BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 145 



third place, the two may uot after all be specifically distinct. A lady from Milwaukee 

 tells me that fragrant white pond lilies occur near that place." 



Megaurhiza. — Since receiving the August number of the Gazette, I have been 

 on the alert for Mi'tjurrliiza, being fully determined to find it if it grew in the county of 

 Sonoma. For three days I looked for it upon the bushes on Fitch Mountain. The next 

 day, however, I descended the Russian river in search of acorn field, in which I remem- 

 bered the iS'iV^ws rtv^/ytt/r/^^s to have particularly flourished in the Ea.st. About a mile 

 and a half from Healdsburg, on the right bank of the river, we spied the looked-for 

 corn field, and carefullj^ stepping to the top of the high picket fence enclosing the field, 

 we perceived that the l)ack fence was at intervals covered by a closely matted, brown- 

 colored vme. Hastening across tlie field we grasped the dried fruit of Megdrvhizd. 

 After a long and tedious search we obtained some fifteen seeds, corresponding to the 

 description given by Dr. Graj'. There are four seeds of an almond shape contained in 

 a thorny obovate fruit. The fruit being very ripe, the seeds had generally fallen and 

 had been devoured Ijy the rats. 



Desiring to satisfy ourselves that it was surely Megarrhiza, we began with our bot- 

 any knife to search for the root. Having followed a vine into the ground to the depth 

 of 18 inches, we pressed into service a "small boy," who was curiously eyeing our 

 movements. Securing a long handled shovel we continued our tlownward career. At 

 the dejith of 21 inches we came to the top of the rootstock ; an hmu' later we had come to 

 bed rock and were hauling the stock to the surface. This I carried home and will give 

 the measurements: weight, 18 lbs; length of main root, 3 feet 1Q% inches; circumfer- 

 ence at the top, 213^2 inches; circumference one foot from base, 15^^ inches; shape, for 

 20 inches nearly cylindrical, then fusiform. Depth of hole, from toji to bottom, oo)^ 

 inches. — R. H. Thomson, Realdshurg, California. 



The "Barrens" of Southern Indiana. — Ever since the writer had the privilege 

 of arranging Dr. A. Clapp's botanical collection, made principally in 18o0-1839, and 

 discovered many desirable plants labeled "Barrens," these barrens have been often in 

 his mind as one of the most desirable localities in Indiana for the botanical collector. 

 At last the trip has been made, the Barrens explored, and we lay the lesults before the 

 readers of the Gazette. The Barrens are of considerable extent, occupying quite a 

 large area in the corners of four counties, Clarke, Floj-d, Washington and Harrison. 

 All over this region the drainage is eflected by "sink-holes," not a stream, rivulet, or a 

 single drop of running water appearing at the surface. The country is very rolling 

 and in the bottom of each depression are found from one to three "sink holes," 

 sometimes full of water, at others mere filthy mires, or empty. The surface is a mass of 

 flinty stones and concretionary boulders, "nigger-heads" as they are called. The result 

 of this flinty soil and absence of surface moisture is plainly shown m the vegetation. 

 Scattered all over this area are thickets of scrub oak and small shrubby undergrowth, 

 separated from one another by natural openings where, so far as we could judge, no tree 

 or shrub had ever grown. It was in these open places that we found our best species. 

 A trip tlirough the Barrens is a disappointing one, for although one can secure many 

 valuable prizes, he is constantly grieving on account of the ravages of civilization. 

 When Dr. Clapp collected his specimens here forty years ago, it was no doubt a perfect 

 wilderness, but now settlers have come in, a German population has taken possession of 

 the Barrens, and our natural openings are made to yield some of the finest wheat in the 

 State. Instead of the gorgeous displaj^ of rare and 1)eaiUiful flowers, which cover Ihe 

 ground profuselj' wherever they have been left standing rcjom, we see the ftoonotonous 

 succession of fields of grain or stubble. Ewn the fence corners are kept scrupulously 

 clear of "weeds," for your German farmer cares nothing for science if it chokes up his 

 fence rows. In the fields of one farmer, however, the weeds had tlie start, and there we 

 found some good species, such as Liutrin scariosa, Willd., Enpatorinm sesnilifoUum, L., 



