49 
thus eliminating most weeds and cultivated plants from such 
habitats. 
A study of the reversion of forests in New England, which 
touches on the same problem, was made by Dr. G. E. Stone about 
thirty years ago.* 
The most abundant plant in the Palmyra cemetery, mentioned 
in my article, is the larger European periwinkle, Vinca major. 
It is rather a curious coincidence that another plant formerly put 
in the same genus, the so-called Madagascar periwinkle, V. rosea 
(now called Ammocallis by Small and Lochnera by Standley), 
is said by Standley (pp. 321-322) to be abundant in the cemetery 
at Tela, Honduras, and found in most cemeteries in Central 
America. That is a widely distributed tropical plant whose native 
country is unknown, and it is a common weed in southern Florida, 
but in northern Florida and southern Georgia it exists only in culti- 
vation, especially in cemeteries; not in rich shady places like V. 
major and V. minor, but in sandy soils well exposed to the sun. 
Another favorite cemetery plant in Central America, according to 
Standley (p. 393), commonly cultivated in the United States also, 
is the African marigold, Tagetes erecta, which is called “flor del 
muerto” in Honduras. 
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA 
*Stone, G. E. Past and Present Floral conditions in Central Massachu- 
setts. Rhodora 1: 143-148. 1899 
