190-] Bacon, — Anagallis in Vermont 18$ 



ANAGALLIS ARVENSIS AND CAERULEA IN VERMONT. 

 Alice E. Bacon. 



In the summer of 1898 the writer of this note was told of a "pink 

 chick weed " to be found on a terrace near her home. On investigat- 

 ing the matter she found a few scattered plants of Anagallis arvensis 

 in that locality, and a few days later a single plant was found in a bed 

 of pansies north of her house and two more in the lawn. Specimens 

 were placed in her herbarium with date — July 28, 1898, and full 

 notes. 



Noticing a few weeks ago that the plant was not credited to Ver- 

 mont in Mr. E. F. Williams' list in Rhodora for January she sent 

 part of the herbarium specimen to Prof. L. R. Jones of Burlington, 

 for identification, with the promise of fresh flowers if possible. 



A few days later a lusty plant was found in a row of sweet peas, in 

 ground that has been closely cultivated for years. Search was imme- 

 diately made in the places where it had been found before and the 

 plant was found in abundance on the terrace and nowhere else. It 

 had increased in four years from a few plants to many hundreds, 

 spreading the whole length of a high terrace, checked on the north 

 only by the highway and on the south by cultivated land. 



Specimens were sent, to the Herbarium at Burlington and also to 

 Mr. Williams. Growing with the A. arvensis were several plants bear- 

 ing blue blossoms, which Prof. Jones identifies as A. caerulea ; the 

 plants are few as compared with the A. arvensis but both are evidently 

 increasing rapidly and are thoroughly established. Although in the 

 heart of the village the rather inconspicuous blossom and its habit 

 of closing early and in cloudy weather has probably preserved it from 

 destruction. 



Still more recently A. arvensis has been reported from several 

 places in this vicinity. Attention of flower-lovers was called to the 

 plant, and several specimens were found in a strawberry patch on a 

 farm about a mile distant from the first recorded station and brought 

 for identification. Single plants were also gathered a mile or two 

 from the village in different directions ; they were smaller, less vigor- 

 ous and w fewer-flowered. The plant evidently has been spreading in 



