18 BOTANICAL BULLETIN. 



likely to be shared by some near relatives, especially by such as Bigelovia Menziesii, 

 Gray. The suspicion rises that ere lono^ it will be consigned to limbo with Condu- 

 rango et id ijeniis onme. — Dr. J. T Eothrock. 



A VALUABLE WORK. — I do uot wisli to ))e understood as acting in the interest of 

 the booksellers, but for tlie benefit of botanists wlio may otherwise fail to obtain a 

 valuable work at a very low rate, I will say that Sidney S. Rider, Bookseller, 

 Providence, Ehode Island, has for sale at nine dollars per copy : — A General 8i/s- 

 toniof Botaiij/, Descriptive and Anahjtical, by Le Maout and Decaisne, translated by 

 Mrs. Hooker. The orders are arranged by J. D. Hooker. The copies are new and 

 perfect, and formerly sold for twenty-five dollars. But few remain on liand. — Dr. 



J. T. ROTHROCK. 



Notes upon some Gramixe.e. — This group of plants seems well represented 

 in Jefferson County, Indiana, as the following account of a portion of a season's 

 collection will show. We have no doubt that the researches of a whole season by 

 one thoroughly enlisted in this department of Botany would add many species to 

 our list, especially the smaller species and those less general in distribution. The 

 county presents such a diversity of soil and surface as to warrant us in the expec- 

 tation of equally diverse plant life, and when to this we add its border line of 

 climate and its extremes of heat and cold, we will find another reason for the pres- 

 ence or looked for. presence of species natui-ally of more northern or southern 

 habitat. Along our creeks, in considerable abundance, flourishes Leerzia ori/zoides, 

 Swz., while every damp, open timber land is the home of the long wiry culms of 

 L. Virginira, Willd. Phleiim pratense, L., is our best hay making grass and eco- 

 nomically of much importance, but it seems to be rather easily run out by the Red 

 and VVhite Clovers, or the more strongly rooting Agrostis vulgaris, With. For a 

 short time its quality and purity remain excellent, but in the long run both it and 

 the Clovers fall under the steady encroachments of the Red-top. Vilfa vagina'flora, 

 Torr., grows plentifully in the clayey soil of the upper portion of the Ohio River 

 blufts. Its dry and scarious appearance after a season of remarkable moisture, 

 would lead us to think that here it can be of little value as a food stuff for our cat- 

 tle, but being a tenant of very poor soil, where nothing else seems to take hold, it 

 asserts its usefulness. We suppose that we have found V. Virginica, Beauv., in 

 many of the open commons. Agrostis perennans,Tnck., appears'in fruit late in the 

 fall along the water courses of the richer Avoodlands. ^4. vulgaris, With., is our 

 most common meadow grass, seeming to find in the soil here those conditions that 

 att'ord the readiest support. It may be said to be the essential grass of our mead- 

 ows, and the dependence of the farmer. .4. alha, L., is found sparinglj^ along the 

 gr.assy borders of small streams. Cinna arumlinacea, L., grows quite sparinglj^ in 

 our open woods and occasionally straggles into the damper portions of a few mead- 

 ows. Of the genus Muhleuhergia we have found five species, viz.. M. sobolifera, 

 Trin., M. Mexinniu, Trin., M. siihatiea, T. & G., M. Wildenovii, Tviu., and M. dif- 

 fusa, Schreber. The first, .1/. sobolifera, is connnon in the open hilly woods run- 

 ning back from the Ohio River, while M. Mexicann generally appears in all culti- 

 vated ground. M. sylvatira and Jif. Wildenovii av^ fo\\n(\ \\\ small patches inmost 

 hilly and slightly timbered woodlands, while J/, diffusa attains its greatest luxur- 

 iance in our \evy door yards, often making a dense matting by the interweaving 

 of its numerous branches. Brachyelytrtimaristatum, Beauv., is almost confined to a 

 few damp woods. In nearly every sandj" field may be found an abundance of 

 Aristida gracilis. Ell., with here and there an intermingling bunch of A. dichotoma, 

 Michx. A. ramosissima, Engelm., is very limited in its distribution, but in a few 

 old sandy commons it occurs quite abundantly. Another intruder in our door 

 yards and not a stranger to the public roads is Eleusine Indica, Gnsrtn. Tricuspis 

 seslerioides, Torr., is rare, having been found in but a few patches along the Ohio. 

 We would again call attention to a grass already mentioned in the Bulletin, viz., 

 Diarrhena Americana, Beauv., which, while limited in its distribution, is a little re- 



