1900] Fernald, — Artemisia Stelleriana in New England. 39 
may be inferred, no definite statement to that effect is made, as is done 
in case of A. Adbsinthium, A. Abrotanum, A. annua, etc. Thus as 
treated in standard works the exact status of the species in our flora is 
not clearly defined. 
It is a significant fact that this very conspicuous plant was not seen 
upon the New England coast until 1877, and that from that date until 
the present time it has appeared in ever-increasing abundance at points 
long known and visited by botanists. Furthermore, in 1876, the plant 
was discovered in dry sand on the coast of Skáne, the southernmost 
province of Sweden, “the most thoroughly examined province of Swe- 
den from the botanist's point of view ;" in 189r it was found on the 
sandy coast at North Bull, County Dublin, Ireland; in 1892, on the 
coast of Zealand, Denmark ; and in 1895 on the sands between Penzance 
and Marazion in Cornwall. 
In the Journal of Botany for 1894 and previously in a Swedish 
journal, Botaniska Notiser, Professor Areschoug discussed ' at length 
the occurrence of this Kamtschatkan plant in Europe and America, 
favoring the view that it has long been a member of our flora, until 
recently overlooked because of its habitat — barren sands which are 
rarely visited. He further argued that the plant must have spread 
laterally from northern Asia to Europe and America immediately after 
the Glacial Period, before the return northward of the flora which now 
characterizes so much of Europe and America, and that although not 
yet known to us it will be found in many sandy river-valleys of North 
America. 
Replying to Professor Areschoug's most interesting and ingenious 
argument, Mr. Nathaniel Colgan showed? very conclusively that the 
extensive colony of the plant found by him in County Dublin had ori- 
ginated from waste fragments thrown upon the sand from a neighboring 
nursery. ‘The simple explanation given by Mr. Colgan of the origin of 
the colony in Ireland is essentially applicable to our American stations. 
If this very conspicuous plant were indigenous upon Old Orchard, 
Nahant, Martha's Vineyard, and other sandy shores, it is singular that 
no one observed it before 1877. Mr. Walter Deane informs me that in 
his youth he was familiar with Old Orchard Beach, and that at that 
time this remisia was not seen ; in Tracy’s list (1858) of the plants 
of Lynn it is not mentioned, nor does the late Dr. Morong note it in 
1 Botaniska Notiser, 1880, 137, and 1893, 111; Journ. Bot. xxxii. 70. 
2 Journ. Dot. l. c. 104. 
