THE BOTANY OF ARKANSAS. 25 I 



the peculiar passion-flower form, two inches in diameter and 

 mottled with two shades of pale purple. 



An Aster, A patens ; Bignonia capreolata, the cross-vine ; 

 Campanula americana, the harebell ; Nymphcea tuberosa and 

 odorata, the white water lilies ; Nelumbium lutuni, the yellow 

 lotus ; Polymnia canadensis and Uvedalia; all of the Pycnan- 

 themums, and the little moss-like Selaginella apus, certainly 

 deserve cultivation. 



Among trees, Rhus glabra and copallina, the sweet gum 

 (Liguidambar), and the bald cypress {Taxodium disticliuni) 

 would be in many respects ornamental. 



Miscellaneous notes. — The fruit of the black sumac [Rhus 

 copallina), and the white sumac {Rhus glabra) produces on its 

 surface a slippery whitish transparent coating, which is com- 

 posed largely of malic acid. The writer was accustomed when 

 thirsty, after walking for several hours in the hot sun, to take 

 these little seed-like fruits in his mouth and suck off the acid 

 coating. The effect is like that of any acid drink, under similar 

 circumstances, cooling and invigorating. The acid is easily 

 dissolved in warm water, and with the addition of sugar would 

 be a healthful and pleasant drink. The inner part of the fruit 

 is not poisonous, and the whole of it is sometimes eaten. 



A plant, of which only a mutilated specimen was seen, but 

 which is probably Nicandra physaloides, is an excellent fly 

 poison. The method of using it is to pound up the stems 

 and leaves, so that the juice may be readily expelled, and then 

 to put the whole mass into a pan partly filled with buttermilk. 

 The flies are attracted by the buttermilk, and killed by the juice 

 of the plant. The name given to this flower is "twelve o'clock/' 

 from the fact that the corolla opens, for a little time only, 

 about mid-day. A similar use is made of the seeds of the 

 coffee bean [Gymnocladus canadensis), they being pounded up 

 and applied in the same way. Chair bottoms, and excellent 

 ones too, are made of the inner bark of the basswood (Tilia 

 americana and its variety), this tree being the stock source of 



