26 Rhodora [JANUARY 
L 
HL AN INSULAR VARIETY OF SOLIDAGO SEMPER- 
VIRENS. 
Hanorp Sr. JOHN. 
Our common Seaside Golden-rod, Solidago sempervirens, was de- 
scribed by Linnaeus in 1753.' His brief characterization applies 
well to the plant of our northern Atlantic coast, known by him to 
occur in Canada and New York. He mentioned the “corymbose- 
panicled flowers," and the “lanceolate, subfleshy, glabrous, but 
slightly scabrous-margined leaves." His sources of information were: 
Gron. virg. 97; Corn. canad. 168; Herm. flor. 20; Moris. hist. 3. 
p. 124. f. 7. t. 23. f. 15; Pluk. alm. 389. t. 235. f. 5. 
Of these the work of Jaques Cornut is the earliest and his descrip- 
tion and full-page plate are by far the clearest. As the greater part 
of the description by Linnaeus was drawn from Cornut, we can safely 
turn to this fuller definition for more points about the species which 
Linnaeus characterized under the new name sempervirens. 
Cornut's plate shows several sparsely branched stems arising from 
the rootstock. The radical leaves are wanting, the cauline are sub- 
sessile, lanceolate, tapering equally to either end and gradually 
diminishing in size to the base of or into the inflorescence, which is a 
loose panicle. 
If we turn to the dried specimens in the Gray Herbarium and that 
of the New England Botanical Club we find Solidago sempervirens 
well matching Cornut's plate from the shores of the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence and along the coast to New Jersey, and less commonly to 
Florida. Along the southern part of our coast, from New Jersey 
southward, S. sempervirens is usually displaced by S. stricta Ait. and 
its variety angustifolia (Ell.) Gray. 
In the Botany of California? Gray credits S. sempervirens to the 
Pacific coast, characterizing it in these words: “Leaves rather fleshy, 
lanceolate, entire, the uppermost reduced to subulate bracts of the 
virgate and rather dense panicle,.... Salt marshes near San 
Francisco, Bolander. Near the southern boundary, 60 miles east of 
San Diego, Palmer. Appears to be the same as the Salt-Marsh 
1 L. Sp. Pl. ii. 878 (1753). 
? Bot. Calif. i. 319 (1876). 
