159 



bloom on any given date, or how long the flowering period of 

 the average species in the habitat lasts, or at what hours the dif- 

 ferent flowers open and close,* which ones open only once and 

 which open and close for several days in succession. These and 

 numerous other phaenological problems which might be cited 

 require no special knowledge for their investigation, and much 

 can be done with them in a single season by any one who can 

 get out in the field every week or so. For those who have some 

 knowledge of entomology the study of the insect visitors of 

 flowers presents an attractive field which has not been worked 

 as much in this part of the country as it has farther west. 



The exact mode of dissemination is practically unknown in 

 many of our commonest plants, for example in such familar 

 genera as Pajiiciim, Cyperus, Scirpus, Carex, Jiincics, Polygonum, 

 Hepatica, Potentilla, Lespedeza, Polygala, LecJiea, Kneiffia, Con- 

 volvulus, Uiricularia, Plantago, Ambrosia, Rudbeckia, HeliantJius, 

 and numerous others easily recalled. And yet almost any plant 

 ought to give up its secrets to the student who has patience 

 enough to sit down beside it for awhile at the proper time.f 



The local distribution of many species which reach their limits 

 in this vicinity is very imperfectly known, even in the case of such 

 common trees as Pinus echinata, P. viiginiana, Larix, Chamaecy- 

 paris, Quercus minor, Q. marylandica, Q. Phellos, Magnolia 

 virginiana, and Liquidambar. 



A great deal of valuable information about the common names 

 and economic properties of our native plants can still be obtained 

 by going out in the rural districts and interviewing people who 

 have never been influenced in any way by botanical literature. 



* The time of opening and closing of flowers is not such a trivial matter as it might 

 seem at first thought. It is one of the chief characters by which Kneiffia and 

 Oenothera are distinguished, and it might prove equally useful in other groups which 

 have not been so well studied. 



f Such studies as these are commonly supposed to Ijelong strictly to ecology; but 

 would not systematic botany be considerably enriched if to the description of each 

 family or genus could be added a few words concerning pollination and dissemination , 

 instead of noting only such characters as are obtainable from herbarium specimens ? 

 As the mode of dissemination is usually the same throughout a genus, and even 

 throughout some of the smaller families, such information would add very little to 

 the size of our manuals, even if nothing of less importance was omitted to make room 

 for it. 



