1910] Long,— Scirpus Smithii var. setosus 155 
RANGE EXTENSION OF SCIRPUS SMITHII VAR. SETOSUS. 
BAYARD Lona. 
DURING a somewhat critical examination, recently, of the material of 
Scirpus debilis in the Herbarium of the Philadelphia Botanical Club, 
I found two sheets which were very evidently to be referred, not to 
S. debilis, but to S. Smithii — slender plants with the erect involucral 
leaf, and the characteristic, very flat achene. But the interesting 
feature was the presence of a perianth of four or five long slender 
bristles, in these specimens. Formerly, as herbarium material shows, 
these two species were very commonly separated by the presence or 
absence of bristles: plants with bristles being apparently referred 
without question to S. debilis and those without bristles, to S. Smithii. 
But it has been shown by Prof. Fernald that the distinguishing char- 
acters are to be found in the achene rather than the perianth, and that 
there is a form of S. Smithit with. bristles and one of S. debilis without 
bristles.! "Phe latter condition (of a variety differing from the species 
in the absence of bristles) is paralleled, as is well known, in several 
other Cyperaceae: Eleocharis palustris var. calva, E. Engelmanni var. 
detonsa, and the lately described E. intermedia var. Habereri. 
Our two sheets are from Clementon, Camden Co., New Jersey, 
and Middletown, New Castle Co., Delaware. Another specimen in 
the Herbarium of the Academy, from Milford, Del., represents the 
same form. <A few culms and achenes were removed and sent to Prof. 
Fernald and he has kindly verified their identification as S. Smithii var. 
setosus. Since this plant has been formerly known only from Maine, 
western Massachusetts and Illinois, our plants make a considerable 
southerly range extension. As Prof. Fernald suggests in his letter, 
from the scattered localities previously known, a natural expectation 
was that the variety would turn up probably throughout the range 
of the species. It is of interest to have, in part at least, shown this to 
be true. He further says: “In New England, varieties differing in the 
presence of absence of the perianth are usually — always so far as we 
found quite by themselves and not mixed with the 
have evidence 
other form." Our stations very probably represent this condition, 
but conclusive evidence, as of field-notes, is naturally lacking. The 
v e 
1 RHopona, III. 250 (1901). 
