IN NORTH CAROLINA, 235 
cotyledons; Potentilla tridentata, which we only saw on the 
Bluff Mountain ; Woodsia Tvensis ; Saxifraga leucanthemi- 
folia, which not unfrequently attains the height of two feet, 
with a large and slender effuse panicle; Diervilla trifida, 
entirely resembling the northern plant; Pyrus melanocarpa ; 
Sorbus Americana, f. microcarpa ; Rhododendron Cataw- 
biense, just out of flower, while R. maximum, extremely abun- 
dant along the streams and mountain-sides, was only be- 
ginning to expand its blossoms.* In such situations, also, 
we found a marked dwarfish variety of Hedyotis purpurea, 
growing somewhat in tufts, and scarcely exceeding four or 
five inches in height. The flowers, which are deep pink, 
while in the ordinary form of this region they are nearly 
white, present the dimorphism which obtains in several sec- 
tions of the genus ; the stamens, in some specimens, being 
inserted in the throat of the corolla and exserted, while in 
others they are inserted near the base of the tube, and in- 
cluded; in the former the style is uniformly short and included, 
and in the latter long and somewhat exserted. "These two 
forms were often seen growing side by side, and appeared to 
be equally fertile. "The Amianthium muscetoxicum, which is 
common in the low country of the Southern States, we here 
found only in the rich open woods of the Bluff Mountain, and 
in similar places farther south. "The flowers are pure white 
or cream-coloured, in a dense and very showy raceme, at 
length changing to green. The cattle, which roam in the 
woods for a great part of the year, are sometimes poisoned 
by feeding, as is supposed, on the foliage of this plant during 
the autumn ; hence its name of Fall-poison. The wild Pea- 
vine, which is so highly prized as an autumnal food for cattle, 
is the Amphicarpea.t The Lily of the Valley, (Convallaria 
majalis,) which we occasionally met with in fruit, appears to 
* These shrubs bear the name of Laurel ; while the Kalmia latifolia is uni- 
versally called Ivy or Ivy- bush. 
T In the large woods, the surface of the soil is covered with a species of 
wild peas, which rise three feet above the surface of the earth, and of which 
the cattle are very greedy. They prefer this pasture to every other, and when 
removed from it they fall away, or make their escape to return to it."— Mi- 
chaux (F, A.) Travels, p. 316. 
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