1913] — Bicknell,— The Heather on Martha’s Vineyard 191 
Germany, Hungary and Iceland, the pubescent form appearing from 
England only. But it is to be noted that it is reported by Schur from 
Kronstadt (Enum. Pl. Transs. 447, 1866).— “Calluna vulgaris b. 
pubescens Koch. (Erica ciliaris Hudson [non L.]— Calluna ciliaris 
Schur, herb. Transs.)." Specimens of the glabrate plant from America 
in the same Herbaria are as follows: Massachusetts — Andover, 1861, 
ex herb. A. Gray; Tewksbury, 1874, Thos. Morong; Nantucket; Rhode 
Island — Worden's Pond, Sept., 1894, J. F. Kemp; New Jersey — near 
Hammondton, Aug., 1891, W. A. Stowell. That the glabrate plant is 
found also in Newfoundland is clearly shown by the figure in Journ. 
Bot. 4: 306, 1866, where the American heather was mistakenly pro- 
posed as distinct from the European under the name Calluna atlantica 
by Doctor Seemans. 
The only notably pubescent specimens seen from any place in 
America are from Nantucket. There the plant has held its pubescent 
character from the time of its introduction thirty-six years ago. The 
evidence is interesting. There is preserved in the Herbarium of 
Columbia University an old Nantucket specimen, ex herb. O. R. 
Willis, bearing on the label no date or record other than the name of 
the collector, Mrs. C. C. Pearson. Mr. Willis seems to have been the 
first to have reported this heather, and also of Erica Tetraliz from 
Nantucket. His note of announcement was published in the Bulle- 
tin of the Torrey Botanical Club for December, 1886, and records that 
the discovery of both species was made that same year by Mrs. 
Charlotte C. Pearson who had sent him specimens. This establishes 
beyond question the date and history of the Willis specimen. It is 
an excellent example of the pubescent form, and was from the same 
station where that form is found today. 
It would seem to follow that no connection is to be supposed be- | 
tween the introduction of this pubescent heather on Nantucket and 
that of the glabrate form on Martha’s Vineyard. There is even good 
reason for believing that the Calluna on Nantucket, even at the time 
of its earliest discovery there, must have come to the island from two 
differnt lines of approach, for both forms of the plant have been found 
there. A cluster that I came upon on the open plains in June, 1909, far 
away from the locality of the pubescent plant, was of the glabrate vari- 
ety. Mrs. Owen has told us (RHopora, 10: 173-179, 1908) that it has 
been sought to spread the heather on Nantucket by scattering seed 
and even by setting out young plants. The existence of this isolated 
