88 ESS A YS. 



but this character is not constant. 1 Soon after leaving 

 Natural Bridge, we observed indigenous trees of the Honey 

 Locust (Gleditschia triacanthos'), also ^Esculus Pacta? 

 and, in crossing the valley of the James River, we noticed 

 the Papaw QUvaria triloba') and Negundo. The roadside 

 was almost everywhere occupied with Verbesina Siegesbeckia 

 not yet in flower ; and in many places with 3Ielissa ( Cala- 

 mintha) Nepeta, which Mr. Bentham has not noticed as an 

 American plant, although Pursh has it as a native of the 

 country. It was, however, doubtless introduced from Europe, 

 but is completely naturalized in the valley of Virginia, in 

 Tennessee, and in North Carolina east of the Blue Ridge. 



On Tuesday, the 29th of June, we crossed the New River, 

 arrived at Wytheville, or Wythe Court House, towards even- 

 ing; and at Marion, or Smythe Court House, on the Middle 

 Fork of the Holston, early the next morning. The vege- 

 tation of this elevated region is almost entirely similar to 

 that of the northern States. The only herbaceous plants we 

 noticed, as we passed rapidly along, which we had not seen 

 growing before, were Galax aphylla, and Silene Virginica : 

 the showy, deep-red flowers of the latter, no less than the dif- 

 ferent habitus, caused us to wonder how it could ever have 

 been confounded with the northern S. Pennsylvanica. The 

 only forest tree with which we were not previously familiar 

 was the large Buckeye, ^Esculus flava, which abounds in 

 this region, and attains the height of sixty to ninety feet, and 

 the diameter of two or three feet or more at the base. 



At Marion we determined to leave the valley road, and to 

 cross the mountains into Ashe County, North Carolina ; the 

 morning was occupied in seeking a conveyance for this pur- 



1 Much to our disappointment we did not meet with Heuchera hbipida, 

 although I have since learned from an inspection of Barton's herbarium, 

 that we passed within a moderate distance from the place where Pursh 

 discovered it. The habitat given on the original ticket, " High Moun- 

 tains between Fincastle and the Sweet Springs, and some other similar 

 places," we here cite, with the hope that it may guide some botanist to 

 its rediscovery. The habitat in Pursh's Flora, " High Mountains of Vir- 

 ginia and Carolina," is probably a mere guess, so far as relates to the 

 latter State. 



