277 



properties made apparent to the people by successful cultivation 

 and use, it would be esteemed there as here. If it became in the 

 Southern States as common as It is here, it would at once render 

 the common people independent of the Northwestern wheat fields, 

 and furnish them with the cheapest means of living which they 

 have ever known. 



Possibly the experiment of raising this root has already been 

 tried in our country. I am ignorant upon that point. But I can 

 see no reason in soil or temperature why it might not be easily 

 cultivated in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas. 



Asuncion, Paraguay, July, 1889. 



[See an article on this subject by Mr, H. W. Wiley in "Ag- 

 ricultural Science," ii. 256-260 (1880). 



Botanical Notes. 



Note on Harfordia, Greene and Parry, The criticism con- 

 tained in Botanical Notes, Proc. Cal. Acad. 2d series, i. 235, 

 ^l^y ostensibly directed against the proposed separation of the 

 genus Harfordia, Greene and Parry, from Pterostegia, F. and 

 M., may be most satisfactorily answered by quoting the written 

 opuiion of the late Prof. Asa Gray in letters addressed to the 

 writer, viz.: In letter of July 12, 1886, before receiving speci- 

 mens : '' As to Harfordia no doubt (without examination as to 

 particulars) it is a good genus." In letter of July 19th, after re- 

 ceiving specimens : " I looked at the specimens sent and I should 

 certainly have made a genus of it if it came in my way, prima 

 facte. The separation of the sexes, and no involucre to the male, 

 and slirubby stem, should indicate separation," C. C. PARRY. 



Utrictdaria resupinata, B. D. Greene. In a recent examination 

 of the Florida collections of the late Dr. A. P. Garber, I find this 



species under the 



7> 



companied by the following note: ''Grows on low, open, flat 

 ground, which is dry until the wet season (June) and then is cov- 

 ered with water and becomes a pond ; flowers very fugacious ; 

 plant I to 2 inches hi^h." The station at which it was obtained 

 IS Manatee, and the date of collection April, 1876. Its occur- 

 rence so far south, and on the western coast of Florida, is cer- 

 tainly remarkable. Tiios. C. PoRTER. 



