188 Rhodora [SEPTEMBER 
Gray Man. 604 (1848). Hystrix patula Moench Meth. 294 (1794); 
Hitche. in Gray Man. ed. 7, 170 (1908). Asprella Hystrix Willd. 
Enum. Pl. Hort. Berol. 132 (1809); Watson & Coulter in Gray Man. 
ed. 6, 674 (1890). Gymnostichum Hystrix Schreb. Beschr. Gräs. 
3:127, t. 47 (1810); Gray Man. ed. 2, 571 (1856); ed. 5, 639 
(1867). Hystrix Hystrix Millsp. Fl. W. Va. 474 (1892); Nash in 
Britt. Man. ed. 3, 158 (1907). 
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS. 
THE INLAND VARIETY OF SPIRAEA TOMENTOSA. 
M. L. FERNALD. 
In looking over a package of plants from Wisconsin I was recently 
impressed with the aspect of a specimen labeled Spiraea tomentosa L. 
In the almost simple and somewhat remote branches of its inflorescence 
it contrasted with the common form of the species in the Atlantic 
States, where the branches of the inflorescence are mostly compound, 
bearing the flowers often in small glomerules so closely crowded as to 
give the whole thyrsus a very dense appearance. Examination of all 
the material at hand showed that generally on the Coastal Plain and 
in the Atlantic States Spiraea tomentosa agrees in having the branches 
of the panicle densely flowered so that it is difficult to see distinctly 
the individual pedicels; while the material from the Appalachian 
Mountain system (West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina) 
as well as that from Wisconsin and Minnesota and a single sheet from 
southeastern Virginia agree in having the flowers less crowded so 
that the pedicels are distinctly visible and, though in very young 
material it is naturally difficult to make out this character, it is readily 
determined in all flowering and fruiting specimens. Another char- 
acter seems to accompany that of the inflorescence. In all the fruit- 
ing material from the Coastal Plain and from the lower levels of the 
coastal States the follicles are so densely lanate that only in old or 
weather-beaten specimens can the surfaces of the follicles be seen; 
but in all the fruiting specimens of the more inland plant, even 
in inflorescences with the lowest branches still in anthesis, the com- 
