Short on the Botany of Illinois. 
193 
stems a pearly resinous matter, very similar in appearance 
and sensible properties to turpentine, and used for the same 
purposes. The roots of the beautiful Petalostemum violaceum 
have a warm pungent quality, which suggested its employ¬ 
ment, among the thousand other articles, in the treatment of 
cholera, and the plant is now known on the prairies as the 
‘cholera-weed.’ Our two most valuable indigenous bitters 
Eupatorium perfoliatum and Sabhatia angularis are abundant, 
and Aristolochia serpentaria is seen occasionally in the groves, 
where various species of dogwood ( Cornus ) are also of fre¬ 
quent occurrence. Mr. J. A. Lapham, of Wisconsin, informs 
me that in that territory, the Amorpha canescens is called 
‘lead-plant,’ from the circumstance of its growth being con¬ 
sidered indicative of the presence of that mineral. If the 
same sign should hold good in Illinois, the whole of the 
prairies may one day become a mining region. 
Ferns are remarkably rare on the prairies; indeed I do not 
recollect having met with a single specimen of any species of 
that extensive tribe in the more open prairies. This may, 
perhaps, be owing to the absence of that shade and constant 
moisture in which most of these plants delight. On the skirts 
of the timbered tracts, several kinds occur, which are usually 
found in the barrens, as Pteris aquilina, Polypodium dryopteris , 
and P. hexagonopterum ; and in the ‘groves’ I observed many 
other species common in the Western States. The same re¬ 
marks will apply, in a good degree, to the tribe of mosses. 
I deem it improper to close these desultory remarks, with¬ 
out giving a catalogue, at least, of other common plants, 
which presented themselves at different places on our route 
through the prairies. Some of them may have been already 
incidentally mentioned, but the most of them occurred under 
circumstances not calling for particular note or comment. 
They are given as I find them in my note-book, without any 
kind of order or arrangement.— 
