60 Rhodora (MARCH 
but that is a coarser form with very large loose inflorescences and 
scattered flowers, while the Van Buren plant is low and slender with 
small inflorescences of closely approximate flowers. 
The plant, here proposed as a new variety and dedicated to Mr. 
Williams who was first to call attention to its peculiar habit, is not 
confined to the St. John valley, as identical specimens were collected 
at Edgeworth, Malden, Massachusetts, by the late Wm. Boott in 
1853. Its characters, clearly shown in the plate generously pre- 
pared by Mr. Charles E. Faxon, are here briefly summarized : 
Juncus renuts, Willd., var. Williamsii. Very slender, 2 to 4 
dm. high: bracts mostly 2 or 3, at least one overtopping the narrow 
oblong (2.5 to 8 cm. long) inflorescence: branches mostly wide- 
spreading or slightly recurved, 1 to 2 cm. long, closely 3—6-flowered, 
strongly secund: mature capsule equalling the perianth.— MAINE, 
Van Buren, July 19, 1900 (Emile F. Williams) : MASSACHUSETTS, 
Edgworth, Malden, July 19, 1853 (Wm. Boott, in Herb. N. E. Bot. 
Club). 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE 23.— uncus tenuis var. Williamsi?: fig. 1, portion 
of an original specimen from Van Buren; fig. 2, mature capsule, enlarged ; 
fig. 3, sheath with prolonged scarious auricle, enlarged. „J. tenuis: fig. 4, 
inflorescence of a plant from New Haven, Connecticut. J. zenuis, var. an- 
thelatus: fig. 5, inflorescence of an original specimen from Hartford, Maine. 
A COLONY OF WAIFS OF THE HELIANTHOIDEAE.— In 1896 I dis- 
covered in an old field in Oxford, Connecticut, Helianthus rigidus, 
Desf., and Æ. grosse-serratus, Martens. In 1897 or 1898 I found ZZe- 
iopsis scabra, Dunal, close at hand, and as I passed through the field 
in August of this year my eye was caught by an unfamiliar flower, 
which proved to be Zepachys pinnata, Torr. & Gray. The field was 
under cultivation some eight or ten years ago, and has since been 
used mostly as a pasture. Seeds of these western species were 
doubtless brought here with grain, but it seems remarkable to find a 
group of four so nearly related plants so far from their range and 
persisting through so long a time. Of the four Helianthus rigidus 
seems most at home, although the most western in its natural range. 
It grows over an area of nearly half an acre in several patches and 
seems to be increasing from year to year. Æ. grosse-serratus grows 
mixed with the last in four small patches and seems to be de- 
creasing, as is also Heliopsis scabra, of which there are not more 
than a dozen plants. Of the Zepachys I have seen but a single 
clump of ten flowering stalks.— E. B. HARGER, Oxford, Connecticut. 
