110 HE VIEWS. 



Clematis Virginiana over the leaf. (We venture to add, in 

 passing, C. I iorna to the list, having gathered it in Ashe 

 County.) And although the people alongshore call Baccha- 

 ris by the name of the English annual weed, " Groundsel," it 

 were better to write it " Groundsel-tree." " Yellow-wood " is 

 the name of Cladrastis, rather than of Symplocos, which the 

 Carolinians call " Horse-Sugar." Dr. Curtis can coin a name 

 upon occasion ; for surely nobody in Carolina knows Men- 

 ziesia globularis as False Heath, nor has it any scientific 

 claim to this appellation. While in critical mood we may 

 express a strong dissent from the proposition that Mhodo- 

 dendron punctatum is too inferior to the other two species 

 " to attract or deserve much attention." With us, it is sur- 

 passingly beautiful in cultivation, none the less so because 

 its habit is so diffei'ent, having light and pendent branches, 

 when well grown forming broad and thick masses, and loaded 

 with its handsome rose-colored blossoms. While Leucothoe 

 Catesbcei is called " a very pretty shrub," the far hand- 

 somer Andromeda floribunda, so much prized by our nursery- 

 men, gets no commendation. Magnolia Fraseri may not only 

 be " cultivated in the open air near Philadelphia," but is 

 perfectly hardy near Boston, and the earliest to blossom ; but 

 we never noticed the fragrance of the flowers. On the other 

 hand, as it is a native so far south as Florida, it might thrive 

 in plantations anywbei*e in North Carolina. The flowers of 

 J/, a j rdata are described as if larger than those of M. Fra- 

 seri^ instead of the contrary ; we could hardly say much for 

 their beauty, except in comparison to those of the common 

 Cucumber-tree. Primus Virginiana is omitted; yet surely 

 it is not wanting in North Carolina. And it is almost an 

 excess of conscientiousness to leave out Cladrastis, the hand- 

 somest tree of the country, all things considered, when it is 

 known to grow only a few rods over the Tennessee line. 



On the other hand, we are disposed to doubt if the gen- 

 uine White Spruce (Abies alba~) occurs in North Carolina. 

 At length we know this tree, but only in Canada and parts 

 adjacent. It is more, instead of less, northern in its range 

 than A. nigra. But since President Wheeler lias pretty 



