106 THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 
port reached me, I set out for the place and made a cut in the 
ground in order to divide the tuft. One scape was left in the 
place for control; the others were taken home and potted. 
The room wherein the potted plant had been placed was kept 
at a moderate temperature during the day. At night, when 
weather conditions became severe, the temperature occasion- 
ally dropped below the freezing point. The flower buds were 
already somewhat less than full-size when the plant was dis- 
covered. During the following weeks neither the potted 
scapes nor the one left in the native habitat showed any per- 
ceptible progress; neither did they show any sign of deterio- 
ration. Five or six weeks after the time of discovery, the 
scape in the field was found broken and thus lost as control 
cbject. The potted plant remained in a state of apparent 
dormancy during January and February 1910, but became 
perceptibly active with the approach of March. About the 
tenth of that month the corolla of the first flower expanded, 
the others following in turn. Almost simultaneously (in the 
middle of March) the discovery of a colony of plants offered 
the opportunity to test the above result under normal outdoor 
conditions. Comparison proved that the tenth of March is 
to be considered a somewhat too early date for anthesis. The 
new discovery marks a further significant date in the history 
of this Alabama plant in that this colony served for some 
years as field object for the study of-the plant’s behavior 
during the whole course of its season, from the appearance o 
the scapes to the ripening of the fruit. Afterwards, the plant 
was discovered more frequently, so that all in all, a few thou- 
sand scapes have come to my notice. Thus the plant and its 
behavior is well understood at present. . 
I take pleasure in acknowledging my gratitude to Brother 
Norbert Knapke, the discoverer of the plant. Most of the 
discoveries must be accredited to him, for without his enthu- 
siasm, his urgent persuasion and his never-failing reports of 
new findings, I should not have been able to offer this modest 
contribution to science. For the photographs accompanying . 
this paper, I am indebted to Rev. Bede Knapke, O. S. B., 
to whom I likewise wish to express my gratitude. 
