Observations on the United States Species of the Genus 

 Pancratium. By Major J o hn L e C o n t e, 17. aS. Army, 

 F. L. S. ^-c. 



Read January 25, 1830. 



The following remarks on the species of Pancratium pe- 

 culiar to the United States, are the result of observations made 

 upon them both when cultivated and in a state of nature. It 

 has been confidently asserted that two species only were to be 

 found in our country ; but it is presumed that the characteristic 

 differences, which several years close examination of these 

 beautiful plants has enabled me to discover, will, show this as- 

 sertion to be groundless.* 



Although the family resemblance be very strong, few plants 

 ai'e more distinctly marked, particularly in habit, than all these 

 species. They amount in number to four, two of which are* 

 foimd more or less in the interior of the country, and two 

 near the borders of the Atlantic Ocean. What other species 

 may be hereafter discovered, depends upon the approach which 

 the plants of our remote southern frontier make to those of the 

 adjacent provinces of Mexico and New Spain. It is highly 

 probable that at some future day our Flora will be enriched by 

 the discovery of some more. 



* Vide Elliott's " Sketch of the Botany of the Southern States," 

 Vol. I. page 383. 



