134 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



50. Martynia Louisiana. Several plants in alluvium, along 

 a road in Fulton county. (B.) 



51. Diodia teres. Sand bluff of Mississippi river. Jo 

 Daviess county. Common. (B.) 



52. Cucurbita foetidissima. One plant on Wabash rail- 

 way, near Chicago, existing for years. Root eight inches 

 thick. (A.) 



53. Lepachys column aris. Several near No. 48. (A). 



54. Grindelia squarrosa. Along most trunk railways. A 

 patch over one acre in Van Buren county, Mich., now about 

 eight years established. (A.) 



Reviewing these fifty-four examples and keeping in mind 

 their centers of greatest abundance and most normal growth 

 conditions, the author proposes the following explanations of 

 their present isolated or peculiar distribution as to region and 

 particular habitat. 



There can be but little question but that examples 29, 33, 

 36, 41, 42, 48, 52, 53, and 54 are representatives of the great 

 host of species that are being scattered far and wide by trunk 

 or transcontinental railway lines, the traveling seeds falling 

 from freight or stock cars while in transit. While many such 

 remain railway plants, others finding congenial habitats grad- 

 ually expand their growing areas. None of the plants named 

 can rightfully be classed as weeds. (A.) 



It has always appeared to the author that the exceedingly 

 peculiar distribution of the Coffee-bean, Lotus, Calamus, and 

 some other plants not concerned in our present article, might 

 be the result of accidental or intentional aboriginal plantings. 

 Practically all such species had an economic value to the In- 

 dian, and it is as consistent to adopt this view as it would be 

 in coming days to explain the presence of many deciduous 

 fruits to the agency of the white race. In the case of the Fox 

 Grape, all Indiana stations lie near the Great Sauk Trail 

 which is known to have been the path of Iroquois marauders, 

 and it seems perfectly reasonable to adopt this explanation for 

 the isolated distribution. There are thousands of suitable 

 localities for the Lotus in Illinois, but the actual stations can 



