The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-09-15

Towering plants and ferns of Tennes-
see, North Carolina. South Carolina.
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and
Florida arranged according to the nat
ural system, by A. w. Chapman. NJ.
D. The Ferns by DowI. E. Eaton
QS60). Chapman took every precaution
to make his work accurate. He en-
ployed local botanists wherever he
could find them. Here this special work
was done by DR.. Feay, a thoroughly
educated botanist. who spared neither
time nor effort to make the work COM
plete and accurate. Assisting him, as
a student and co-worker, was DIR. AL
bert Richards, ayoung man of eXtraor
binary mind. who. had he lived, would
have made a mark in the scientific are
ma, and was already we'll up in the bo
tanical lore and thoroughly acquaint-
ed with the local flora. (He was an
elder brother to our fellow citizen r.
r. Richards, ESQ., 1t is evident that
your CORRESPONDENT in the issue of the
18th inst, got his information from a
Northern author, who does not know
anything of the Southern flora. Such Is
the one he quotes from. DR.. Asa Gray
has made a worldwide reputation. but
his knowledge of Southern plants is
very limited.
There is no burr grass in this Sec
ton. We have the cookie burr, burr
or burdock-or sheep burr-a great
nuisance to the farmers as the burrs
get entangled in the wool of the sheep,
from which they are with difficulty
removed. The name of this herb is
Xanthum. 1t grows from two to four
feet high on a branched stem. With
broad ogtuse leaves. The seed is larg-
Ell than that of the cockspur. The
spines are incurved and on this ac-
count they hold to your clothing or
work in your dogs hair, but do not
hurt or penetrate the skin as the
cockspur does. There is no grass cock
plant which reaches four or five feet
in hight. Here we have two very dis
tinct kinds of spurs: The one that
grows in yards and fields belongs to
the grass family and, as stated by
your correspondent, was called Cen
chrus, by Linneaus. OF the sixty
species of grass (Gramineae), found in
the Southern States by Chapman, the
cockspur (Cenchrus) is distinguished
from the others by the following spe-
cific marks: "Spikelets, single or few
in cluster, enclosed in an indurated and
spiny involucre, spikelets spiked"
The cockspur is a PROSTATE of creep
ing grass which grows in the poorest
of sandy soils, along the coast from
Louisiana to North Carolina. The
one growing in Chatham county, in
our Park Extension and old fields, is
| called Cenchrus Echinatus. Like other
grasses it grows in tufts-the leaves
are long, narrow and pointed cover
| ing about six to twelve inches of soil.
| The seed stems, which are sometimes
numerous, sixty and more, are jointed,
| terminating in head with fifteen or
more projections in which the flowers
| and seed are. In August and Septem-
Der these become spiny with a row of
rigid barbed bristles above (spurs).
Mr.. P. ]. Berckmans. the eminent
| horticulturist and pomologist, who is
| perhaps the best informed botanist on
| the Southern flora, could give to the
readers of your valuable paper a week.
| ly treat on our Towering plants, our
useful trees and shrubs, which would
! be very interesting and valuable.
! The regular and often repeated close
cutting of the grass in the Park Ex-
| tension would not onlv destroy the
| cockspur and other worthless weeds in
a few years. but it would make that
| park one of the most attractive and
healthy spots in the Forest City.
]. C. LIE Hardy.