126 CROOMIA PAUCIFLORA, — FEW-FLOWERED CROOMIA. 
Our first knowledge of the plant came from the great botanist 
Nuttall, who described it as Cissanipelos pauctflora in the 
“Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.” 
This genus, Crssampelos, is placed with the “ Moon-wort”’ family, 
or Menispermacee, but on fresh specimens from Mr. Croom and 
Dr. Chapman coming into the hands of Dr. Torrey, he decided 
that it was not of that family, but belonged to the Berberries, or 
Derberidaceg@, and this of course necessitated another name for 
the genus, so he dedicated it to one of the above collectors, 
Mr. Croom, retaining Nuttall’s specific name—Croonia pauci- 
flora, or the “ few-flowered Croomia.” Our bibliographic works 
refer to Torrey in “Annals of the New York Lyceum,” but the 
student will be surprised to find that there is no such paper 
there; and its non-appearance in that serial after being read 
before the body is believed to be the result of a personal trouble, 
which shows that even a model of amiability may after ali be sim- 
ply a human being with weaknesses like unto ourselves. The 
first description really appears to be in the “ Flora of North Amer- 
ica” by Torrey and Gray, issued in 1840. It is here said of it: 
“We consider this plant a reduced form of Berberidacee « it is, 
however, remarkable for its persistent sepals, suspended seeds, 
and in being apetalous (having a calyx but no corolla). It would 
be impossible to determine from the habit of the plant whether it 
were dicotyledonous or monocotyledonous ; and the embryo is 
so minute that the cotyledons cannot be distinguished, but the 
structure of the rhizoma is exogenous, a circle of spiral vessels 
surrounding the central pith.” It is here that one of the inter- 
esting facts about Croondia is developed. As most readers 
know, the great divisions of the vegetable world—the monocoty- 
ledons, or those plants with one seed-leaf, and the endogens, or 
those which have the wood arranged without concentric circles— 
are regarded as about the same thing; as also are the dicoty- 
ledons, or those with two seed-leaves, and the exogens, or those 
arranged with circles of wood, as in our ordinary timber trees. 
But in time it was found that notwithstanding the exogenous 
