42 Catalogue of Plants 



It appears that a knowledge of this wonderful plant was first 

 communicated to Linnaeus by John Ellis of London, in the year 

 176S. The original letter, from which the above is an extract, 

 I have not been able to consult. But the following passage of a 

 letter from Linnaeus to Ellis, dated, Upsal, Oct. 16, 1768, ex- 

 plains the whole matter: " I yesterday received your welcome 

 letter, accompanying the description, character, and figure of 

 that most rare and singular plant, the Dionaea, than which, cer- 

 tainly, nothing more interesting was ever seen. I laid this com- 

 munication before our Royal Academy of Science- ;o-day, nor 

 was it received without high admiration and astonishment. . . . 



" For my own part, though I have doubtless seen and ex- 

 amined no small number of plants, I must confess I never met 

 with so wonderful a phaenomenon. Your history of the plant, 

 and its botanical characters, are so complete, that nothing can be 

 added to either." Ellis also published his description at London 

 in 1770, in 4to. In a subsequent letter to Dr. Garden, of 

 South Carolina, he says that the plant was brought from North 

 Carolina by Mr. Young, the Queen's botanist. 



I have ascertained that this plant, which, for a long time, was 

 supposed to be confined to the neighbourhood of Wilmington, 

 N. C, occurs in the counties of Bladen, Duplin, Jones, Lenoir, 

 Onslow, and Craven. Bartram observed it south of the Cape 

 Fear, in the county of Brunswick? It has also been found in 

 more than one locality in South Carolina. 



(11.) Gordonia Lasianthus, J£Z^s,=Hypericum Lasianthus, 

 Linn. = > 1 Loblolly tree," Calesb. Car. I. 44. This elegant 

 tree, in its lofty and symmetrical stature, its elegant, perennial 

 foliage, and beautiful flowers, almost rivals the glories of Mag- 

 nolia grandifiora. It is nowhere more abundant than in the 

 swamps near New Bern. 



(12.) Acer saccharinum, Linn. Sugar Maple. " Sugar 

 tree," Lawson's Carolina, p. 105. Rare in the low country of 

 the southern states. 



(13.) Berchemia volubilis, De Cancl. pW. = Zizyphus volu- 

 bilis, Willd. sp. = Oenoplia volubilis, Schult.; Humb. 8f Kuntk. 

 Called " rattan" in Carolina. 



(14.) Amorpha Caroliniana, Croom in Sill. Journ., Oct. 1833, 

 Perhaps only a variety of A. fruticosa. 



