352 



ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



NOTES FROM CORRESPONltENTS. 



Kentucky Coffee Tree— The tree mentioned in 

 tlie June number of the American Entomologist 

 ANU Botanist as growing near Carditi', Onondago Go., 

 N. Y., i» Gymnoolailua Canadensis, or tlie Kentucky 

 Coflce Tree, a very rare tree in this .Slate. Gov. Dewitt 

 Clinton must have been mistaken if he supposed the 

 trees in question were a species ot Zanthoxylum. 



White Fruited Fragauia.— We ^ave a Fraguria 

 growing here that resembles F. ivsca \a every respect 

 except tlie color of Hi<' iriiit, wliiili is always white. In 

 Skaiicatelcs, in this si^ii.', ilinr arr literally millions of 

 these plants growiri- in iliv lliM,-, always with white 

 fruit, and showing no .signs of varying into the proper 

 form of Fnigaria vesca. Is this white-fruited form com- 

 mon HI other localities? If it should be found to retain 

 its white fruit in all places would this constitute It a 

 new species? ' Sam'l N. Cowi-BS. 



ISKANEATELKS, N. Y., Aug., 1870. 



[Tlie mere character of color is not sufficient to cstali- 

 lish a specitic distinction. We would be glad to have 

 information from other correspondents as to the fre- 

 quency of this variety of Strawberry. — Ed.] 



Botanical Notes from Southern Illinois, No. 



2.— Since writing my last I have observed, about the 

 blufl's in Union county, Lespedeza repens and Gulactea 

 mollix, both occurring abundantly . In the lower grounds 

 along streams, the first herbaceous plant in bloom is the 

 little Erigenia bulbosa, the harbinger of .spring, which 

 often pushes up its cluster ot tiny blossoms while its 

 leaves are yet unfolded, and sometimes before they are 

 even above the ground. Its early appearance is the 

 more striking, since it belongs to an order wliose other 

 representatives bloom in midsummer. 



Upon the faces of southward-sloping hills, I have seen 

 masses of Phlox hifida in bloom as early as the 25th of 

 March. Later comes the Syrumdra grandifiora , the 

 largest ami most beautiful of our labiate flowers, grow- 

 ing in profusion along the Drury and its tributaries. 

 Stagnant pools are often tilled with Kanuaculus oUongi- 

 foli.ua, while in low grounds everywhere occur Delphin- 

 ium tricorm and Trillium erectum, var. album. The 

 Delphinium is always deep purple with us, and the 

 Trillium white throughout. Scattered through damp 

 woods, and growing in masses at the bases of blufl's, I 

 find Pogoihia pendula, curious, like all the fantastic 

 Orchis family to which it belongs, and interesting also 

 for its rarity ej^sewhere. Most of these plants, with many 

 others interesting and beautiful, may be found in the 

 Stone-Fort Valley, a naiTow creek bottom bordered by 

 perpendicular walls of rock, near Makanda, in Jackson 

 county. Opposite an ancient fortification, from which 

 the valley takes its name— a relic of the early French or 

 Spanish voyagcjurs — is the only spot where the Saxifraga 

 mentioned in your August number has yet been seen. 

 The scarred and buttressed bluffs of this valley are rich 

 in mosses and ferns, lichens and liverworts. 



In swampy ground is sometimes seen Pancratium rota- 

 tum, almost worthy to contest the palm for beauty and 

 fragrance with the peerless White Water-lily. It does 

 not bloom here until .July or August. It furnishes an 

 illustration of the ingenious care which Nature some- 

 times takes to secure the direct fertilization of the ovule, 

 a process which, in other cases, she is equally careful 

 to leave to the chance assistance of insects, or the fickle 



winds. The thickened points of the three outer divi- 

 sions of the calyx are curiously notched, so as to hold 

 the tips of the sepals together until the anthers have dis- 

 charged their pollen and the impregnation of the ovule 

 is made certain; and then the flower opens, usually with 

 a sudden spring. A very common plant in low grounds 

 is Desmodium paucijiorum, remarkable as being perhaps 

 the only member of the sub-order Papilionacea; whose 

 petals are entirely distinct. 



In thickets I find Sicyos angulatus, and in the drier 

 woods Coreopsis aitriculata, Archangelica hirsuta, Fedia 

 radiatu, Cynthia Virginica, Corallorhiza odontorhiza (rare), 

 and Lithospemmm latifolium, the latter widely scattered 

 through the forests of .Tackson county. Sahbatia angu- 

 laris often appciir-: hrre witli pure white flowefrs. 



Among the <■' n i . i i.le plants are Heliophytum 



Jndicum an<\ A I.. f.nm. At the base of bluffs 



appears Pohjmni.: / , /,, and in rich and shaded 



soil Phacelia bipiimatijida, bearing round racemes of 

 light-blue flowers, but coarse in foliage and ott'ensively 

 rank in smell. Very common, not in swamps, but by 

 banks of streams and in low open grounds everywhere, 

 is Ludivigia alternifolia. 



The flora of the Mississippi bottoms is not so varied 

 and peculiar as that of the higlier lands. Almost the 

 only unusual plants which I have observed there are 

 Myriophyllum heterophyllum and 'Hottonia inflata, occur- 

 ring in stagnant ponds. Jussicea repms ocvxlys somewhat 

 rarely here, but is very common further south. 



The tortuous and shallow lakes, lying usually near the 

 eastern boundary of the bottoms, are filled with the 

 ordinary vegetation of quiet waters. I have seen acres 

 of their expanse gorgeous with the purple and green-and- 

 gold of the Pickerel- weed, and some are filled with the 

 stately and beautiful Nelumbium luteum, the under sur- 

 faces of whose broad peltate leaves, when swept by the 

 wind, flash in the sun like silver. More commonly, 

 however, they are simply bordered with the Arrow 

 Arum, and the yellow and white Pond-lilies; while the 

 dark-brown surface of the open spaces will be starred 

 with the golden blossoms of the larger Utricularia. On 

 the bordersof Grassy Lake Ifound^ffl«?n«n«i'««ra«yZ»ii»«(!a 

 and iSmihix tamnoidu, and upon the summits of some 

 Indian burial mounds on Running Lake, the only speci- 

 mens of Gleditschia m/mosperma I have seen in the county. 



I will add to the above list a few I observed in Frank- 

 lin county, as Polygala JSvttalUi and P. umbigua, both 

 very common; Myriophyllum scabratiimm swiimps, and 

 in thickets upon the hills Phaseolus pauciflorus, Stachyt 

 palustris, varieties aspera and glabra; Asclepias purpur- 

 aseens; Crotoacapitalumhy roadsides; Smilax psemlochina, 

 and a Uerpestris, not rotundifoUa. S. A. Forbes. 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Plants to Name— ftraje^ Witter, Denver, Colorado. — 

 I inclose the flower, seed-pod and a branch of a very 

 beautiful and singular plant which grows most luxuri- 

 antly on our driest and most sandy plains. I would 

 like much to know its name. Its root is perennial, I 

 think , and runs down to a great depth. I have seen 

 bunches of it ba\\\ one root 8 feet across and 3 feet high. 



Ans. The specimen sent was Ipomea leptophylla, or 

 what might be called the Western Morning-glory. It 

 occurs frequently on the "Great Plains," and when in 

 flower presents a beautiful appeiuance. 



