THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 111 



I should have stated that the utricle is strictly obovate and es- 

 sentially the same as in /\. scoparia. One change should be 

 made in the description. I find a slight tendency to redden at 

 maturity. About one plant in ten has the habit. I have word 

 from the National Herbarium that Mr. Paul G. Standley says 

 that it is nothing l)ut K. scoparia. He does not trouble him- 

 self to state how a species can be described correctly in all the 

 botanies as having the calyx developed into thickened triangu- 

 lar wings and still have broad membranaceous wings which 

 are just the opposite. He does not explain why we have K. 

 scoparia here at Red Cloud, Nebraska, in abundance as an es- 

 cape and no trace oi K. alata while the stations north and west 

 are being overrun with the latter. Its weedy character sepa- 

 rates it from A', scoparia as one more mark of specific differ- 

 ence. Stock also browse it with pleasure. — /. M. Bates. 



Additioxal Drug Plants. — I am much surprised to see 

 Bchinacea angnstifolia omitted from your list. The alcoholic 

 tincture of the root is a well-known antidote for blood poison- 

 ing and snake bites and is used for both man and !)east. It is 

 sold in our Western drug stores and found in the Pharmacopeia 

 by a medical friend of mine w^ho had somehow missed it here- 

 tofore. It has been shipped to Philadelphia drug makers by 

 the half -ton from Western Kansas and is very abundant in 

 Nebraska in many dry localities. Various- species of Lycopus 

 should be found in the Pharmacopeia if they are not, as L. 

 coinmunis, which is dried and made into tea for grippe colds 

 with excellent results. It contains a non-alkaloid bitter resem- 

 bling quinine and has a similar effect. — /. M. Bates, Red Cloud, 

 Nebraska. [Like many another "simple" the Bchinacea men- 

 tioned is listed in the Pharmacopeia but not among the official 

 drugs. The latest edition of this wf^rk says of the plant "Of 

 doubtful therapeutic value." — Bd.'\ 



Live-for-evi:r-Bloomixg. — That common escape from 

 gardens, the live-for-ever (Scdiim tclepliiiim or S. purpiireiim) 



