250 ANNUAL REPORT STATE GEOLOGIST. 



places in Independence county, and flourishes in fence corners, 

 along roadsides, and even in thickets and woods. The seeds 

 are not well adapted for wide and rapid dissemination ; and 

 the plant spreads mostly down hill, the seeds being carried 

 along by the water in ditches and gullies. It takes up the 

 ground pretty thoroughly as far as it goes, growing in large 

 patches ; but it is not difficult to keep in check, as one or a 

 few plowings are sufficient to kill it. 



Plants worthy of cultivation.— -The beauty of many of the 

 wild flowers of Arkansas is particularly striking to one unac- 

 customed to that flora. Those who make a business of the 

 cultivation of flowers would do well to turn their eyes toward 

 this state for the selection of worthy additions to their list. 



Argemone mexicana, the prickly poppy, although an intro- 

 duced plant, may be included among the others. This plant 

 resembles a common poppy, but the leaves are prickly. The 

 flower is three to four inches in diameter, and of a pure white 

 color in all the specimens seen. It would undoubtedly grow 

 well in dry soil. 



Pancratium rotatum is a remarkably handsome plant, about 

 two feet high, with amaryllis-like leaves, and a tall scape bear- 

 ing a cluster of a few large, white flowers, each with a central 

 crown bearing along its margin the yellow anthers. 



Agave virginica, the false aloe, is a plant related to the one 

 just mentioned. At the ground there is a tuft of thick, stiff, 

 dagger-like spiny leaves, from the center of which arises a 

 slender naked stalk about five feet high, bearing along its 

 upper part the peculiar, small, yellowish, fragrant flowers. 



Monarda punctata, called in the botanies "horse mint," is a 

 plant two or three feet high, bearing numerous spreading, 

 aromatic leaves, topped with a close, large head of open-jawed 

 flowers, rose-purple and yellow, spotted with brown. It is a 

 common wayside plant, abundant near Little Rock. 



Passiflora incarnata, which is here called " apricot," is a 

 straggling, careless vine with triple-lobed leaves and flowers of 



