18 Botanical Excursion to the Mountains of North Carolina. 



uniformly perfect, as indeed they are figured by DeLessert, al- 

 though DeCandolle has otherwise described them. It is a slender, 

 delicate plant, from eight to twelve, or rarely exceeding eighteen 

 inches in height, with pure white flowers. During this ascent 

 we collected Galium latifolium, Michx., just coming into flower ; 

 and we subsequently found this species so widely difi^iised 

 throughout the mountains of North Carolina, that we were much 

 surprised at its remaining so little known since the time of Mi- 

 chaux. On a moist rocky bank by the road-side, we gathered 

 some specimens of a Scutellaria, which did not again occur to 

 us. It proves to be a species mentioned by Mr. Bentham under 

 S. serrata, and subsequently described by Dr. Riddell with the 

 name of S. saxatilis* which apparently is not of uncommon oc- 

 currence westward of the Alleghany Mountains. It is a slender 

 plant, from six to twenty inches high ; and the stems often pro- 

 duce slender subterranean runners from their base. We here 

 also collected Asarwm Virginicum, Linn, in similar situations. 

 In the higher mountains, the northern A. Canadense takes the 

 place of the former species, while A. arifolium, Michx. seems to 

 be confined to the lower country.f The banks of the shady 



* S. SAXATILIS (Riddell, siippl. cat. Ohio plants, 1836, p. 14): pilosiuscula 

 vel subglabra,caule adscendente, foliis petiolatis membranaceis cordato-ovatis grosse 

 crenatis superioribus cordato-oblongis obtusis, floralibus ovato-oblongis breviter pe- 

 tiolatis integerrimis pedicellos plerumque superantibus, racemis laxis, floribus op- 

 positis subseoundis, corolla breviter bilabiata, galea rectiuscula. 



Ah S. serrata diversa. tana floribus quam foliis: ad S. violaceam (Ind. Orient.) 

 accedere videtur, ut dixit cl. Benth. {Lab. gen. et sp. p. 434, adnot. sub S. serrata.) 

 Corolla semipollicaria, labio inferiore tubo superne amplissimo triple breviore, 

 galea vixincurva. Achenia valde tuberculosa. 



t If Decaisne's Hcterotropa be retained as a distinct genus, which it probably 

 should be, the character must be somewhat modified, and two of our American 

 species referred to it; although the name will be unmeaning as applied to the latter. 

 According to this view, the differential characters of the two genera may be pre- 

 sented as follows : 



ASARUM. Tourn., Linn. excl. spec. 



Perigonium campanulatum, tubo cum ovario connato, limbo tripartite. Stamina 

 12: filamenta subulata, libera, vel basi styli subadnata: antheraj breves, extrorsce, 

 connectivo longe subulato superatte. Ovarium perigonio adnatum : styli in colum- 

 nam crassam apice breviter 6-lobam concreti, stigmatibus papillosis desinentes. 

 (Herbae Europeae et Boreali-Americanae.) 



1. A. EuRoPiEUM (Linn.) : filamentis liberis stylum esquantibus. 



2. A. Canadense (Linn.) : filamentis imis styli basi adnatis eoque brevioribus, 

 — Q,uid est Jl. Canadense, Thunbergii ? ■ 



