RANUNCULACEAE 179 



been used in dyeing and domestic medicine. In DeKalb County 

 in 1905 I was told that it is a remedy for sore mouth; and when 

 the pellagra scare came on, some years later, it was among the 

 remedies recommended for that. 



Grows mostly on shaded banks of clear swift branches, in 

 non-calcareous regions. Widely distributed over the state, but 

 commonest northward. 



2A. Madison (Mohr), Cullman, Marion, DeKalb, Cherokee and Blount 

 Counties. 



2A. Walker and Jefferson Counties. 



4. Common along mountain streams in Clay County. 



5. Randolph and Chilton Counties. 

 6A. Marion and Chilton Counties. 

 6B. Bibb and Autauga Counties. 



6C. Near Prattville, and along Uchee Creek, Russell County, 

 low. Choctaw and Monroe Counties, mostly among the Buhrstone 

 mountains. 



low or 11. Clarke County (Mohr). 

 13. Mobile County (Mohr). 



CALYCANTHACEAE. Sweet-shrub Family. 



A small family with 2 genera and about 6 species, shrubs, 

 in North America and eastern Asia. 



CALYCANTHUS, hinnaaus. (Butiwria, Duhamel). The Sw'EET-shrubs. 



Two species of this gentis are credited to Alabama by Mohr 

 and four by Small, luit the characters separating them are so ob- 

 scure that I have never been able to distinguish them in the field, 

 and for the present will refer them all to the earliest described 

 species. 



Calycanthus floridus, L. Sweet-shrub. 



A medium- sized deciduous shrub, with comparatively large 

 but inconspicuous fragrant dark purple flowers, which appear 

 abottt the same time as the leaves in spring, and last until May. 

 School-children like to gather the flowers and wrap them in their 

 handkerchiefs so as to enjoy the fragrance all day. The bark is 

 supposed to have some medicinal properties, and Dr. Mohr says 

 one of the species is "deleterious to cattle." The shrub is some- 

 times cultivated for ornament. 



Grows mostly on bluffs and in ravines, or in other rich woods 

 protected from fire and well supplied with humus, though the soil 

 may be sandy. Widely distributed but not abundant. Dr. Mohr 



