Book Review: The Southern Appalachians
Book Review: The Southern Appalachians
The grass, Pamticum xanthophysum A. Gray, found by the writer in a wild, wooded mountain section of Hardy County, August 9. 1941, constitutes an extension of range into West Virginia, since it has not hitherto been reported from this State.
In early July 1.939, the senior writer, together with Dr. Elmer W. Brandes, of the United Stales Department of Agriculture, and Bill Brandes, his young son, spent several weeks on a camping trip in the Maine wilderness. Through the courtesy of Caleb W. Scribner, warden supervisor of Patten, Maine, we finally located ourselves about 26 miles west of Patten, in a small cabin at the southernmost end of Lake Matagamon. This area is located in Township 6, ranges 8 and 9, and falls in two counties, Piscataquis and Penobscot. We remained in this locality from July 8 to July 28, a period of 20 days.
The true yams have not only played a very useful role in the dietary of man, but they are of great botanical interest owing to some of their remarkable behaviors shown in structures above and below ground. They are still an important source of cheap food in many tropical or subtropical regions, and some of the wild species have served as famine foods when the staple rice crops for some reason have failed.
Since the publication of mv article on Erythronium in the eastern United States, in this journal for January, 1941, I have continued to study this fascinating genus each spring, and found some more apparently distinct varieties, if not species. I am not vet prepared to name them, but wish to record now the occurrence in northwestern Alabama of a species known for over 125 years, but not known from this state before, with a few notes on related species in the same neighborhood and elsewhere.