x 
1915] — St. John, — Rumex persicarioides and its Allies 77 
as Rumex maritimus, var. fueginus, a plant described from Kentucky 
by Michaux ! as R. crispatulus. This is depicted as “with the lower 
leaves oval, the upper lanceolate, all crisped on the margin, undulate; 
the inflorescence leafless; the fruiting calyx with obtuse cordate 
valves, tufted on either side, tridentate, one valve naked, the other 
two unequ lly grain bearing." Trelease comments that this “is the 
form [of R. persicarioides] with broadest most wavy leaves, more naked 
inflorescence, and larger valves, only two of them bearing unequal 
'allosities; but a study of the many forms growing intermingled about 
St. Louis, has not shown the wisdom of maintaining it even as a 
variety." Prof. Fernald has examined the type of Rumex crispatulus 
in the Michaux Herbarium and has noted that this specimen is R. 
obtusifolius L. The oval leaves, the leafless inflorescence, the unequal 
'allosities, and the locality, Kentucky, far distant from the known 
range of Rumex maritimus var. fueginus, all make this disposition of 
‘ 
» t 
Michaux’s species quite satisfactory. 
At first thought, the distribution of Rumex maritimus, var. fueginus 
seems to be very peculiar, growing as it does from the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence south to Rhode Island,? and from the southern end of Lake 
Michigan northwestward to British Columbia and southwestward 
to Lower California, and reappearing on the southern tip of South 
America,’ in eastern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. My search for 
specimens or trustworthy records of the plant from Mexico proper, 
Central America, and the northern part of South America has been in 
vain. 
The great similarity between the floras of the southern tip of South 
America and parts of North America has been known for a long time. 
As early as 1881 Gray and Hooker * pointed out the identity of the 
genera and in many cases the species growing in these widely separated 
areas. 
The traditional explanation of this wide disruption of similar floras 
1 Michx. Flor. Bor. Am. i. 217 (1803). 
2 The records of this plant from the southern Atlantic coast, as well as of R. persi- 
carioides, which has so often been confused with it, seem to be very doubtful. No 
specimens have been seen from further south than Block Island, off the entrance to 
Narragansett Bay. For comments see Stone, Plants of Southern New Jersey, 421 
(1911). Specimens of the European R. maritimus are occasionally found on the ballast 
lands near the large ports of our southern Atlantic coast. 
3 See W. J. Hooker, Flor. Bor. Am. ii. 130 (1838). 
1 A. Gray & J. D. Hooker, Vegetation of the Rocky Mountain Region; Bull. U. S. 
Geog. Surv. vi. no. i (1881). 
