!86 Rhodora [September 



this section and probably will soon be reported from other places in 

 the Connecticut Valley, Vermont side. Specimens of A. arvensis 

 will gladly be forwarded to any Vermont reader of Rhodora upon 

 application to the writer of this note. A. caerulea has not been 

 reported except from the terrace of which mention has been made. 

 Bradford, Vermont. 



ASTER UNDULATUS x NOVI-BELGII. 



M. L. Fernald. 



In October, 1900. Miss E. L. Shaw called my attention to an Aster 

 found by her in a sandy thicket at Carlisle, Massachusetts, which 

 presented a perplexing combination of the characters of A. undulatns 

 and A. Novi-Belgii. Early in October, 1901, Miss Shaw showed me 

 the spot where the Aster occurs, but, unfortunately, in the widening 

 of the road much of the thicket had been temporarily destroyed and 

 the tops at least of the Aster removed. However, roots of a plant 

 which had been transplanted to Miss Shaw's garden furnished mate- 

 rial which, in connection with that collected in 1900, shows very 

 well the characteristics of the plant. In the neighborhood of the 

 original station in Carlisle A. undulatns is abundant on the dry 

 banks, while typical A. Novi-Belgii with strongly squarrose involucre 

 covers extensive areas of meadow. The intermediate plant of the 

 sandy roadside thicket has the pubescence of A. undulatns \ and the 

 leaves though less clasping, scarcely constricted at the base, and 

 narrower than in A. undulatns, have the texture of that species, 

 while they are shorter, broader and more toothed than in A. Novi- 

 Bch r ii. I n i ts branching the plant simulates A. undulatns more than 

 A. Novi-Belgii. The involucre, however, is more often composed of 

 strongly squarrose herbaceous bracts as in the most extreme form of 

 A. Novi-Belgii. In some heads, nevertheless, the bracts are firm 

 and appressed-ascending as in A. undulatns. All attempts to place 

 this plant with either of the species to which it is closely related 

 have led to the conclusion that it is equally close to the other. The 

 limited area of the plant, its proximity to the abundant A. undulatns 

 and A. Novi-Belgii and its decided mingling of the characteristics of 

 these two very dissimilar species indicate that the plant is of hybrid 

 origin. Its chief characters are : 



