352 



ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



NOTES FBOM CORRESPONDENTS. 



Kentucky Coffee Tree. — The tree mentioneil in 

 the June number of the American Entomologist 

 AND Botanist as growing near Cardiff, Onondago Co., 

 N. Y., is Gymnocladiis Canadensis, or the Kentuclvy 

 Coffee Tree, a very rare tree in this Slate. Gov. Dewitt 

 Clinton must have been mistalcen if he supposed the 

 trees in question were a species of Zanthoxylum. 



White Fruited Fragaria.— We have a Fragaria 

 growing liere that resembles F. vesca in every respect 

 except the color of the fruit, which is always white. In 

 Skaneateles, in this State, there arehterally millions of 

 these plants growing in the fields, always with white 

 fruit, and showing no signs of varying into the proper 

 form of Fragaria msoa. Is this white-fruited form com- 

 mon in other localities? If it should be found to retain 

 its white fruit iu all places would this constitute it a 

 Hew species ? ^ Sam'l N. Cowi.es. 



Skaneateles, N. Y. , Aug., 1S70. 



[The mere character of color is not sufficient to estab- 

 lish a specific distinction. We would be glad to have 

 information from other correspondents as to the fre- 

 quency of this variety of Strawberry . — Ed.] 



Botanical Notes from Soutbern Illinois, No. 



2. — Since writing my last I have observed, about the 

 bluffs in Union county, Lespedeza 7-epen,s and Galactea 

 mollis, both occurring abundantly . In the lower grounds 

 along streams, the first herbaceous plant in bloom is tlie 

 little FHgenia hulhosa, the harbinger of spring, which 

 often pushes uii its cluster ot tiny blossoms while its 

 leaves are yet unfolded, and sometimes before they are 

 even above the ground. Its early appearance is the 

 more striking, since it belongs to an order whose other 

 representatives bloom in midsummer. 



Upon the faces of southward-sloping hills, I have seen 

 masses of Phlox lifida in bloom as early as the 2&th of 

 March. Later comes the Synandra grandiflora, the 

 largest and most beautiful of our labiate flowers, grow- 

 ing iu profusion along the Drury and its tributaries. 

 Stagnant pools are often filled with Manunmlus oUongi- 

 f alius, while in low grounds everywhere occur Delphin- 

 ium tricorne and Trilliam erectum, var. aliu-m. The 

 Delphinium is always deep purple with us, and the 

 Trillium white throughout. Scattered through damj) 

 woods, and growing in masses at the bases of bluffs, I 

 find Pogonia pendula, curious, like all the fantastic 

 Orchis family to which it belongs, and interesting also 

 for its rarity elsewhere. Most of these plants, with many 

 others interesting and beautiful, may be found in the 

 Stone-Fort Valley, a narrow creek bottom bordered by 

 perpendicular walls of rock, near Makanda, in Jackson 

 county. Opposite an ancient fortification, from which 

 the valley takes its name — a relic of the early French or 

 Spanish voyageurs — is the only spot where the Saxifraga 

 mentioned in your August number has yet been seen. 

 The scarred and buttressed bluffs of this valley are rich 

 in mosses and ferns, lichens and liverworts. 



In swampy .ground is sometimes seen Paneratiumrota- 

 tum, almost worthy to contest the palm for beauty and 

 fragrance with the ijeerless White Water-lily. It does 

 not bloom here luitil July or August. It furnishes an 

 illustration of the ingenious care which Nature some- 

 times takes to secure the direct fertilization of the ovule, 

 a process which, in other cases, she is equally careful 

 to leave to the chance assistance of insects, or the fickle 



vrinds. The thickened points of the thi-ee outer divi- 

 sions of the calyx are curiously notched, so as to hold 

 the tips of the sepals together until the anthers have dis- 

 charged their pollen and the impregnation of the ovule 

 is made certain ; and then the flower opens, usually with 

 a sudden spring. A very common jjlant in low grounds 

 is Uesmodiwm pauciflomm, remarkable as being perhaps 

 the only member of the sub-order Papilionacese whose 

 petals are entirely distinct. 



In thickets I find Sioyos angulatus, and in the drier 

 woods Coreopsis auriculata, ArchangeUca hireuta, Fedia 

 radiata, Cynthia Virginica, CorallorMza odontorhiza (rare), 

 and Lifhospermum latifolium, the latter widely scattered 

 through the forests of Jackson county. Sabbutia angu- 

 laris often appears here with pure white flowers. 



Among the common roadside plants are HeUophytwm, 

 IndicuTn and Eupatorium serotinwm. At the base ot bluffs 

 appears Polymnia Canadensis; and in rich and shaded 

 soil Phacelia bipinnatifida, bearing round racemes of 

 light-blue flowers, but coarse in foliage and offensively 

 rank in smell. Very common, not in swami)s, but by 

 banks of streams and in low open grounds evei-y where, 

 is Ludwigia alternifolia. 



The flora of the Mississippi bottoms is not so varied 

 and peculiar as that of the higher lands. Almost the 

 only unusual plants which I have observed there are 

 Mynophyllam heterophyllum and Ilottonia inflata, occur- 

 ring in stagnant ponds. Jussimi repens occurs somewhat 

 rarely here, but is very common further south. 



The tortuous and shallow lakes, lying usually near the 

 eastern boundary of the bottoms, are filled with the 

 ordinary vegetation of quiet waters. I have seen acres 

 of their expanse gorgeous with the pui-ple and green-and- 

 gold of the Pickerel- weed, and some are filled with the 

 stately and beautiful Nelumbium luteum, the under sur- 

 faces of whose broad peltate leaves, when swept by the 

 wind, flash in the sun like silver. More commonly, 

 however, they are simply bordered with the Arrow 

 Arum, and the yellow and white Pond-lilies; while the 

 dark-brown surface of the open spaces will be starred 

 with the golden blossoms of the larger Utricularia. On 

 the bordersof Grassy Lake Ifound.<i?t«)non«P«»ra«yfoa»»ca 

 and Smilux tamnoides, and upon the summits of some 

 Indian burial mounds on Bunning Lake, the only speci- 

 mens of Gleditschia monosperma I have seen in the county. 



I will add to the above list a few I observed in Frank- 

 lin county, as Polygala JSuttallii and P. ambigua, both 

 very common; MyriopTiyllum scabratum in swamps, and 

 in thickets upon the hills Phaseolus pauci/lorus, Stachys 

 palustris, varieties aspera and glabra; Asclepias purpur- 

 ascens; Crotoncapitattim\>jy:oa,&siAe%; Smilax pseudocMna, 

 and a Ilerpestris, not rotundifolia. S. A. l^'ORBES. 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Plants to Name — Daniel Witter, Den/cer, Colorado. — 

 I inclose the flower, seed-pod and a branch of a very 

 beautiful and singular plant which grows most luxuri- 

 antly on our driest and most sandy plains. I would 

 like much to know its name. Its root is perennial, I 

 think, and runs down to a great depth. I have seen 

 bunches of it from one root 8 feet across and 3 feet high. 



Ans. The specimen sent was Ipomea leptophylla, or 

 what might be called the Western Morning-glory. It 

 occurs frequently on the "Great Plains," and when in 

 flower presents a beautiful api)earance. 



