BOTANICAL EXCURSION TO NORTH CAROLINA. 33 



whose patronage he traveled, as well as those in Mr. Lam- 

 bert's herbarium, furnish no evidence that he extended his 

 researches into the mountainous portion of North Carolina ; 

 but it appears probable (from some labels marked Halifax 

 or Mecklenburg, Virginia) that he followed the course of the 

 Roanoke into the former State. His most interesting col- 

 lections were made at Harper's Ferry, Natural Bridge, the 

 Peaked Mountains (which separate the two principal branches 

 of the Shenandoah), the Peaks of Otter, in the Blue Ridge ; 

 also, Cove Mountain, Salt Pond Mountain, and Parnell's 

 Knob (with the situation of which I am unacquainted), the 

 region around the Warm Sulphur Springs, Capon Springs, 

 the Sweet Springs, and the mountains of Monroe and Green- 

 brier counties. 



Early in the present century, Mr. Kin, a German nursery- 

 man and collector, resident at Philadelphia, traveled some- 

 what extensively among the Alleghany Mountains, chiefly for 

 the purpose of obtaining living plants and seeds. He also 

 collected many interesting specimens, which may be found in 

 the herbaria of Muhlenberg and Willdenow, where his tickets 

 may be recognized by the orthography, and the amusing mix- 

 ture of bad English and German (with occasionally some 

 very singular Latin) in which his observations are written. 



In the winter of 1816, Mr. Nuttall crossed the mountains 

 of North Carolina from the west, ascending the French Broad 

 River (along the banks of which he obtained his Philadelphus 

 hirsutus, etc.) to Asheville, passing the Blue Ridge, and ex- 

 ploring the Table Mountain, where he discovered Hudsonia 

 montana, etc., and collected many other rare and interesting 

 plants. 1 



As early as 1817, the mountains at the sources of the Sa- 

 luda River were visited by the late Dr. MacBride, the friend 



1 The spur of the Blue Ridge from which the picturesque Tahle Moun- 

 tain rises like a tower, is called by Mr. Nuttall the Catawba Ridge. I 

 am informed, however, by my friend Mr. Curtis, who is intimately ac- 

 quainted with this interesting region, that it is not known by that name, 

 but is called the Table Mountain Ridge. Its base is not washed by the 

 Catawba River, but by its tributary the Linville. 



