8 Rhodora [JANUARY 
The four forms are well marked, and are undoubtedly good species. 
Indeed, it is surprising that a plant so distinct in appearance as S. gre- 
garia, both in the flowering and fruiting stages, and so widely distrib- 
uted, as it seems to be in the east, should have so long failed of recog- 
nition as a species. A peculiarity of this species, not before reported, 
is that some of the plants bear small black tubers attached to the main 
root or to its fibres an inch or two from the base. This may have some- 
thing to do with the gregarious habit of the species. The two species 
most likely to be confused, especially at the period of flowering, are 
S. Canadensis and S. trifoliata. The number of the leaflets is not a 
safe guide ; for the upper leaves of S. Canadensis are trifoliolate, and 
the lower leaves of S. trifoliata have the outer segments parted as in 
S. Canadensis. However, the leaflets of S. trifoliata are broader and 
more coarsely serrate, the branches more remote on the stem, the stem 
more flexuous, the fruit-bearing rays longer, the time of flowering a 
week earlier, and (best test of all) the pedicels of the staminate flow- 
ers are fully twice as long. In luxuriant plants of S. /r7/oZiaza there is 
not only a branch from the axil of every stem-leaf, but one or more 
from the base of the stem, so that the plant is broad and bushy. When 
in fruit, the two species may be distinguished at a glance. 
It should be noted that these two species have not only short styles, 
but also correspondingly short stamens — hardly at all exserted — and 
short petals, about half the length of the calyx-lobes. "The flowers are 
thus inconspicuous. The long-styled species, on the contrary, with 
their numerous staminate flowers, long filaments, and bright colored 
anthers, produce a marked floral effect. 
Each species continues in flower for a week or ten days. The dates 
at which flowering commenced the past summer were as follows : — 
Sanicula Marylandica, L., June 1 
" gregaria, Bicknell, E 
« trifoliata, Bicknell, ar 
« Canadensis, L., "c 
'The fruit of the long-styled species was mature by the middle of 
August. That of S. Canadensis ripened a week or two later; while 
the carpels of .S. trifoliata were green until September. 
By far the most common species in western Vermont is .S. Mary- 
landica. It is the species of widest geographical range ; I collected it 
in August, 1897, along the Columbia River at Revelstoke, B. C. It 
ascends, also, to a higher altitude than any of the other eastern spe- 
