12 



abounds, the flowers did not appear until near the end of July. 

 This species is excellently described by Michaux, to whose 

 account it is only necessary to add, that the petals are very 

 narrow, appearing like sterile filaments. Although a smaller 

 plant than H. Americana^ the leaves are larger, and vary con- 

 siderably in the depths of the lobes. It is both the H. villosa 

 and H. caulescens of Pursh, who probably derived the latter 

 name from the strong elongated rhizoma, often projecting and 

 appearing like a suffrutescent stem, by which the plant is at- 

 tached to the rocks ; since he does not describe the scape as 

 leafy, nor is this at all the case in the original specimens. The 

 H. caulescens a. of Torrey and Gray's Flora, with the syno- 

 nym, must also be united with H. villosa, which in that work 

 is chiefly described from specimens collected by Dr. Short in 

 Kentucky, where every thing seems to grow with extraordi- 

 nary luxuriance. With these, the plant we collected entirely 

 accords, except that the leaves are mostly smaller, and more 

 deeply lobed ; but this character is not constant. 



^. Hedyotis serpyllifolia. — The banks of the shady and 

 cool rivulets which we crossed everv few minutes durino- our 

 ascent, were in many places covered by the prostrate or creep- 

 ing Hedyotis serpyllifolia^ Tor. Sf Gr. (Houstonia serpylli- 

 folia, Michx.,) which continues to flower sparingly throughout 

 the summer. This pretty plant has quite the habit of 

 Arenaria Balearica ; and the root is certainly perennial. 

 We found it very abundant in similar situations, throughout 

 this mountain region. 



3. Magtiolia Fraseri. — Towards the summit of this ridge, 

 we first met with the Magnolia Frasei^i, (M. auriculata, 

 Baj'tr.,) which resembles the Umbrella-tree (Magtiolia Um- 

 brella,) in the disposition of its leaves at the extremity of the 

 branches. This, as well as M. acuminata (the only other 

 species of Magnolia that we observed,) is occasionally termed 

 Ciicumber'tree ; but the people of the country almost uniformly 

 called the former Wahoo ; a name which in the lower part of 

 the Southern States is applied to Ulmus alata, or often to all 

 the elms indiflferently. The bitter and somewhat aromatic 

 infusion of the green cones of both these Magnolias in whiskey 

 or apple-brandy, is very extensively employed as a preventive 

 against intermittent fevers ; an use which, as the younger 

 Michaux remarks, would doubtless be much less frequent, if, 

 with the same medical properties, the aqueous infusion were 

 substituted. 



