THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 37 
problem of distribution is not solved, as the mullein plant 
is indigenous to Europe, introduced westward and throug-h- 
out the United States as far west as Eastern Kansas. Britton 
and Brown in their flora mention the probability of one spe- 
cies being naturalized in the West, and Prof. Aven Nelson, 
in his small manual, records Verbascum thapsus as grow- 
ing in Wyoming. However, in his "First Report on the 
Flora of Wyoming," issued in 1896, no mention is made of 
mullein. All the plants I have seen here grew practically in 
xerophytic conditions. What agent or agencies has brought 
it to the foot of the Rockies is the question. — Earl Lynd 
Johnston, Evans, Colo. 
Shallon. — Since I sent you my last shallon article I 
have had access to the Journal of Lewis and Clark and 
have hunted out the first reference to shallon ever made in 
literature, as I understand it. They were well along down 
the Columbia River, not far from where I found my spray 
of flowers. The eating of roots, barks and berries had made 
them all sick. Qark reports that he was very weak and 
unable to eat on account of stomach disorder. On Decem- 
ber 9, 1805, Qark writes : "In the evening an old woman 
presented a bowl, made of a light-colored horn, a kind of 
surup made of dried berries, which is common to the coun- 
try, which the natives called shele zvele * * * they gave 
me senip made of bread of the shele wele berries mixed with 
roots." Here we have it as Qark \vrote it first of all : sMe 
zi'ele. But on the page before me, both in parenthesis and 
by reference to bottom of page, is explanation of the editor 
that Clark meant she-well, salal. sallol or shallon. It is 
worth knowing that Captain Clark wrote the "old squar's 
sump" was made of berries which the natives call shele 
weie, and that the senip was made of bread of shele wele 
berries.— fF. W. Mumon, Pasadenu, Cal. 
