222 



THE SOUTHE 



RN PLANTER. 



were informed of the peculiar rule of location of 

 this plant several years ago, by our friend and 

 correspondent, Dr. William B. Westmore, then 

 a resident of King William, and, at that time, 

 requested such particular information as would 

 enable us to identify the plant, and, by publish- 

 ing the description, to furnish all the readers of 

 the Farmers' Register, the means to avail of its 

 use, in showing the before hidden presence of 

 marl on their lands, or in their neighborhood. — 

 Dr. Westmore caused a correct colored drawing 

 to be made of the plant, by a good artist who 

 happened to be at his house ; and from the 

 drawing we have had engraved the representa- 

 tion which accompanies this article ; and which, 

 with our own description may enable persons 

 without botanical knowledge, to identify the 

 plant. But to those who possess any thing of 

 that knowledge, (to which we have no preten- 

 sion,) a much surer means of identification is 

 offered in the following report of the botanical 

 character of the plant, which was furnished at 

 our request by a correspondent, who is much 

 better informed on the subject, and to whom the 

 growing p^ant was exhibited. His report was 

 as follows : 



" I carefully examined the plant you pointed 

 out to me, when here, as indicating the presence 

 of marl in the earth, or as growing only in 

 streams supplied with calcareous matter. — 

 Though the flowers are very small, the botani- 

 cal character is obvious, and easily determined. 

 The plant, belongs to the second class and first 

 order of the artificial system, (diandria m.onogy- 

 nia,) and to the genus Veronica of that order. — 

 Loudon describes eighty-four species of this ge- 

 nus, only one of which ( Veronica Virginica, with 

 a variety, Incarnata,) is American. This plant 

 does not agree with any of the numerous spe- 

 cies described by Loudon, and I very much 

 doubt whether it is described by any botanist. 

 I would, therefore, be inclined to consider it a 

 new and important species. Its botanical de- 

 scription is — root fibrous, stem smooth, leaves 

 opposite, amplexicaul, lanceolate, slightly ser- 

 rate, flowers racemose, axillary, calix four-toothed, 

 corolla light blue, entire base; lip four parted, 

 capsule two-celled. Should this be (as I think 

 there is every probability) an entire new species 

 of Veronica, would you permit me the liberty of 

 suggesting a specific name — Veronica Ruffinia? 

 If its presence is a sure indication of marl, it is 

 a highly important plant, and your name is al- 

 most identified with marl." 



We beg leave to decline the unmerited honor 

 above proposed, as we have no claim to the dis- 

 covery — and but only that of having appreciated 

 the facts, as soon as they were heard of, and 

 now of making them public. We should think 

 the name of Westmorea more appropriate : but 

 "mr friend Westmore also waives all claim to 

 discovery, and says, that he does not know 



who first noticed the connexion of the plant 

 with marl. And if, contrary to the present sup- 

 position, the plant should in fact have been long 

 on the catalogues of botanists, it will not the 

 less deserve to be considered, for its peculiar 

 quality now just brought to light, as a new and 

 important agricultural discovery. We prefer for 

 its name the descriptive one of the "Marl In- 

 dicator." 



But we have further evidence of this being 

 in truth a new species, in the opinion of our 

 friend .and correspondent, Gideon B. Smith, of 

 Baltimore, to whom we sent the drawing to 

 have it engraved, accompanied by a statement 

 of the peculiar value of the plant, and a copy 

 of the foregoing botanical description. His an- 

 swer says — 



" I cannot determine the botanical character 

 of the plant from the drawing, but it certainly 

 appears to be a Veronica. The description of 

 the plant and the drawing agree perfectly, so 

 far as I can follow the latter — the characters of 

 the coralla, calyx and capsule not being distinct 

 in the drawing. [Owing to their small size.] 

 The plant is new to me ; it is not described by 

 Loudon, nor, so far as I can find, by Elliott, nor 

 any other botanist to whose works I have access. 



" It will be a curious and valuable discovery 

 for the agricultural interest, should it prove to 

 be in fact an indication of the presence of cal- 

 careous matter, and I shall certainly bear it in 

 mind in all my botanical rambles." 



We readily found this plant growing in se- 

 veral of the rivulets flowing through different 

 beds of fossil shells, or marl, on our farm. For 

 the fact that it is yet to be found in none other 

 than such streams, we have as yet to rely on 

 the information of others ; and on the certainty 

 of its absence as well as its presence agreeing 

 with the absence and presence of marl, obviously 

 depends the value of the " indicator." 



The plant is an evergreen ; it grows only in 

 shallow water. The stalk is seldom more than 

 a foot high ; though we found some two and a 

 half feet. It is so succulent and tender, that it 

 droops and withers very quickly after being 

 pulled up, and left dry ; but when immediately 

 placed with the roots in a bottle of water, it 

 continued to live, and to throw out successive 

 fiow^ers for several weeks. It was in flower in 

 May, and had not ceased to flower in the begin- 

 ning of September. The flowers are very small, 

 of a pale blue, or nearly of a lilac color, and 

 appear in small clusters, or strings. 



We have taken much trouble and incurred 

 some expense, to enable our readers to identify 

 this plant. It is hoped that many will search 

 for it, and test its alleged peculiarity of location ; 

 and if observation should serve to disprove that 

 peculiar character, it is further hoped that such 

 observation and facts will be communicated for 

 publication. To correct erroneous opinions, and 



