inne] Fernald, — Paronychia argyrocoma in New England 103 



regions. Another typical plant of the White Mountains and of some 

 exposed ridges in central and western Maine, Geum Peckii, has by 

 some botanists been taken for an extreme form of the very local G. 

 radiafum of the highest summits of North Carolina and Tennessee, 

 and though the White Mountain plant is undoubtedly nearly related 

 to the Carolinian species, both it and G. radiation are more closely 

 allied to certain polar species (of Alaska and Siberia) than to other 

 American plants. 



This digression from the discussion of Paronychia argyrocoma 

 itself is sufficient to show, as already stated, that the occurrence over 

 a considerable area of the granitic mountains of New England of this 

 representative of a characteristic southern genus is unique; and one 

 is naturally led to ask whether, indeed, the plants of the South and the 

 North are identical. Superficially they are very similar; yet in exam- 

 ining a large series of specimens one is struck with the fact that in the 

 northern plant most if not all the ascending branches bear inflores- 

 cences, while in the southern plant many of the branches are merely 

 leafy and sterile. In the southern plant, too, the leaves are flat and 

 permanently covered with grayish silky hairs; in the northern the 

 leaves are inclined to be involute at the margin and glabrate, though 

 in the Newburvport specimen the pubescence is somewhat persistent. 

 In the southern plant the inflorescence is more inclined to be glomeru- 

 late than in the northern, though occasional southern specimens show 

 the looser cymes which are characteristic in the North. The only 

 other character in which a distinction has been found is likewise an 

 inconstant one; yet in a series of specimens there is a very apparent 

 tendency in the northern plant to have a slightly shorter calyx than 

 the southern, and the subulate awns nearly or quite glabrous; while 

 in the longer calyx of the southern plant the awns are flattish and 

 usually hairy. 



It is apparent, then, that the two jiUints which have been passing 

 as Paronychia argyrocoma are not strictly identical. Their distinc- 

 tive characters are, however, somewhat inconstant, and only by its 

 narrower glabrate leaves can the northern plant be clearly separated 

 from the southern. In view of this character of the northern plant 

 and the other tendencies which are found in most of the material it 

 seems desirable to distinguish it as 



Paronychia argyrocoma (Michx.) Nutt., var. albimontana, var. 

 nov. Dense caespitosa; ramis plerumtjue floriferis; foliis glabratis. 



