66 ESS A YS. 



visit to the other principal summit, where we found nothing 

 that we had not already collected, excepting A renaria glabra, 

 Michx., and descended partly by way of the contiguous Yel- 

 low Mountain. 



Retracing our steps, we returned the next day to the foot 

 of Grandfather, and reached our quarters at Jefferson the 

 second day after. We had frequently been told of an anti- 

 dote to the bite of the Rattlesnake and Copperhead (not un- 

 frequent throughout this region), which is thought to possess 

 wonderful efficacy, called Thurman's Snake-root after an " In- 

 dian Doctor," who first employed it ; the plant was brought to 

 us by a man who was ready to attest its virtues from his per- 

 sonal knowledge, and proved to be the Silene stellata ! Its use 

 was suggested by the markings of the root beneath the bark, 

 in which these people find a fancied resemblance to the skin 

 of the Rattlesnake. Nearly all the reputed antidotes are 

 equally inert ; such herbs as Impatiens pallida, etc., being 

 sometimes employed ; so that we are led to conclude that the 

 bite of these reptiles is seldom fatal, or even very dangerous, 

 in these cooler portions of the country. 



About the foot of the Roan and Grandfather we obtained 

 et margines ciliati, subsessilia, infra saturate glauca. Racemi 5-10- 

 flori, ssepe corymbosi, ad apicem rauiulorum anni prsecedentis solitarii vel 

 aggregati. Baccae immature caerulese, glaucse, limbo calycis majusculo 

 coronatae, decern- (nunc abortu quinque ?) loculares ; loculis pleio (3-6 ?) 

 spermis. 



Professor Dunal (in DC. Prodr. 7, p. 566) notices as an extraordinary 

 exception to the character of Vaccinium, a species with an 8-10-celled fruit 

 and a single (?) seed in each cell. The first-named character is not un- 

 frequent in the genus : several of the more common species which I have 

 cursorily examined, exhibit a more or less completely 8-10-celled ovary, 

 but with many ovules in each cell. There is a small group, however 

 [Decachcena, Torr. & Gray ined.], presenting a different structure, which 

 is best exemplified in V. resinosum, Ait. The 10 carpels of this species, 

 inclosed in the baccate calyx, are very slightly coherent with each other, 

 and become crustaceous or bony nuts, each containing a single ascending 

 seed. The same is the case in what I take to be V. dumosum and V. hir- 

 tellum ; and probably in some other species which have the leaves 

 sprinkled with resinous dots. V. frondosum, Willd. (which is the V. de- 

 camerocarpon of Dunal), is similar in structure, except that the carpels 

 appear to be more coherent and less indurated. 



