322 
Mr. Thurow wrote me that he found the plant very common all along the country 
road from near Big Cypress Creek nearly to the city limits of Houston. Unfortu- 
nately only 4 specimens were obtained. Mr. Thurow, however, has promised to 
revisit the type locality and obtain a good supply of material so that our corre- 
spondents may be furnished with specimens of this peculiar genus. 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE.—Fig. a, an outer involucral bract; 6, flower with the subtending bract; e, 
palew of pappus; d, flower with pappus removed; e, style branches. Figs. a, b, c, and d, enlarged 6 
diameters; e, much enlarged. 
TRADESCANTIA BREVIFOLIA AND T,. LEIANDRA. 
Considerable confusion has existed with regard to Tradescantia leiandra and its 
varieties. In working over some of Mr. Heller’s excellent specimens from Corpus 
Christi, Texas, with all the material of these forms from the Gray, Torrey, and 
National herbariums before me, I have been able to clear the subject up. 
The species proper is very rare. It was collected by Bigelow on the first Mexican 
Boundary Survey, and is represented by a single sheet labeled in Dr. Torrey’s hand- 
writing, now deposited in the National Herbarium. The variety brerifolia was also 
collected on this survey, and was described by Dr. Torrey in his part of the report. 
The type specimen of this variety, also collected by Bigelow, is deposited in the 
Torrey herbarium at Columbia College, and there are no duplicates in the Gray or 
National herbariums. 
The confusion has been caused partly by the wrong reference by Dr. Torrey of 
Wright’s No. 700 (at least a part of it) to his leiandra rather than to the variety brevi- 
folia, Wright’s No, 700 is a medley composed of at least 8 species. One of these con- 
tained in the Gray herbarium and labeled 7. leiandra is clearly Torrey’s variety 
brevifolia, and is possibly the one referred to by Torrey. This form is not repre- 
sented either in the Columbia College or National Herbarium. Then, too, it seems 
that none of the monographers of thts genus have seen the true leiandra, owing to its 
rarity, and have confused the variety with it. The brevifolia is much the more com- 
mon form, and extends from Corpus Christi to northern Mexico. I have not been 
able to find the species leiandra in either the Gray or Columbia College herbarium, 
and until recently it was only represented by the single specimen referred to above. 
I have found, however, in the herbarium of the National Museum in charge of Pro- 
fessor Ward, now a part of the National Herbarium, a single poor, but quite charac- 
teristic, specimen of this species. This was obtained by Dr. V. Havard, U.S. Army, 
at Copote Creek, Texas, in September, 1883 (No. 79). 
Mr. C. B. Clark! first and very properly separated these two forms as distinct 
species, but unfortunately referred the brevifolia form to the genus Zebrina and as 
4. leiandra, Dr, Sereno Watson? afterwards called attention to the fact that it is a 
good Tradescantia, but made the mistake of considering it the true leiandra and was- 
followed by Mr. Hemsley. 
The variety clearly deserves specific rank, probably under Tradescantia, and should 
bear the name T. (?) brevifolia. 
It differs from 7. Jeiandra in its habit, in its broader and shorter leaves with the 
margin ciliate-scabrous and the sheath hairy instead of smooth, in its much larger 
and not acuminate floral leaves, and in its hairy filaments. 
Thave recently found that Buckley‘ had actually described this species in Pro- 
ceedings of the Philadelphia Academy, although I do not find his deseription re- 
ferred to in Mr. Clark’s exhaustive monograph or in any other work. His name 
speciosa has been used at least twice before and may very well be passed over. 
'DC. Monogr. Phan. ili, 318. 
?Proc. Amer, Acad. xviii, 167. 
3 Biol. Centr.-Amer. iii, 393. 
‘It is of interest to know that the type locality of Buckley’s plant is Corpus 
Christi, Texas, where Mr. Heller obtained his material. 
