remotioribus, fructibus margine sublævibus "—and Boott says that it differs from the species only in the small spikes and the smooth perigynium. Boott knew it only as a Lapland plant. Moreover, the very few specimens to which I have had access differ from the species only in the points designated. Our plants, on the contrary, differ from the species in their very slender and lax habit as well as in the characters of perigynium and spikes. I have therefore separated them from the species as an unpublished variety. The second series of variations may all be included under var. alpicola Wahl., with the exception of the dubious var. dubia Bailey, and the third under var. polystachya Boott. Var. vulgaris. Var. alpicola Bailey in part, Proc. Am. Acad. xxii, 143; distrib. Carices, 1886.-Differs from the species in its more slender culm and laxer habit, its small spikes, and usually smaller and spreading perigynia. This variety bears the same relation to C. canescens that var. microstachya bears to C. echinata. Typical C. canescens is a stout plant, with compact spikes one-fourth or three-eighths inch long. Both the species and this variety are characterized by a silvery color of the spikes.-Common throughout the northern states and Canada, to Idaho, and perhaps farther westward. Var. alpicola Wahl. Fl. Lapp. 232.-C. curta, var. brunnescens, Pers. Syn. ii, 539: C. Richardii Michx. Fl. Bor., Am. ii, 170; C. vitilis Fries, Mant. iii, 137; C. canescens, ß Torr. Monogr. 393: C. canescens var. sphærostachya Tuckm. Enum. Meth. 10, 19: C. Buckleyi Dew. Sill. Journ. 1st ser. xlviii143; C. sphærostachya Dew. 1. c. xlix, 44; C. canescens var. vitilis Carey, Gray's Man., 2d ed., 514; C. canescens var. brunnescens Boott, Ill., 220; C. vitilis var. brunnea Olney, Bot. King's Rep., 364; C. vitilis vars. alpicola and sphærostachya Olney, Exsicc. fasc. v. nos. 3 and 4.-Smaller than the species (seldom much over a foot high), the culm stiff in the alpine forms, more or less slender in the subalpine forms: spikes small and globular or nearly so, well defined, brown or tawny. Varies from the short, stiff and brown alpine forms-the typical var. alpicola-into various lax and paler forms of intermediate regions. --Common on mountains across the continent, reaching as far south as Georgia, and occurring sparingly in intermediate regions along the northern borders of the United States. 7. C. Deweyana Schw., var. sparsiflora.-C. Bolanderi var. sparsiflora Olney, Proc. Am. Acad. 1872, 407 (Hall's no. 580). The most reduced form of C. Deweyana: plant laxer in habit than the type: leaves narrower: spikes smaller perigynium twice smaller, more or less excurved. This is commonly confounded with forms of C. canescens, with which it was united in my Synopsis, 144. From the small forms of C. canescens this plant is distinguished by its much laxer habit, broader and soft leaves, the culm very weak or often. zigzag above, the perigynia much narrower, longer (lanceolate or narrowly ovate-lanceolate), long-pointed, more or less excurved, borne in loose spikes which are generally subtended by a bract.-From Idaho to Oregon and Vancouver Island. C. Bolanderi vars. elongata and minor Olney, 1. c., are unimportant forms of C. Deweyana var. Bolanderi W. Boott. S. C. arctata Boott, var. Faxoni.-Spikes shorter than in the species, usually short-peduncled, erect or nearly so, much more densely flowered, part of them usually contiguous at the top of the culm, rendering the shorter staminate spike inconspicuous perigynium usually much larger.-Sugar Hill, Lisbon, N. H., Edwin Faxon, 1887; extreme northern Minnesota, Bailey, 1886; northwestern Ontario at Nipigon, Macoun, 1884, and Michipicoton, Geo. Barnston, 1860. As Carex arctata is often confounded with C. debilis, it may be well at this place to state the essential points in which it differs from C. debilis: Radical leaves broader and shorter: perigynium shorter (2 lines or less long), abruptly contracted into a beak, abrupt and conspicuously stipitate below, more loosely disposed on the spike and more spreading, scarcely longer than the very sharp or cuspidate scale. 9. C. rosea. Schkuhr, var.? Arkansana. Differs from the species in its mostly stouter culm, the spikes much larger and more aggregated and subtended by very long (3 to 6 inches) leaf-like bracts with dilated bases, scales broader and conspicuously awn-pointed, perigynium much larger and broader.-Plentiful in the bottom of La Fourche creek, near Little Rock, Ark., growing beneath underbrush where heavy timber has been cut. Dr. H. E. Hasse. This plant suggests C. Muhlenbergi var. australis. 10.. Carex salina Wahl., var.? robusta. Taller and coarser than the species (2 to 3 feet high), the culm spongy at the base leaves soft: bracts very leafy, surpassing the culm: spikes heavy, short and thick (an inch or less long usually and one-quarter or one-half inch thick), mostly dense and truncate at the base, somewhat aggregated, the lower shortstalked scales various, from lanceolate and acute to ovate and obtuse, brown with a white nerve, longer than the thinner nerveless perigynium.-Salt marsh, Vancouver Island. 1887. Macoun. A singular plant with very bushy spikes, variable in character. The perigynia are all empty. con 11. Carex Liddoni Boott, var. incerta.-C. adusta var. gesta W. Boott, Bot. Calif. ii, 238.-Usually lower than the species (about 18 inches high), the culm much more slender: leaves evidently proportionally longer (nearly as long as the culm): heads shorter (three-fourths inch or less long), much more dense perigynium somewhat smaller, nerveless or very nearly so.