing virtues in almost .all 

 kinds of diseases, particularly of the throat and respiratory 

 organs. 



The plant is common in Europe, and was described by 

 Linnaeus in 1753 ( Sp. PI. 000) as Prunella vulgaris, although 

 the pre-Linnean spelling Brunella, supposedly derived 

 from the German Braeune, applied to various diseases of the 



