1901 | Halsted,— Branched Broom-rape upon Tomato 295 
BRANCHED BROOM-RAPE UPON Towaro.— During the past season 
a single tomato plant in my experiment grounds was infested with 
the Orbanche ramosa L. It fastened itself upon one of the main roots 
of the tomato plant, and produced a base, below ground, an inch in 
diameter, from which a cluster of branching stems arose bearing the 
racemes of bluish yellow flowers in early July. While New Jersey 
has a record for Orbanche minor J. E. S. upon clover, Conopholis 
Americana (L.f.) and the old Aphylion unifiorum (L.) and EpzpAegus 
Virginiana (L.), this branched Broom-rape seems new to the State 
and, so far as it is determined, for any region north of Kentucky, 
where it is destructive to hemp and tobacco. ‘The writer would like 
to hear whether this European parasite has previously occurred in 
New England or the Middle States. It is interesting that the 
original Linnaean name stands unchanged, a rarity in this little 
group of root parasites.— Byron D. HarsrED, New Brunswick, 
New Jersey. 
AN UNARMED CONNECTICUT BLACKBERRY. — Dr. C. B. Graves has 
brought me for examination a suite of specimens collected from a 
large patch of slender blackberry bushes in a damp thicket at Groton, 
Connecticut. The bushes, which have been carefully studied by Dr. 
Graves, differ from the common high blackberry of the region, Rudus 
nigrobaccus, Bailey, in their more slender usually prickleless canes, 
and the very elongate loose racemes. In the ordinary prickly form of 
R. nigrobaccus the inflorescences are somewhat elongate, but even in 
their most mature condition, at fruiting time, they are only 1 or 2 dm. 
long. In Dr. Graves' plant, however, the racemes are 2.5 to 3 dm. 
long. But the fruit of the plant is essentially like that of Æ. uzgrobaccus, 
though drier than in the best forms of the species; and the pubescence 
of the two plants is essentially the same. ‘The occurrence of occa- 
sional fine prickles on the midrib of the leaves, and their very rare 
occurrence on the canes further show that the Groton plant is an 
extreme variation of Æ. uzgrobaccus, with which I take pleasure in 
associating the name of its discoverer. This variety may be known 
as 
Rupus NiGROBACCUS, Bailey, var. Gravesii. Canes slender, 
essentially without prickles; young branches and inflorescence 
densely glandular-villous: leaves as in the species, but less prickly 
or prickleless: racemes leafy below, 2.5 to 3 dm. long; the pedicels 
