88 Rhodora [May 



Society of Natural History, collected in Boston, at least one (and 

 probably both), cannot have been gathered later than 1868. 



Ricinus communis, L. I have with some hesitation included in my 

 list. It has been collected in two successive years, however, at 

 Dedham, Massachusetts, by Mr. E. F. Williams. 



A plant labelled ^^ Shepheniia argeniea^ Roxbury, Massachusetts, 

 1849, [J. A.] Lowell," in the Boston Society of Natural History 

 herbarium cannot represent a native of our range. 



Shepherdia canadensis^ Nutt. may perhaps be sought in Co(")S 

 County, New Hampshire, since it is found in Madison, Maine, and 

 in Vermont. The Vermont stations, however, are in the western 

 part of the State. 



Andover, Massachusetts. 



The Occurrence of Verbena stricta and Helianthus mol- 

 lis IN Massachusetts. — On Aug. 2d, 1903, Dr. B. J. Handy and the 

 writer were botanizing in some fields on the outskirts of Fall River. 

 At the edge of an excavation in a bank of glacial till a plant was 

 seen which had the characteristic appearance of Verbena, but the 

 larger blue flowers and the coarseness of the plant showed at a 

 glance that it was not Verbena hastata, L. common in this region. 

 Upon analysis it proved to be Verbena stricta. Vent. About a 

 dozen plants were observed growing among the stones and coarse 

 soil in the pit. 



As we continued our walk in an adjoining field another group of 

 unfamiHar plants, in full flower, attracted our attention. This colony 

 was more extensive, there being some fifty plants, which proved to 

 be Helianthus mollis, Lam. As no station in New England is men- 

 tioned in any of the standard manuals of botany, both plants being 

 native of the West and South, inquiry was made at the Gray Herba- 

 rium, and a search of the available literature brought to light but 

 two New England records of Verbena stricta, namely from Bridgeport 

 and Manchester, Connecticut (recorded in Bishop's Catalogue of 

 Connecticut Plants), while Helianthus mollis does not appear to be 

 recorded in New England at all. 



The fields in which these plants were found are very close to a 

 large cotton mill, and it is probable that the seeds of both species 

 were brought North in the raw cotton and thrown into the fields with 



