1899] 15th Contribution from the Gray Herbarium 137 
ondary pilei originating on the very margin and under (originally 
upper) surface of the old pilei was to face exactly the other way. — 
HoLLis WEBSTER. 
SYNOPSIS OF THE I5TH CONTRIBUTION FROM THE GRAY HERBA- 
RIUM. — In a recently published number (new series, No. XV.) of the 
Contributions from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (Proc. 
. Am. Acad. XXXIV. No. 19, pp. 483-504, with plate), two common 
groups of sedges are discussed by Mr. M. L. Fernald: **E/eecAaris 
ovata and its American Allies," and “ Scirpus Eriophorum and some 
Related Forms." ‘These two species have been so long the reposito- 
ries for such specimens as would conveniently go nowhere else that they 
have become, as commonly accepted in America, very confused. In 
attempting to clear Ææocharis ovata from the confusion which has 
surrounded it, it has been necessary to define six American species, 
two of them new, and six varieties. Seven of these plants are known 
in New England, though some are very local. Their most important dis- 
tinguishing characters and their ranges may be briefly stated in the fol- 
lowing analytical key, which is practically that of Mr. Fernald's paper: 
Bristles overtopping the body of the achene. 
Tubercle nearly or quite as broad as the achene: heads from globose-ovate to 
ovate-oblong: scales brown, obtuse. 
Culms stout, ascending, 1 to 5 dm. high: heads densely flowered, 3 to 13 
mm. long (from central Maine southward and westward). 
E. obtusa, Schultes. 
Culms capillary, generally spreading, 1 (rarely 2) dm. or less high: heads 
fewer-flowered, 2 to 5 mm. long (range of former). 
E. obtusa, var. jejuna, Fernald. 
Tubercle distinctly narrower than the achene. 
Culms erect or ascending (northern Maine and northern Vermont, local). 
E. ovata, R. Br. 
Culms flexuous, generally recurved or prostrate (northern and central Maine; 
eastern Massachusetts). E. ovata, var. Heuseri, Uechtritz. 
Bristles about equalling or shorter than the body of the achene or obsolete or 
none. 
Tubercle nearly or quite as broad as the achene: heads narrow, oblong or sub- 
cylindric with close-appressed scales. 
Retrorsely barbed bristles about equalling the achene (Massachusetts and 
Connecticut, rare). E. Engelmanni Steud. 
Bristles short and naked or absent (eastern Massachusetts). 
E. Engelmanni, var. detonsa, Gray. 
Tubercle distinctly narrower than the achene: heads ovoid, with scarcely ap- 
pressed scales: bristles obsolete or none (Connecticut, local). 
E. diandra, Wright. 
Under the name Scirpus Eriophorum (Eriophorum cyperinum) two 
very distinct specific types have been coníused, a slender northern 
