Botanical Excursion to the Mountains of North Carolina. 27 



doubtedly be retained for M. Virginicum and M. hybridum. 

 Some years since, in re-arranging the North American species of 

 this family, I followed Roemer and Schultes in adopting the ge- 

 nus Leimanthium of Willdenow, without considering that Me- 

 lanthmm was established by Clayton and Gronovius on M. Vir- 

 ginicum, and thus taken up by Linnseus, with the addition of a 

 Siberian plant, which belongs to Zigadenus.* The Melan- 

 thium Capense, (Androcymbium, Willd.) was added some time 

 afterwards. 



The rocky summits of the mountains afforded us Sedum tele- 

 phioides ; Heuchera villosa ; Paronychia argyrocoma, which 

 forms dense silvery tufts on the highest and most exposed peaks ; 

 Veronica ojicitialis, serpyllifolia, and agrestis, (all certainly na- 

 tive ;) Lycopodium rupestre, in a very beautiful state, and on the 

 Phoenix Mountain we found a solitary specimen of L. Selago ; 

 Arabis lyrata, with perfectly accumbent cotyledons ; Potentilla 

 tridentata, which we only saw on the Bluff Mountain ; Wood- 

 sia ilvensis ; Saxifraga leucanthemifolia, which not unfrequently 

 attains the height of two feet, with a large and slender effuse 

 panicle j Diervilla trifida, entirely resembling the northern plant j 

 Pyrus ruielanocarpa ; Sorbus Americana, 13. rnicrocarpa ; Rho- 

 dodendron Catawbiense, just out of flower, while R. maxi- 

 mum, extremely abundant along the streams and mountain-sides, 

 was only beginning to expand its blossoms.f In such situations, 

 also, we found a marked dwarfish variety of Hedyotis purpurea, 

 growing somewhat in tufts, and scarcely exceeding four or five 

 . inches in height. The flowers, which are deep pink, while in 

 the ordinary form of this region they are nearly white, present 

 the dimorphism which obtains in several sections of the genus ; 

 the stamens in some specimens being inserted in the throat of 

 the corolla and exsert, while in others they are inserted near the 

 base of the tube and included ; in the former the style is uni- 

 formly short and included, and in the latter long and somewhat 

 exserted. These two forms were often seen growing side by 



* The Helonias glaberrima, Bot. Mag. 1. 1680, on which Zigadenus commuta- 

 tus, of Schultes is founded, is Z. glaucus ; the specimens came from Fraser's nur- 

 sery, but doubtless were not derived from the Southern States. Helonias bracteata, 

 Bot. mag. t. 1703, is Z. glaherrimus , Michx., not fully developed. 



t These shrubs here bear the name of Laurel; while the Kalmia latifolia is 

 universally called Ivy, or Ivy-bush. 



