MINOR PLANT NOTES, NO. 2.
W. A. Kellerman.
Taraxacum Erythrospermum.—The Red-seeded Dandelion, now known to be common in our State, is a late bloomer. An abundance of flowers may be seen way after the severe frosts of autumn set in. Mr. Fred. J. Tyler collected specimens in bloom at Perry, Lake County, December 17. He reports “great fields” of it at that place, whereas the common Dandelion (Taraxacum taraxacum) was conspicuous by its absence. Prof. Beardslee of Cleveland, reports the Red-seeded form as the one of common occurrence in Cuyahoga County. I have noted the Red-seeded form in bloom near the city of Columbus December 23, though the month has been a cold one, the thermometer registering once 10° F. The Common Dandelion (Taraxacum taraxacum) does not seem to bloom so late in the season—at least it is in bloom much less abundantly here. Contributions of phenological observations on interesting plants of our flora by readers of The Naturalist are in this incidental way earnestly solicited.
Grove of Large Beeches.—There are now remaining in Ohio very few large groves of beeches. Of groves of very large beeches the same may be said. At Arion, in Scioto County, in the narrow valley of Brush Creek, are a large number of magnificent specimens of this very attractive American tree. The trunks are straight as is always the case for this species, smooth, and many of them are ten to twelve feet in circumference. One specimen measured twelve feet four inches, three feet from the ground. The grove is now used for picnic and camping purposes, and it is sincerely hoped that these splendid trees may be sacredly preserved for an indefinite time.
Habitat of Rhamnus Caroliniana.—The manuals give the habitat of this species “in swamps and on low grounds” (Britton), “swamps and river banks” (Gray), “river banks” (Wood), and “fertile soil” (Chapman). It has been previously reported that this species was found in Ohio last November. Several specimens were found near the Ohio river in Adams county at the mouth of Brush creek, and a few were seen in Brown county. In a little ravine on Cedar creek, a tributary of Brush creek, in Adams county, fourteen miles north of the Ohio river, an enormous number of plants were growing. Some were nine to eleven inches in circumference at the base and fourteen feet high. None occurred in “swamps,” though many were in “low grounds” where the soil seemed to be fairly fertile. The majority were on rocky hillsides or quite on the top of very high ground. The annexed cut shows a specimen near the top of a rocky bluff or hill perhaps one hundred and fifty feet above the valley at Cedar Mills, Ohio. This southern Buckthorn still retained its shining leaves though my visit was late in November when nearly all the other trees except the oaks were bare. This, with the great quantities of black fruits, presented a charming spectacle. The plant is also reported in Stanley Coulter’s catalogue of Indiana plants, discovered in the southern counties by Mr. W. T. Blatchley, “growing on rocky hillsides.”
Rhamnus Caroliniana on a rocky hill.
Twin Beech and Red Oak.
Twin Trees; Two Species.—Sometimes two trees attempt to occupy the same space at the same time. The cut above shows a red oak and a beech in close juxtaposition, neither having been able to crowd the other out, and the two are united for a short distance from the ground. This would hardly be called a natural graft perhaps, though the two are intimately united. The trees are vigorous typical specimens of the two species, growing near Brush creek, at Arion, in Scioto county, Ohio. Several other examples in the same region were noticed. Sometimes the two trees are the same species, but usually of different species, the union of tissue in all cases equally evident.