THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
83 
zle; pcsition, rather than function, determining the nature 
of the object under discussion. Thus, a leaf may function as 
a branch, or a branch as a leaf ; a portion of a leaf as a 
tendril or spine, or a branch of the same. 
Goethe came to his conclusion at about the same time 
that the botanist Wolf independently worked at the same 
idea. Both worked on double flowers, like roses and car- 
nations. It is indeed, easy to see in such cases that certain 
important portions of the flower have reverted to leaf 
forms. Often, indeed, the change goes farther, and they 
even become green. Again, in pond liHes we note a series 
of almost imperceptible gradation from the sepals to the 
stamens. Nothing can be more instructive than these 
conditions, normal or abnormal, when viewed in this 
light of constructive metamorphsis. 
FROM THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 
BY EDWIN D. McHOSE, 
IT has been said that no section of our country covers 
such a large range of species and offers such delightful 
surprises to the botanist as does the mountain region of 
Xorth Carolina. Perhaps the sand regions near Chicago 
boasts of a greater variety in a small area, but the head- 
waters of the Tennessee, the Broad and the Swannanoa 
rivers, water an area that is probably unsurpassed for its 
\ ariety of species and of landscapes. There is a profusion 
>f both. 
In the mountains is found the flora of our northern 
states and in the lowlands the flora peculiar to the South. 
The large mountain laurel forexample. (Kalmia latifolia) 
grows in dense thickets and even reaches a height of 
twenty feet. It is also abundant here in Pennsylvania in 
the mountains. 
I have had a desire for some time to gather the Sab- 
batias but was told while in Asheville that one could hard- 
ly expect to find any in that section. While botanizing up 