-Summit Camp, California, Kellogg. 12. C. Jamesoni Boott, var. gracilis. Differs from the species in its much more slender and flexuose spikes, which are longer peduncled. C. Jamesoni Boott, Ill. 109, t. 335 The specimen figured and described by Boott is from northern South America. I refer here, with much uncertainty, two specimens collected in southern Mexico in 1853 by Fred. Müller, nos. 1,337 and 1,338. These specimens are much more slender than that figured by Boott, smaller (one and a half to two feet high), leaves narrower, the spikes fewer and rather more slender and the perigynium somewhat excurved. A larger suite of specimens is necessary for a close determination. Müller's 649 is C. Jamesoni Boott, t. 334, and no. 1,336 and part of 1,977, the latter from Orizaba, are C. Jamesoni r, tt. 336 and 337- It seems to me that the var. 7 should be referred to the type. 13. Carex triceps Michx., var. Smithii Porter in litt.-C. Smithii Porter; Olney, Exsicc. fasc. i. no 28.--More slender than the type: whole plant, except the sheaths, glabrous or nearly so spikes smaller (4 in. or less long by 3 in. wide), the lower one or two usually short-peduncled: perigynium mostly smaller: scales, especially of the staminate portion, commonly shorter, less squarrose and not so sharply pointed.-Southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and southward. 14. Carex lurida retrorsa. Distinguished from C. lurida Wahl., which parent it most closely resembles, by its straw colored perigynia, which are less inflated and much more spreading, standing at nearly right angles to the axis of the spike.-Lansing, Mich. A large clump of this Carex was found growing between clumps of C. lurida and C. retrorsa. Its habit and characters were such as to at once place its hybrid origin beyond a doubt. It also explains certain ambiguous specimens which have been sent me for name—I can not now recall from whom-and which I recollect to have referred to C. lurida. Without an intimate acquaintance with C. lurida this hybrid will not be readily recognized. It is very likely to be mistaken for C. tentaculata. It resembles very closely C. tentaculata ○ lurida Bailey (C. tentaculata var. altior Boott). Infertile. Agricultural College, Mich. The distribution of Isoetes. LUCIEN M. UNDERWOOD. The species of Isoetes have been neglected by collectors in many localities, so that our knowledge of their distribution is likely to be considerably modified by further discoveries. Forming, as they do, an inconspicuous element in aquatic vegetation and still more rarely seen in marshy places, they are easily passed by unless one is specially searching for them. Their resemblance to sterile aquatic sedges or Juncus increases the probability of their being overlooked. It may be of interest to note something of the distribution and history of our native species during the six years which have passed since the publication of Dr. Engelmann's valuable monograph', as well as to note some of the remarkable features of their distribution on other continents. The species were classed by Engelmann as submerged," amphibious and terrestrial." Baker' makes four groups to which similar terms are differently applied, his group "Aquatica" including only a part of Engelmann's submerged" species, his group Subaquatica" including the remainder, together with Engelmann's "amphibious" species, his group "Am 5.018824 1The genus Isoetes in North America. In Trans. St. Louis Academy of Science iy, 358Fern Allies, p. 121 (1887). phibia" including Engelmann's "terrestrial" species, while his group "Terrestres" is limited to two European species whose leaf bases are persistent. Baker enumerates fortynine species; with two of Dr. Engelmann's species overlooked by him and the two species described below the number is brought up to fifty-three. Geographically Isoetes has a peculiarly wide distribution; to illustrate its main features we will take the various regions. of the world in order, commencing with Europe, where the genus was first known: I. EUROPE.-The European species are thirteen in number, only excelled by our own continent. The species are as follows:3 I. lacustris L. (1) I. echinospora Dur. (1) I. setacea Bosc. (3) I. tenuissima Boreau. (3) I. Boryana Dur. (3) I. adspersa A. Br. (3) I. Malinverniana Ces. & DeNot. (3) I. velata A. Br. (3) I. dubia Gennari. (3) I. Tegulensis Gennari. (3) I. hystrix Bory. (4) I. Duriæi Bory. (4) Of the above, two species alone, I. lacustris and I. echinospora, are found in northern Europe, extending to the mountain regions of central Europe; both, moreover, are found with us. Three others, I. hystrix, I. Duriæi, I. velata, are widely distributed throughout the Mediterranean region from Spain and Algeria to Asia Minor, I. Azorica is confined to the Azores, I. dubia and I. Tegulensis to Sardinia and neighboring islands, I. Malinverniana to Piedmont, and the remaining species to France. In the minor distribution France leads with nine species, the island of Sardinia has five, while England and Sweden have only two each.1 II. AFRICA.-From Africa ten species have been reported: I. Peralderiana Dur. & Let. (3) I. velata A. Br. (3) I. adspersa A. Br. (3) I. hystrix Bory. (4) I. Duriæi Bory. (4) I. Natalensis Baker. (3) 1. Welwitschii A. Br. (3) I. æquinoctialis Welw. (3) Of these, the first five are found only in Algeria, the first alone being peculiar to that country; the second is found 3 The numbers following the species refer to Baker's groups in the order named above. I hystrix is recorded from Guernsey, which is botanically a part of France, though politically of England. |