1883.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



153 



positively assert it is so. But as soon as this lin- 

 gering winter entirely disappears, and the verdure 

 again arrays our hills, it will afford me much 

 pleasure to forward a few fronds to you or Mr. 

 Falconer for identification. 



Geogr.\phy of Some American Plants. — In 

 the preparation of the. series issued of the " Flowers 

 and Ferns of the United States," the author gave 

 the geographical ranges and other facts so far as 

 the information then at command would permit. 

 The following plants were then only known to the 

 author as being found east of the Mississippi. A 

 St. Louis correspondent finds them now west of the 

 river : Polypodium incanum and Asplenium tri- 

 chomanes, on rocks, St. Louis county. Mo., along 

 Meramec river, three miles west of Allenton; 

 Rosa Carolina, in swamps, Butler county, South- 

 east Missouri ; Carex stricta, in woods about Al- 

 lenton, Mo. ; Orchis spectabilis, shady, grassy 



places, Allenton, Mo., scarce ; Collinsonia Cana- 

 densis, Iron county, Mo. ; Asplenium parvulum, 

 Hot Springs, Ark. ; Lysimachia quadrifolia, damp 

 woods, Allenton, Mo. ; Rhexia Virginica, low 

 grounds Southeast Missouri and Little Rock, Ark. ; 

 Silene Virginica, Jackson county, Ark. ; Arteme- 

 sia plantaginifolia, on flinty hills and upland sandy 

 woods, Allenton, Mo., abundant ; Vitis indivisa, 

 from Allenton, Mo., Dallas, Texas, south to Arkan- 

 sas also. 



I Poison on Cabbages.— "Reader," Berwyn, 

 i Pa., asks : " Mr. G. Geduldig, Norwich, Conn., 

 j in your April number, recommends a mixture, of 

 I hellebore and water as a good solution for destroy- 

 j ing cabbage-worms. Will Mr. Geduldig say 

 whether there is any danger of poisoning the cab- 

 bage by the use of such preparation ? Hellebore, 

 ; if I am informed correctly, is poison." 

 [We fear it is dangerous. — Ed. G. M.J 



Liter ATUM, Travels and Personal Notes. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



UNDER THE WILLOWS AT ST. HELENA. 

 BY Wyi. T. H.\RDING, MOLNT HOLLY, N. J. 



It seems as difficult to disabuse the minds of the 

 unbelieving Thomases of to-day, as it was of old; 

 if once their opinions are formed, no matter how 

 erroneous, they will persistently cling to them. 

 And a belief in there being Salix Napoleana, dis- 

 tinctly different from the common Weeping wil- 

 low, S. Babylonica, proves there are still believers 

 in this common error. To decide the vexed ques- 

 tion so often mooted, I promised some friends to 

 state through the Monthly, for the good of whom 

 it may concern, what I know about it. 



Some years ago, "when in the course of human 

 events," your horticultural scribe tarried awhile be- 

 neath the famous tree, or trees, at Longwood, St. 

 Helena, he took notes of what he saw around. 

 Thus, being on the spot where the debatable wil- 

 low grew, the real tree or trees were closely exam- 

 ined with a view to ascertain whether S. Napole- 

 ana, so-called, differs from S. Babylonica, and if 

 so, in what respect. 



Instead of one at the time mentioned, there were 

 two of the most scraggy, forlorn-looking trees im- 

 aginable, overhanging the empty vault in which, 

 at one time, the body of the notorious Napoleon 

 Bonaparte lay. Desirous of obtaining a twig or 

 two to examine and propagate, the sable cicerone 

 in charge of the place, with the aid of a long bam- 

 boo, to the end of which was attached a boat-hook, 

 jerked off a piece from each tree, and for which 

 demanded the usual fee. To go down to the bot- 

 tom of the empty tomb,* eighteen feet deep, and 

 moralize, to come up again and drink a glass of 

 sparkling agua pura at Napoleon's spring near 

 by, then to view the Longwood House and sur- 

 rounding grounds where the ex-emperor lived and 

 languished, was next in order, and according to cus- 

 tom, was gone through. But to make sure nothing 

 was omitted which every well regulated visitor is 

 expected to go through, took a few moments' rest 

 on the worm-eaten and weather-beaten seat under 

 the willows, where the miserable misanthrope used 

 to sit and brood over his misspent life. Feeling 

 satisfied with having properly done the Napo- 



*In 1837 Napoleon's remains were removed from St. Helena 

 and reinterred in France. 



