Natural History of District of Columbia — McAtee 15 



Corn. 7G, Baii H. PL 662/* is the statement : "Mr. Fisher, a 

 friend of mine, brought me this root from Potuxen River 

 in Maryland, and he tells me, they there call it, Rich-Root, 

 and use it as a specifick against the Scurvy ; they boyl about k. — 

 a pound of it in two gal- [p. 403] Ions of cyder, till but two 

 quarts remain, and being strained, they drink half a pint of 

 it every morning, either alone, or mixt with any other drink. 

 He assured me it cured him, and several other in the same 

 ship he came from thence in." (p. 404.) 



This statement leaves us in some doubt as to whether this 

 concoction really had medicinal effect or whether like certain 

 more modern compounds it was merely a variant of the cup 

 that cheers. There is little doubt, however, that the plant 

 mentioned is the white baneberry (Actaea alba), a species 

 not now included in the District list. 



The next specific mention of a plant from the region of 

 the District Flora appears to be that of Gronovius in the 

 Flora Virginica of 1762. This flora based on material col- 

 lected by Dr. John Clayton, and a large part of the original 

 matter in which, consists of Clayton's notes, might better 

 be known as Clayton's Flora Virginica. However that may 

 be, it suffices for the present purpose to note that "Betula 

 foliis rhombeo-ovatis, acuminatis duplicato-serratis" is 

 recorded as occurring not far to the westward of the cata- 

 racts of the river Potomac. 19 In modern nomenclature this 

 plant is the common river birch (Betula nigra), one so 

 abundant and widespread that specific notes on distribution 

 seem superfluous. It may be that records of this or other 

 plants from our region are in the 1739 and 1743 parts of the 

 Flora virginica, but these have not been available. 



Search of Nuttall's "Sylva," Pursh's "Flora," and the 

 Michauxs' "Flora," and "Sylva" have revealed no definite 

 records of plants from the vicinity of the District. This is 

 rather surprising since all of these botanists visited the 

 locality and Nuttall worked in Washington for some time 

 upon the collections of the National Institute. The visit of 

 Andr6 Michaux is recorded in Washington's diary for 



"Gronovius, J. F. — Flora virginica exhibens plantas quas nobillissimus 

 vir D. D. Johannes Claytonus, Med. Doct., etc., etc., in Virginia crescentes, 

 observavlt, et obtulit, 1762, p. 146. 



