231 



and were transported by human agencies to Polynesia, the East 

 Indies, and Africa, in very remote times, or at least in times 

 much antedating the discovery of the Xew World by the 

 Spaniards. 



A MISSISSIPPI ALETRIS AND SOME ASSOCIATED 



PLANTS 



By E. J. Hill 



In 1858 I was engaged in teaching at Starkville, Mississippi. 

 Some of the spare hours were given to the study of the plants of 

 the locality. A physician of the place wishing to obtain the colic- 

 root [Aletris farinosa), the few books on botany accessible were 

 consulted to ascertain the kind of ground in which it was likely 

 to be found. It was decided to tr>^ the pine-barrens west of 

 Starkville. A drive of a few miles through a rich farming region 

 brought us to one in great contrast with it. Crossing a small 

 stream, named in my note-book, Trim-Cane creek, we were ab- 

 ruptly brought into the barrens with their dry, sandy soil and 

 corresponding flora. Only a short time passed before I found 

 a plant which answered the description of an Aletris. As there 

 were but two species mentioned in the manuals, A. farinosa 

 L. and A. aiirca Walt., the one discovered, having white flowers, 

 was identified with the former. The leaves at the base of the 

 stems did not agree very well with those described, but being of 

 little experience in the study, I was not as much disturbed by the 

 discrepancy as would have been the case in after years. Having 

 taken a few more plants we returned to Starkville. The time of 

 collecting was May 22, 1858. What use the physician made of 

 the Aletris I do not know. A couple of months from that time 

 I returned to Xew York, not to go back to Mississippi again. 



In 1863 I came to Illinois to reside. The place was just 

 south of Chicago, and the first summer in the state revealed the 

 real A. farinosa in the sands of the former bed of Lake [Michigan. 

 It had radical leaves quite different from the obovate or oblan- 

 ceolate form in the single example of the Mississippi plant that 



