Christian County, Illinois - Chapter 8: Flora, 1880

T is not the purpose of this chapter to speak exhaustively on the plants of the county, but rather to give a list of the national trees and shrubs and grasses found within its limits. The intelligent farmer looks at once to the

The botanist in making a survey of the State of Illinois would consider it under three heads, or ordinances; the heavily timl)ered regions of the South, the flora, which is remarkable for its variety; the central portion, consisting mainly of prairie, 3'et not without grooves which are usually adjacent to water courses. The county of Christian lying as it does in the prairie region, presents all the characteristics of a prairie county. Upon the flora of this county civilization has produced its inevitable eflect. Our article will particularly treat of the more valuable woods utilized in the mechanic arts, and the grasses, plants, vegetables, and flowers most beneficial to man, and particularly those which are natives of the county. Many species of the vegetable kingdom have fled ; the BuflTalo grass, which .only grew on parts of the prairies, and almost wholly the large pampas grass, have become extinct, and given place to blue-grass, which, in places where domestic cattle feed, is rapidly and quietly displacing all others. The plants are many and rare, some for beauty and some for medicine. The pink-root, the columbo, the ginseng, the boneset, pennyroyal, and others are used as herbs for medicine. Plants of beauty are phlox, the lily, the asclepias, the mints, golden rod, the eye-bright gerardia, and hundreds more which adorn the meadows and brook-sides; besides are climbing vines, the trumpet creeper, the bitter sweet, the woodbine, the clematis, and the grape, which fill the woods with gay festoons, and add grace to many a decaying monarch of the forest. The trees and grasses, one so lordly and permanent, the other so humble and transient, are the true glories of the county. The oak, with at least its twenty varieties; the hickory, with as many more species; the thirty kinds of elm, from the sort which bear leaves as large as a man's hand, to the kind which bear a leaf scarcely larger than a man's thumb-nail; the black walnut, so tall and straight; the hackberry; gum tree, black and sweet; the tulip; the giant cotton-woods, and hundreds more attest the fertility of the soil and mildness of the climate, while the blue-grass in its ten varieties, the timothy and red-top, with clover so abundant in succulence, aflbrds excellent pasturage, and opens a fine field for the dairyman or stock raiser.

Arisrema triphyllum - Indian turnip ; Typhlatifolia - cat-tail ; Sagittaria variabilis - arrow-head ; Cypripedium pubescens - yellow lady's slipper; Cypripedium candidum - white lady's slipper, common.

Datura stramonium - Jamestown weed; Asclepias cornuti - milk weed; Fraxinus Americana - white ash ; Fraxinus sambucifolia - black ash ; Phytolacca decandra - poke weed ; Amarantus hybridus - pigweed; Rumex crispus - sour dock ; Sassafras officinale - sassafras ; Benzoin odoriferus - fever bush ; Marrubiuni vulgarc - hoarhound ; Solanum nigrum - night-shade; Physalis viscosa - ground cherry; Monarda didyma - horsemint; Nepeta cataria - catnip ; Hedeoma pulegioides - pennyroyal ; Diospyros virginiana - persimmon; Plantago major -plantain ; Verbascum thapsus - mullein, common ; Cirsium lanceolatuni - cnnimou thistle ; Lappa mtjor - Burdock; Taraxacum dens-leouis - dandelion, common, introduced during the last forty years.

Erecthites hieracifblia - fire weed ; And)rosia artemisfefolia - rag weed; Xanthium strumarium - cockle burr; Bidens bipinnata - Spanish needle ; Bidens chrysanthemoides - beggar ticks ; Manta cotula - May weed ; Leucanthemum vulgare - ox-eye daisy, common.

Eiipatoriuni perfuliatum - thoroughwort, not common ; Cornus Floriila - dogwood ; Ranibuciis Canadensis - elder, very common ; Ribes c.vnosbati - wild gousebcrry ; Pyrus coronana - wild crab, abundant.

Sanguinaria Canadensis, or bloodroot; Lepidiura Virginicum - wild pepper-grass; Portulaca Oleracea, or purslane; Tilia Americana, or linden, not abundant ; Zanthoxylum Amcricanum - prickly ash, scarce; Rhus typhina - sumach ; Rhus toxicodendron - ])oison oak; Vitis aestivalis - summer grape common; Vitis cordifulia - frost grape ; Ampelopsis quinquefolia - Virginia creeper; iEsculus ])avia - buckeye, scarce; Acer saccharinum - sugar maple; Acer dasycarpum - white maple; Negundo aceroidcs - box elder; Baptisia tinrtnria - indigo weed, not abundant; Cercis Canadensis - red-bud; (iyrnmicladus Canadensis - Kentucky coffee-tree; Gleidtschia tracanthos - honey locust : Prunus Americana - red plum ; Prunus chicasa - Chickasaw- plum : Prunus ecrotina - wild cherry ; Fragaria Virginiana - wild strawberry; Rubus occidentalis - 'tjlack cap raspberry; Rubus Canadensis - dewberry, cunniinu.

Quercus rubra - red oak ; Qucrcus palustris - water oak, common ; Quercus tinctoria - black oak ; Quercus nigra - black-jack ; Quercus imbricaria - laurel oak ; Quercus prinus - chestnut white oak; Quercus castanea - yellow oak, not common ; Quercus alba - white oak, common ; Quercus obstiloba - post oak, abundant.

Carya glabra - pig-nut hickory; Quercus macrocai-pa - overcup oak, common ; Carya tomentosa - white^heart hickory; Carya alba - shell-bark hickory ; Carya olivreformis - pecan ; not common.

In the above list we have given the scientific as well as the English names, believing such a course to pursue in the study of planis more beneficial to the student or general reader. There may be some plants omitted, yet we think the list quite complete.