THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
do they from the equator to the poles. To one like myself, whose 
rambles have always been taken in the fields and woods of the 
Northern States, every flower that is now springing in this south- 
em land is an object of interest, and the study of the various 
features in which they differ from their northern kindred, a most 
fascinating pastime. 
One of the first things to impress the visitor, is the absence, not 
only of the identical species that make the Northern spring gay, 
but of any plants of the same family. Arbutus, hepatica, blood- 
root, anemone, spring beauty, trillium, adder' s-tongue, Dutch- 
man's breeches, Solomon's seal — all these are missing. The com- 
posites have a much larger representation than they do further 
north, although the humble dandelion is not to be found. The 
sow-thistle is one of the first spring flowers, but this distinction 
has not relieved it of its weedy qualities to any extent. Thistles 
of the ordinary kind are blooming, too, but they are of such 
sharp and forbidding appearance and so much more clumsy than 
even the northern bull thistle, that I have not felt inclined toward 
a closer acquaintance. Of other composites with greater claims to 
beauty must be mentioned a Helenium with large daisy-like 
flowers which spread a yellow light in moist places, and the Chap- 
talia, whose smaller white flowers have the odd habit of assuming 
a horizontal position with ray-flowers forming a funnel over the 
disk until ready to open. 
Although Viola is a genus of the North, there are both blue and 
white violets here, but I have seen no fields in which they grow in 
sufficient numbers to give a separate note to the color-scheme. 
They appear here and there, a few plants at a time, and never very 
noticeable. Another northern genus, the willow, is but sparingly 
represented. The principal, if not the only, oue seems to be the 
black willow. The pussy willows would no doubt find this too 
warm for their furry wrappings. The daisy flea-bone (Erigeron 
anmiiis) is so common in New York that in spite of the fact that 
it is of European origin, I had come to look upon it as a typical 
plant of the northern spring ; but here it grows more abundantly 
than I have ever seen it elsewhere, and with another composite, 
