478 OHIO. 



which sometimes equals one-third the length of the other part of the 

 animal. 



Botany... .The champaign region in the interior of the state is said 

 to afford an immense variety of herbaceous plants, among which, 

 different kinds of grass, good for grazing and mowing, are consi- 

 dered most valuable. The frasera carolinensis, a large and beautiful 

 plant employed by the people as a bitter, grows luxuriantly in this 

 quarter, as well as many other parts of the state. Its root is deno- 

 minated columbo, but is essentially different from the medicine of that 

 name. The veratrum luteum, or devil's bit, serratula sfiicata f or 

 spiked saw wort, and helleborus fatidus, or skunk cabbage, inhabit 

 the same situations. Several fine species of lily and violet, with many 

 other beautiful flowers, adorn that interesting tract. Strawberries,, 

 gooseberries, raspberries, and cranberries, are found in the same 

 quarter in abundance. The following, among many other plants re- 

 ported to be useful in medicine or the arts, grow in almost every 

 part of the state. Virginian snake root, (aristolochia serfientarid) ; 

 puccoon root, (sanguinaria canadensis) ; yellow root, {Hydrastis cana- 

 densis) ; crowfoot, (geranium maculatum) ; May apple, {jiodofihyllunt 

 fieltatum) ; slender rooted bed straw, (galium tinctorium) used by the 

 Indians in dying red ; ginseng ; several elegant and valuable species 

 of spurge, (eufihorbia) ; swallow wort, (ascle/iias) and lobelia; s/iirx 

 trifoliata, or Indian physic, an emetic ; different species of eujiato- 

 rium ; cassia marylandica, a substitute for senna; chironia angularis, 

 or centaury. The forest trees are numerous, and many of them valu- 

 able. Eight or ten species of oak are already known, of these the 

 most esteemed, (quercus tincloria, quercus obtusifolia, quercus macro- 

 carfia) black oak, white oak and burr oak, are the most common. The 

 two former grow in profusion nearly over the state. The quercus 

 firinus ?norticola, or mountain chesnut oak, is found with the chesnut 

 only on the highest ridges. The beech, Jagus americana, grows to 

 great size on the level lands, and in many parts almost excludes every 

 other tree. The red maple is confined to wet places ; the sugar 

 maple has an extensive diffusion over the state. Those valuable 

 timber trees, the white flowering locust, (robinia fiseudacacia) ; black 

 walnut and wild cherry, (firunus virginiana) frequently attain to great 

 magnitude. Two species of asculus, or buck-eye trees, which pos- 

 sess several singular and perhaps useful qualities, grow in luxuriance. 

 The yellow poplar (liriodendron tulijiifera) is one of the largest and 

 most useful trees in the forest. Three or four kinds of hickory 

 (juglans) are common. Two species of ash abound in all the fertile 

 tracts. The medicinal or slippery elm (ulmus americana) is common. 

 Persimmons are rare. A great variety of plumbs (cerassus) and 

 haws (niespilus) are common. The crab apple, with its fragrant 

 flowers, and acid but useful fruit, is frequently met with in rich 

 soils. The pawpaw (annona glabra) which affords fruit disagreeable 

 to some persons, but delicious to others, forms considerable groves 

 in the fertile portions of the state, except near lake Erie. Five spe- 

 cies of the singular and useful family of sumach or rhus are known 

 The sassafras and spicewood species of laurus are common. The 

 former is sometimes two feet in diameter. The trumpet flower, a 

 beautiful vine, is common, especially on the banks of rivers. Red 

 cedar is frequent on cliffs, and hemlock is occasionally found in simi- 

 lar situations in the eastern part of the state. White pine grows 

 scatteringly in the same region. The cucumber tree (magnolia etc- 



