BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 115 



Setoj-iaKerticilUitti, lieauv. College farm, larue as millet! 



Panicum depdupcrotiim, Muhl. Woodbine to Ames. 



LoUuni perenite. L., Ames, dooryanls, to Deiiison. 



F(pa alsodes. Gray, Woodbine IHT."), Humboldt, Prof. F. L. Harvey, 187o. 



Eragroi<:t,u Purnhu. Schrced. Woodliine, IS?."). 



Fcxtncii elutior L. Near Ames, 187(i. 



V.VKiATioNs. — Tile normal Eri/llir'niiiuii (ilhrhnn from Illinois to \V. Iowa, not ed 

 for shotted, broad leaves and very reciirvei! petals, contined to groves; while a mueh 

 smaller form from W. Iowa to Kansas, contined lo the yy/v^/z-fV.s-, has nai-row leaves, 

 //f/v/- spotted, petals iifi-er remrceiJ, not half the height of the former. The ditiereuce 

 is doubtless d\ie to soil and locality. 



As far as known to me, I was Ihc tiist to diM-over Ihis form; while the value and 

 Iteaiitv of the tirt> forms must l)e seen as they grow, (!i<il in hurtix .firrix,) to be appre- 

 ciated. 



A still more noted vari.ilion is the fio foi'ms of (Jt/jir/jxilimii cuiHlitlaia, the larger 

 l>eiougiug exclusively to the Mi.ssouri "slope," AV. Iowa, and at an invariable elevation 

 of 100 feet above Boyer Valley (where it abounds,) on the steep, louse soil of the Sandy 

 lilnrt's, no doubt to I'etain its original elev.itions lure, and to the very verge of the 

 "Divide," when wc enter a new kingdom as to soil, air and tlora ! I never saw the 

 smaller form till coming here, nor does it occur wilhin (iO miles of the larger, the latter 

 beginning at Woodbine, Harrison count}', the former (as you advance eastward) at Car- 

 roll, Carroll county. The larger form seems more proi)erly allied to C. xpei-tdbile than 

 to (J. can (fid II til, and the two look like giant and i)igmy side by side in a Her])arium . 



Still much the same is true of the size of leaves in Uic eastern and western Iowa 

 forms of Lt/bdiii xpim/n. 



Apn/pox of the suri)rising cro|) of \' iilerimni si/lrii/ini ai)pearing one year and all 

 gone the next. In IS(ii) I siiw a slough six rods or more long by 2o feel wide rocered fill 

 iirci- ill one iiiiixxof irliite hlooui. lil.i- siioir, with our c(.)nuuon liiiiniiiriihix iif/iiatilix, while 

 not o/ie plant has appeared since, and I had to wait foi- seven years and go 213 miles to 

 rind a specimen, in Cedar Kiver, IHTd. H. Bukgess, J///^'.v, Iowo. 



So.MK H-VKDY Dkntaki.vs. — About the middle ot' tiiis nionth, as I was bolani/iug 

 in the woods I found m:niy small |)atches i.)\' Dentnrlii hiciiiintti in bloom. It was early 

 in the morning, and almost everything was covered with hoar frost. This was the case 

 with Dentaria. In most all of tiie patches, however, there were one or two plants not 

 touched by the frost. While many were Ijlack and cracked between the lingers, a few 

 retained their fre-shness, notwithstanding they were sometimes entirely surrounded by 

 the others. Darwin in his "Variation of Animals and Plants," mentions this fact in 

 regard to peas gi-owing in his garden, and thinks that there is a ditiei'ence in the con- 

 stitution of individual ])lants, so that some are l)etter able lo withstand the frost than 

 others. A.« the Dentarias referred to were all equally exjiosed and growing close to- 

 get her, the fact of some being frosted while others were not, cannot be explained by 

 saying there was a ditlereuce in soil or exp<)sure. Darwin's explanation is a good one 

 and no doubt correct. The fact is certainly a curious one. — Joseph F. J.\mes, (Jim-iu- 

 nati. Ohio. 



So.ME K.vNsAs Plants.— On i)age 10, Vol. I, No. :J. of the Bor. Bri.M-rriN, <t. C. 

 Broadhead says of ^Ewotheni xpei-iom: "It generally prefers a rich limestone soil of l>ut 

 n few inches thickness, resting on limestone." I have found just the reverse to be tlie 

 case here, as it is (piite common on the river boitoniN wlu're the soil is rich and deep, 

 but I have nevei' tound it on the liiuestone bluHs where the soil is such as Mr. Broad- 

 head describes ; while (Kindherd Mixxoiirierixix i-t abundant in such situations and 

 avoids the bottom lands. 



I found Cleiiiiitix orhroleuni. Ait,, in bloom April 2Sth, on the highlands betweeiu 

 the Solomon and Republican I'ivers, Cloud county. I see (rray's Manual says it is rare. 



