200 Rhodora [OCTOBER 
the ancient American colony persists in this sheltered situation in 
Vermont, as does Arenaria macrophylla, and as, in better known sta- 
tions, do Diapensia lapponica, Cassiope hypnoides, and scores of other 
plants of more northern origin.! 
If this be the true explanation of the source of the Cavendish 
colony of Rubus idaeus, var. anorialus, the plant must have occurred 
among the Green Mountains for thousands of years ; but that it is 
extremely local and scarce is obvious from the fact that it has remained 
unobserved upon this continent until the. present year. This extreme 
scarcity of the plant, in a region where the climatic conditions seem 
favorable, is probably due to the usual sterility of the drupes as 
emphasized by the European authors who have studied the plant, and 
as likewise observed by Mr. Eggleston at the Vermont station. 
If, on the other hand, the Cavendish plant is considered a rever- 
sion of the glandular Rubus strigosus, we are adding nothing to the 
argument that the American and European species are distinct, for, 
if the two plants produce occasional sports so similar as to be undis- 
tinguishable, we have fair evidence of their common ancestry if not 
identity. In view of the extreme inconstancy of the glandular char- 
acter of the two plants — the chief character relied upon to separate 
them — it seems best to consider our American Æ. strigosus specifi- 
cally identical with the European Æ. iZaews, and to treat the small 
round-leaved variety from the Green Mountains as X. idaeus, var. 
anomalus. 
GRAY HERBARIUM. 
Explanation of Plate 20. Rubus idaeus, L., var. anomalus, Arrhenius, drawn 
from a Vermont specimen by C. E. Faxon. 
COMMELINA VIRGINICA ESTABLISHED IN NEW ENGLAND, — Com- 
melina Virginica, recorded in the Manual as occurring from New York 
southward, has now for some years maintained itself perfectly in sev- 
eral parts of Providence, coming up each year and blooming pro- 
fusely. It escapes from hot houses and winter gardens. — W. W. 
BatLey, Brown University. 
[In some places about Boston and Cambridge, this Commedina has persisted 
for years in damp yards and in waste ground. — Ep.] 
* See RHODORA, ii, 138-139. 
