ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



313 



The leaves arc liable to much variation in size 

 and slia]>c, in some cases (lie lobes being only 

 marked by gentle undulations, in others by 

 sharp and deep notclies. The acorn is short and 

 ovoid, and nearly lialf covered by the rough- 

 scaled cup. 



A LIST OF I'LAN'TiS 



GKOWINC IN THE VICINITY OF CHICAGO DURINfi 

 MARCH, Al'KIL AND JIAV. 



The district around Chicago might seem to 

 one not personally acijuainted with the country 

 as a poor one for botanical collection, consisting 

 mainly, as it does, of Hat prairie; but our city 

 botanists familiar with the region, have found 

 it ((uite fruitful in species. 



Taking the city as a centre, within the area 

 of a circle swept by a radius of thirty miles, I 

 am inclined to think a greater variety of plants 

 may be collected than within the same space in 

 any other portion of this State. In the barren 

 sandy soil along Lake Michigan we find plants 

 suggestive of the sea shore, including a number 

 of species limited elsewhere to the Atlantic 

 coast, or the neighborhood of saline deposits in 

 the interior. Passing to the prairie within five 

 or si.K miles of the city, along the lines of several 

 rfiilroads, where a strip of land has been rescued 

 from tillage and protected Ironi cattle, we may 

 still find the distinctive plants of the iirairie 

 in rich profusion. This is peculiarly true of 

 Graccland and Jlydc I'ark suburbs. 



For the species belonging to tlie woods and 

 the moist river region we have onr choice of 

 following np the north branch of Chicago river, 

 or at a somewhat greater distance, the course 

 of the J)cs I'laincs. A day's trip to Glencoe 

 takes us to deep ravines with their apjjropriate 

 l)lants; while an excursion to Lake Calumet, 

 or the adjoining I'ounty of Lake, brings ns to a 

 local flora of much interest; in the latter case 

 the i)lant8 are associated with evergreens. 



Within such an area we might reasonably 

 expect to find a varied vegetation. Our season 

 here opens rather late compared with other sec- 

 tions, but advances with rapid strides after tlie 

 middle of April. 



My list for March includes only that odd plant 

 the Skunk Cabbage (Si/mplornrpun fwtidus), 

 whose variegated spathes, just thrust above 

 ground, suggest at once the tulip and some 

 fleshy fungus. This abounds in swampy locali- 

 ties north of the city, and along the Des Plaines 

 river. It is our first spring flower, but to my 

 surprise last fall, just as the Gentians were put- 

 ting in an appearance, I found a solitary purple 

 and green spathe of this plant. AVhat abnormal 

 condition caused this unusual blossoming I am 

 unable to decide. It is paralleled in my own 

 observation, however, by the appearance in 

 autumn of the flowers of Viola peclata. In such 

 plants the flower buds are so far advanced at 

 the close of autumn as to yield to the first 

 touches of spring, so that but little stimulus of 

 a certain character starts them into bloom. Au- 

 tumnal impulses may thus occasionally antici- 

 pate those of spring. The llepatica and May 

 fiower {Eiiigea) may doubtless be found in 

 bloom under similar circumstances with any of 

 the stemless violets. April ushered in the 

 Prickly Ash {Zanthoxyhnii Americnna), its 

 yellowish-green flowers clustered on the bare 

 and prickly twigs, in the river district; while 

 along the lake shore the low shrubs of the aro- 

 matic Sumac {Ithits arorruiticu) displayed thin 

 yellow spikes of blossoms. 1 noticed that the 

 lower branches lying on the sand bloomed a 

 week earlier than the upper ones, the warming 

 up of the sand doubtless being the cause. 



The country a few miles back from Lake 

 Michigan, especially in the region of the Des 

 Plaines river, has an eai'lier season than the lake 

 shore by a week or ten days. Here were fonml 

 about the middle of April llepatica triloba, var. 

 (tciililoba, I51ood-root (Sani/uinaria Canaden- 

 nix), the wliite Oog-tooth Violet (Erythronium 

 ulbidum), the IJue Anemone (Thaliclrum ane- 

 nionoidcx), Dicentra aictilktria and Clay Ionia 

 Viryinicu. Old colleutors re^tovi Isoiiyrumbiter- 



