1904] Deane, — Lists of New England Plants, — XVI. 157 



of rich woods in Charlotte, Vt., a Hydrophyllum exhibiting charac- 

 ters unlike those of any known species. It grew in "a clump about 

 a foot broad, the entire clump of uniform character and of rather 

 dense growth." As it bore no resemblance to H. virgitiicum, Mr. 

 Pringle says that he supposed it to be H. canadense, which he had 

 never seen at that time, and he sent it out to several of his corre- 

 spondents under that name. A liowering specimen deposited in the 

 Gray Herbarium was examined by Dr. Sereno Watson, Dr. Gray 

 being in Europe at the time, and was pronounced an undescribed 

 species. It was not published, however, and. to quote from Mr. 

 Pringle, who has kindly furnished me with most of my information 

 in a letter dated November 12, 1903: "When I visited Cambridge 

 a few years later, I asked Dr. Gray's opinion of my plant. He 

 assured me that he had examined it critically, had found its flowers 

 defective, sterile, and had judged it to be a monstrosity or abnormal 

 condition of K. Virginiciim. He charged me to watch the behavior 



of the plant, to see whether it ever produced seeds I had my 



plant marked and was wont to return to it year by year, sometimes 

 taking off more specimens. There was no confusing it with H. Vir- 

 giniciim, as it was growing isolated. Though I revisited it during 

 several years, I never found its flowers bearing seed. And more, 

 the last time I saw it, some of the rhizomes which composed the 

 clump were showing normal H. Virginiciim leaves. I felt positively 

 sure that the plant was recovering its normal Virginiciim type. 

 There was no chance for mistake about it. After I had been away 

 from home on several annual journeys, I looked again one summer 

 for the plant ; but no trace of it was to be found. The young trees, 

 which had sprung up around it, had become so dense as to choke it 

 out." 



I have examined two specimens of this remarkable plant, one 

 kindly loaned me by Prof. L. R. Jones from the Herbarium of the 

 University of Vermont, collected on June 2, 1878, and one in the 

 Gray Herbarium, collected on June 6, 1879. The two specimens are 

 identical. If the plant is an instance of teratology, it certainly 

 retains absolutely no characters of whatever species it is allied to, 

 with the exception of the production, on one occasion, of virginiciim 

 leaves, which Mr, Pringle unfortunately did not preserve. A fact 

 tending to prove its abnormality is the absence of ovules which care- 

 ful microscopic examination in which I was assisted by Dr. B. L. 



