48 Botanical Excursion to the Mountains of North Carolina. 



bling the leaves of the vine in size and shape, as remarked by 

 DeCandolle ; in one instance we found them ten inches in diam- 

 eter ; but they are generally much smaller and more divided, 

 apparently passing into the former species. The number of the 

 ovaries does not afford marked characters, since the lowest flow- 

 ers of C. racemosa sometimes present two, while the upper ones 

 of C. cordifolia are almost always monogynous. 



We were too early in the season for several interesting plants, 

 especially CompositcB, and did not extend our researches far 

 enough south to obtain many others ; such as Hudsonia mon- 

 tana, which appears to be confined to Table Mountain, Rhodo- 

 dendron punctatum^ Stuartia pentagyna, Philadelphus hirsutus, 

 Silene ovata (which Mr. Curtis found in Buncombe and Hay- 

 wood Counties), Berheris Canadensis (which however Pursh 

 collected on the mountains of Greenbrier in Yirginia), Parnassia 

 asarifolia, (which according to Mr. Curtis first appears in Yancey 

 County, but Pursh procured it from " mountain runs on the Salt 

 Pond Mountain, Yirginia, and on the top of the Alleghanies near 

 Christiansburg,") and, above all, the new Thertnopsis / (T. Caro- 

 liniana, M. A. Curtis, mss.) recently discovered by our friend Mr. 

 Curtis, in Haywood and Cherokee Counties. We were likewise 

 unsuccessful in our search for a remarkable undescribed plant, 

 with the habit of Pyrola and the foliage of Galax, which was 

 obtained by Michaux in the high mountains of Carolina. The 

 only specimen extant is among the ' Plantas incognitas' of the 

 Michauxian herbarium, in fruit only ; and we were anxious to 

 obtain flowering specimens, that we might complete its history ; 

 as I have long wished to dedicate the plant to Prof. Short, of 

 Kentucky, whose attainments and eminent services in North 

 American botany are well known and appreciated both at home 

 and abroad.* 



* SHORTIA. Torrey 8,- Gray. 



Calyx quinquesepalus ; sepala imbricata, squamacea, striata, persistentia, exteri- 

 ora ovata, interiora oblonga. Corolla . . . Stamina . . . Capsula calyce brevior, 

 subglobosa, st3'lo iiliformi (subpersistente) superata, trilocularis, loculicide trival- 

 vis, valvis medio septiferis, placenta ccntrali magna persistente. Semina multa, 

 parva; testa nucleo conformis. Embryo teres, rectiusculus, albumine brevior. — 

 Herba csespitosa ? subacaulis, perenni, glabra; foliis longe petiolatis, rotundatis, 

 subcordatis, apice nunc retusis, crenato-serratis, crenaturis mucronatis ; scapis uni- 

 floris, nudis, apicem versus squamoso-bracteatis. 



S. GALAciFOLiA, Torr. &f Gray. — {V. spec. sice, in herb. Michx., cum schedula, 

 ' Hautes montagnes de Carolinie. An Pyrola spec. ? an genus novum ?') 



