1910] Bartlett, — Vernonia georgiana 171 
VERNONIA GEORGIANA, A NEW SPECIES RELATED TO 
V. OLIGOPHYLLA. l 
H. H. BARTLETT. 
BoraNisTS in the southeastern States must have often observed the 
close similarity which Elephantopus tomentosus bears to Vernonia 
oligophylla when both are in the rosette stage. Indeed, at the outset 
of my own collecting in Georgia, I failed to distinguish the two plants 
until I had seen both in flower. In the pine barrens of McDuffie 
County there are three species of Elephantopus, — E. carolinianus, 
with the leaves all ovate and all alike, E. nudatus with lanceolate leaves 
forming a basal rosette, and much reduced or bracteiform cauline 
leaves, and E. tomentosus with a basal rosette of ovate or oblong leaves 
and the stem usually scapiform. The close similarity of Vernonia 
oligophylla to Elephantopus tomentosus had struck me so forcibly that 
when I found a third kind of rosette in the pine barrens, with narrowly 
lanceolate, acute leaves, I passed it by as Elephantopus nudatus. Until 
last summer, I did not find this third rosette in flower, and then, to 
my surprise and pleasure, it proved to be a species of Vernonia, very 
closely allied to V. oligophylla. In its rosette of large basal leaves 
Vernonia oligophylla has heretofore been held unique among our iron- 
weeds. This character it holds in common with the newly discovered 
plant. 
On account of the well-known tendency of the Vernoniae to hybrid- 
ize, it occurred to me that I might have found a hybrid between V. 
oligophylla and some other species. The idea seemed the more 
plausible because one of my Vernoniae from the same region is thought 
by Dr. Gleason to be a hybrid between two such diverse species as V. 
noveboracensis and V. angustifolia. Vernonia angustifolia is some- 
times associated with Vernonia oligophylla, although as a general rule 
it grows in much drier soil. I was unable to see that there was any 
clear evidence of the problematic plant, described below as Vernonia 
georgiana, having had a hybrid origin from these two species. In 
Vernonia angustifolia the pappus is tawny, in V. oligophylla it is 
whitish. Ina hybrid we should expect the color character of the former 
species to be dominant, whereas in Vernonia georgiana the pappus is 
exactly the same as in V. oligophylla. 
