BOTANICAL EXCURSION TO NORTH CAROLINA. 61 



means clearly distinguished in subsequent works. The leaves 

 in our specimens are oblong-lanceolate, finely acuminate, the 

 margins closely beset throughout with spinulose - setaceous 

 teeth ; and the rather loose spicate racemes (the corolla having 

 fallen) are nearly half the length of the leaves. 



Hitherto we had searched in vain for the Astilbe decandra; 

 but we first met with this very interesting plant in the rich 

 and moist mountain woods between Elk Creek and Cranberry 

 Forge, and subsequently in similar situations, particularly 

 along the steep banks of streams, quite to the base of the 

 Roan. Mr. Curtis found it abundantly near the sources of 

 the Linville River, and at the North Cove, where it could not 

 have escaped the notice of Michaux ; and it is doubtless the 

 Spiraea Aruncus var. hermaphrodite/, of that author. It in- 

 deed greatly resembles Spiraea Aruncus, and at a distance of 

 a few yards is not easily distinguished from that plant, but on 

 a closer approach the resemblance is much less striking. 

 Michaux appears to have been the original discoverer of this 

 plant, and from him the specimens cultivated in the Malmai- 

 son Garden, and described by Ventenat under the name of 

 Tiarella biternata, were probably derived. It was afterwards 

 collected by Lyon, 1 and described by Pursh from a specimen 

 cultivated in Mr Lambert's garden at Boynton. We noticed 

 a peculiarity in this plant, which explains the discrepancy be- 

 tween Ventenat and Pursh (the former having figured it with 

 linear-spatulate petals, while the latter found it apetalous), 

 and perhaps throws some additional light upon the genus. 

 The flowers are dicecio-polygamous, the two forms differing 

 from each other in aspect much as the staminate and pistillate 

 plants of Spiraea Aruncus. In one form, the filaments are 

 exserted to twice or thrice the length of the calyx, and the 

 spatulate-linear petals, inconspicuous only on account of their 

 narrowness, are nearly as long as the stamens ; the ovaries 



1 Muhlenberg's specimen was also received from Lyon. The only 

 habitat cited in this author's catalogue is Tennessee, and we ourselves 

 collected it within the limits, as well as on the borders of that State. The 

 late Dr. Mcbride found it in South Carolina, near the sources of the 

 Saluda. 



