60 On the Rarer Plants of North America. 



same smell as that of Valeriana officinalis ; its neck is sheathed with large glossy 

 dark brown scales ; the broken bases of the leaves of former years ; and from 

 within these arise several radical leaves, from 8 to 10 in number, the longest 

 of them nearly a foot in length, not much unlike those of a Scorzonera., or a 

 Troximon, lanceolate, rather obtuse, entire or deeply pinnatifid, with 1-4 very 

 remote, linear, spreading segments ; the base is much attenuated, but scarcely 

 into a petiole. Both surfaces of the leaves are glabrous, but the margins are 

 finely ciliated witli pubescence ; there is one principal nerve or midrib, and a 

 few lateral and almost parallel ones, and besides, the whole surface of the leaf, 

 when held up between the eye and the light, is seen to be marked with mi- 

 nute reticulated nerves. The stem, at the stage of growth when our specimens 

 were gathered, was not more than 4 inches high, bearing two pinnatifid ciliated 

 leaves, similar to those of the root, and a dense rounded head or panicle of flower- 

 buds. These, when recent, were of a whitish colour, and the flowers are pro- 

 bably similar to those of the only other American species, P. ceratophylla. 

 Hook. Fl. Bor. Am., vol. i. p. 290. This we regard as a very interesting ad- 

 dition to the Canadian Flora. 



Composite — Prenanlhes racemosa, Mx. Banks of the Maitlaild river, 

 Goderich, Upper Canada. This is very abundant amongst the moist grass 

 on the banks of the river, where it attains the height of 14 inches. This 

 species is entirely confined to the northern parts of Canada, and is, without 

 exception, the most interesting species of this extended genus which we met 

 with. 



Prenanthes alba, Linn. Shady woods, Goderich, Upper Canada. 



Lialris scariosa, VVilld. Dry sandy grounds, St Clair Bay, Up])er Canada. 



Few plants exceed in beauty this sjjecies of Lialris, particularly when 

 seen in such quantities as were witnessed by us during September 1834, cover- 

 ing several acres of dry loose sandy ground, at the place where the river St 

 Clair issues from Lake Huron, The specimens varied from 2 to 4 feet In 

 height, having dense crowded flower-spikes from 4 to IC inches long, and 

 of a bright purple colour. All the species of Lialris which we saw were 

 growing in situations more or less stony or sand_y, with the exception of //. 

 macrustachya, which was found in deep rich soils on the borders of woods, both 

 in New Jersey and Pennsj-lvania. 



Lialris spicala, AVilld. Stony places on the banks of the Maitland River, 

 Goderich, Upper Canada. 



Lialris pilosa, AVilld. In a white sandy pine forest between Long-a-coming 

 and Atsion ; also in a similar forest between Quaker Bridge and Tuckerton, 

 both in New Jersey. 



Lialris boreatis, Nutt. Herb. M.SS. ; caule simplici pubescente, foliis radi- 

 calibus ovato-lanceolatis acuminatis longe petiolatis, caulinis superne sessili- 

 bus utrinque attenuatis marginibusque scabris, involucri squamis inferioribus 

 brevibus obovatis niarginibus coloratis, interioribus linearibus longitudine 

 flosculorum, capilulis sublonge pedunculatis allernis remotis distichis, supe- 

 rioribus erectis, inferioribus patentibus. Hah. Dry woods and exposed rocky 

 places throughout the Allegheny Mountains. This species is readily distin- 

 guished from the L. scariosa, (which by some is supposed to be only a variety), 

 by its being very much smoother, having fewer leaves and flowers, and re- 

 flected bracteas ; also by its short styles, which scarcely exceed the corolla ; 

 whereas, in the L. scariosa, the styles are long, and the leaves, flowers, and 



bracteas, all upright Very abundant throughout the elevated regions of the 



Allegheny Mountains, where it attains the height of 14 inches, and having 

 from two to eight heads of largs light purple flowers. While looking through 

 the herbarium of Nuttall when at Philadelphia, I found that this species was 

 marked L. borealit; but no description of it has as yeX, been published. 



Lialris slricla ; caule rigido obscure angulato, foliis inferioribus elongatis 

 lineari-lanceolatis superne sensim minoribus bracteiformibus, spica brevi pauci- 

 flora, involucre longo cylindrico, squamis ovatis aciuninatis mucronatis, pe- 



dunculis brevibus erectis Hah. On dry sandy pine barrens, Brentford, U. C. 



The tuber is small and globular; the stem varies from 8 to 12 inches in 

 height ; the lower leaves are about 5 inches long and I of an inch Iiroad, and 



