204 Rhodora [OCTOBER 
succumbed to the fierce attacks made upon them, a record of some of 
the plants found here may be of value. 
Salsola Kali, L., var. Zragus, Moq. (the Russian thistle). This 
was first observed here by the writer, August 22, 1897, when two 
bushy plants about a foot high were seen. It has since shown a ten- 
dency to increase, twenty plants having been counted the present sea- 
son, August 4, a few of them three hundred feet distant from the 
original location. The plants first seen were quite different in gen- 
eral appearance from Sa/so/a Ka/i, the seashore species. ‘They were 
bushy-upright, their slenderer, greener leaves and stems contrasting 
strongly with the decumbent, coarse, succulent plant of the seashore. 
Later plants, however, seem to have changed their habit somewhat, 
by becoming more prickly and prostrate, and now as it grows along 
the gravelly railway track does not appear so very different from the 
species of which it is probably only a variety. In this connection it 
may be stated that in the Journal de Botanique, 1887, p. 281, M. 
Constantin records the fact that when Sa/so/a Kadi grows along river 
banks away from the sea it loses the fleshy character of its leaves and 
passes into the var. Zragus. ‘This locality, with the one reported in 
Ruopora, Vol. I, p. 47, by Mr. J. F. Collins, at Providence, R. I., 
appear to be the first records of the arrival in New England of this 
western pest. 
Bidens bipinnata, L. (Spanish Needles), was found growing 
abundantly on the occasion of a visit made October 2, 1898. Its 
tufts of prickly-barbed awned akenes made it a conspicuous object 
amidst the other plants. It was apparently of short life here, none 
having been seen by the writer since. 
Ambrosia trifida, L. (Great Ragweed). Numerous plants of this 
species, some of them attaining a height of seven feet, have been 
seen on every visit during the last three years. It presents a striking 
appearance, with its large three-lobed leaves, and, although coarse 
and rough, it is an interesting plant when seen for the first time. 
Although pronounced common in the Manuals, it is a rare plant in 
eastern. Massachusetts, occurring only on waste ground, where it is 
doubtless introduced from the West. 
Xanthium strumarium, L. (Cocklebur). A few plants of this 
not very common species were seen in mature fruit, October 2, 1898. 
It is easily distinguishable from the much more common and similar 
plant, Xanthium Canadense, Mill, by its smaller bur, which is at 
