1915] St. John,— An insular Variety of Solidago sempervirens — 27 
Goldenrod of the whole Atlantic shore down to Mexico. It is a form 
with small heads (3 lines long), approaching S. angustifolia of Elliott.” 
The interpretation that the plant of the Pacific coast is S. semper- 
virens has now become traditional,! but the descriptions of the plant 
seem to tally exactly with that of S. confinis Gray? This species is 
separated from S. sempervirens on the character, “rays small, not 
surpassing the disc flowers." In S. confinis as in S. sempervirens the 
cauline leaves are divergent, gradually diminishing upward, but the 
leaves of the former are much narrower, being linear or lance-linear 
in outline. In the discussion following the description of S. confinis 
Gray cites one of the records he had formerly given for S. semper- 
virens in California: “S. sempervirens, Gray, Bot. Calif. i. 319, as to 
coll. Palmer." "The other sheet cited by Gray in the Botany of 
California: “Solidago sempervirens L. Marsh, San Francisco, Cali- 
fornia, H. N. Bolander, 2249, 1866/7," seems to be typical of the 
plants since described as S. sempervirens in Behr's, Greene's, and 
Jepson's works. "This plant is also S. confinis. From this it appears 
that the presence of S. sempervirens on the Pacific coast of North 
America has yet to be demonstrated. 
Among the numerous names reduced by Gray ? to synonyms of S. 
sempervirens L. is S. azorica Hochst.* In its flower and fruit characters 
this plant of the Azores is inseparable from S. sempervirens L. but the 
cauline leaves, on the other hand, are strikingly different in outline. 
They are sessile, ovate or deltoid-lanceolate, broadest just above the 
base, and tapering gradually into the blunt, attenuate tip. This may 
be recognized as 
SOLIDAGO SEMPERVIRENS L., var. azorica (Hochst.), n. comb. S. 
azorica Hochst. in Seubert, Fl. Azorica, 31, t. X (1844). 
Contrasting with this the North American S. sempervirens has the 
cauline leaves linear to broadly lanceolate, widest near the middle 
and tapering equally to either end. 
1 Behr, Fl. Vicin. San Francisco, 85 (1888); Greene, Flora Franciscana, 373 (1897); 
and Jepson, Fl. W. and Middle Calif. 476 (1911). 
2 Gray, Syn. Fl. N. Am. i. pt. 2, 149 (1884). 
3 Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. xvi. 192 (1882). : 
4 Hochst. in Seub. Fl. Azorica, 31, t. x (1844). 
