TWENTY-NINTH ANNUAL MEETING. to 
divide their energies and produce a multitude of corms, none of which have suf- 
ficient material from which to build up a flowering stem. But let some of them 
be covered to a considerable depth with heavier soil, either by freshets or through 
other accident, and the propensity to throw off runners is at once checked; as a 
result, in a year or two sufficient nourishment is stored and vitality accumulated 
to send up two leaves instead of one and unfold from their embrace the prettiest 
of wild flowers. In evidence, the flowering forms will be found to always have 
their corms very much deeper than the sterile forms. 
Erythronium mesochoreum, the form with the more slender and unmottled 
leaves, confirms this explanation. Appearing as it does some ten days or two 
weeks earlier than E. albidum, when as yet the woodland ravines are scarcely 
out of the icy grasp of winter, it must needs occupy more sunny ground. But 
in such position it must compete with other sun-loving plants that later in the 
season claim their day. For it there is no soft, spongy leaf-mold, as a rule, 
but the hard, close mat of sod above. To develop runners is out of the ques- 
tion; so each seedling as it wins a footing begins at once to push its bulb 
almost straight downward. Each year finds it a step lower and with all its 
vitality conserved, not divided, as in the case of its more easy-going sisters, 
albidum and americanum. Hence it is that before many years it has strength to 
bloom, and thus, coming more promptly to the flowering stage, the one-leaved 
forms of this species are comparatively rare. 
A PROVISIONAL LIST OF THE FLOWERING PLANTS OF McPHER- 
SON COUNTY. 
By H. J. HArRNity, McPherson, Kan. Read (by title) before the Academy January 2, 1897. 
Believing that complete lists of the plants of many and widely distributed 
localities are essential to a complete knowledge of the flora of Kansas and its 
distribution, we venture to submit the following provisional list of the flowering 
plants of McPherson county. It is needless to say that the list is as yet far from 
complete. We hope to add to it from time to time. We are pleased to acknowl- 
edge the valued assistance of our some-time pupil, Mr. Claude Shirk, who has 
borne the burden of the work. 
1. RaNUNCULACES. 5. CARYOPHYLLACE. 
1. Anemone patens. 10. Silene antirrhina. 
. Delphinium azureum. 
bo 
G6. PorRTULACACE. 
2. PAPAVERACE. 
11. Portul l ea. 
3. Argemone platyceras. Gur decorate 
3. CRUCIFER. 7. Matvace®. 
Ay Sisymbrium canescens. ie Callirrhoe involucrata. 
5. Brassica sinapistrum. 13. Callirrhoe digitata. 
6. Capsella bursa-pastoris. 14. Malvastrum coccineum. 
7. Lepidium virginicum. 15, Hibiscus trionum. 
4. VIoLACcEs. S. GERANIACE. 
8. Viola palmata. 16. Oxalis violacea. 
9. Viola palmata var. cucullata. 17. Oxalis stricta. 
