DAME, STEPHEN (c. 1594-1668), first printer in the Anglo-American colonies, was born in London. Although it has been stated that he served an apprenticeship as a printer there, the records extant indicate that he was a locksmith. In the summer of 1638, however, he came to America with the Rev. Jose Glover, a dissenting minister of some means, with whom he made a contract to set up the first printing press in the English colonies. This he did in the autumn of 1638 at Cambridge, Mass. The first issue from his press was the Freeman's Oath, Jan. 1639 ; the second, an Almanack by William Pierce, mariner, 1639; the third, the Psalms, now known as the Bay Psalm Book, 164o. According to the records of the general court of Cam bridge, Dec. 1 o, 1641, he was granted 30o ac. of land for "being the first that sett upon printing." His name is not found in con nection with the imprint of any of his publications, but that of his son, Matthew, who seems to have been next in charge of the press, appears on the title-page of the Almanack, 1647. The extant issues from his press are : The Whole Booke of Psalms, faithfully translated into English Metre (164o) ; A list of Theses at the Harvard Commencement in 1643 (1643) ; A Declaration of Former Passages and Proceedings betwixt the English and the Narrowgansetts, with their confederates, Wherein the grounds and justice of the ensuing warre are opened and cleared He died at Cambridge, Mass., on Dec. 2 2, 1668.
There are about 115 species, chiefly natives of tropical and sub tropical regions, 8 of which are found in the southern United States. They are usually ascending or reclining, somewhat fleshy, branching herbs, with short-stalked leaves, and irregular, usually blue flowers, in small clusters more or less enfolded in two spathe like bracts. The Virginia day-flower (C. virginica), found in moist places from southern New York to Illinois southward to Florida and Texas and thence to Paraguay, has diffusely branching stems, II ft. to 3 ft. high, lance-shaped leaves, and showy blue flowers an inch broad. The creeping dayflower (C. nudiflora), with reclining stems 1 ft. to 24 ft. long, rooting at the joints, and small blue flowers, about in. broad, found from New Jersey to Missouri and southward, is extensively distributed also in South America, Asia and Africa. The Asiatic dayflower (C. communis), with small, very deep blue flowers, has become widely naturalized in the east ern and southern States. Various species are in cultivation.