1915| Blake,— New Form of Polygala polygama. 201 
Micaaux's plant from Quebec, which is E. canadensis; the Canby 
material from Quebec was presumably also E. canadensis, the common 
plant in the neighborhood of Quebec; but the St. John specimen, the 
first mentioned, therefore the type, and also the plant illustrated by 
Wettstein, is characteristic of the species here taken up as E. ameri- 
cana. 
E. americana, like E. canadensis and E. stricta, has the appearance 
of an introduced plant, being extremely weed-like and inhabiting 
fields, pastures, roadsides and other artificial habitats in the neighbor- 
hood! of civilization. The earliest collection seen by us was made by 
William Boott at St. John, New Brunswick, in 1873. Since then the 
spec es has been found in seemingly increasing abundance throughout 
the coastal districts of the Maritime Provinces, Newfoundland and 
Maine, closely following the progress of civilization into the interior 
of Newfoundland. In 1885, in making what seems to be the first 
clear record of the plant in Maine (though E. stricta may have been 
included), Redfield listed it among "recent introductions" (Bull. 
Torr. Bot. Cl. xii. 103) and in 1886 again wrote of it as “an intro- 
duced plant" (ibid. xin. 232). But in 1887, Lawson, noting the 
wide distribution in Nova Scotia of the plant, said: "I know of 
no reason for regarding our common Canadian form otherwise than 
as irdigenous" (Bull. Torr. Bot. Cl. xiv. 10) and at the same time 
(p. 12) Vroom, noting the plant about the ports of New Brunswick, 
said: “Though regarded here as a native, its being most frequent 
near the older settlements would seem to favor the opinion that it has 
been introduced." In publishing the species, Wettstein suggested 
the possibility of its being a modern derivative from the European 
E. nemorosa; but E. americana is at once distinguished by its larger 
flowers. Its affinity, it seems to us, is more with E. stricta, but 
ordinarily E. americana is readily separated from that species by the 
shorter spikes and more spreading bracts. From Æ. canadensis it is 
distinguished by its larger corollas with usually darker lines and its 
proportionally shorter spikes. 
A New Form or PoLyGALA POLYGAMA.— POLYGALA POLYGAMA 
Walt. forma obovata, n. forma. Folia caulina cuneate obovata 
supré. medium latissima apice obtusa vel rotundata interdum cuspidu- 
lata basi cuneate angustata sessilia glaberrima margine vix revoluta 
