A NEW LEATHER FLOWER FROM ILLINOIS. 



By PAUL C. STANDLEY 



(With One Plate) 



During the last three or four years Mr. Robert Ridgway, Cura- 

 tor of the Division of Birds of the U. S. National Museum, has pre- 

 sented to the National Herbarium several interesting lots of plants 

 collected at his summer hom.e, Bird Haven, near Olney, Richland 

 County, in southern Illinois. Coming from a region of whose flora 

 we know comparatively little, either through published reports or 

 through herbarium material, these collections have proved to be 

 especially interesting and might well be reported upon fully. 



Bird Haven consists of some eighteen acres situated two and one- 

 half miles north of Olney. The land was once entirely cleared and 

 many of the original components of its flora have doubtless disap- 

 peared. In later years the ground has remained untilled and un- 

 pastured and is now covered with a growth of trees and shrubs, 

 while many of the herbaceous plants have reestabUshed themselves. 

 Although some of the arborescent species are represented only by 

 still immature individuals no less than 56 have been detected within 

 this small area. As examples of the interesting variety of trees and 

 shrubs growing spontaneously here may be enumerated the follow- 

 ing: Juniperus virginiana, Salix nigra, Populus deltoides, Querciis 

 imbricaria, Q. schneckii, Q. palustris, Q. macrocarpa, Q. piatanoidcs, 

 Q. rubra, Q. velutina, 0. marilandka, Q. minor and Q. acuminata; 

 Juglans nigra and /. cinerea; Hicoria minima, H. alba, H. glabra, H. 

 villosa, H. laciniosa, and H. ovata; Ulniiis fulva and U. americana; 

 Morus rubra, Celtis crassifolia, Toxylon pomifermn, Asiniina triloba, 

 Liriodendron ttdipifernm, Platamis accidentalis; Mains angustifolia 

 and M. coronaria; Prunus mnericana ?, P. hortulana, P. angustifolia ?, 

 and P. serotina; two species of Crataegus, Gleditsia triacanthos, Cer- 

 cis canadensis; Acer saccharum, A. rubrum and A. nigrum ? ; Sassa- 

 fras, two species— perhaps three— of Fraxinus ; Nyssa sylvatica, Cor- 

 nus norida, Diospyros virginiana, Catalpa catalpa, and Viburnum 

 prunifolium. Liquidambar grows near by, as well as Quercus 

 michauxii. Along the Big Fox not far distant are found Ulmns 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 56, No. 34 



