290 E. L. Greene versus Asa Gray. [ZOE 
plant, it may be said, cannot belong to //edecoma for the throat of 
the calyx is not bearded. * * * In the new genus Poliomintha 
‘Gray, the calyx still has the villous ring—this, none.’’ Dr. Gray . 
says ‘‘naked in the throat.”* Possibly Mr. Greene in spite of 
the unnecessary sneer about Dr. Kellogg leading the way, will 
admit that the latter’s testimony as to easily observable matters 
of fact coming under his eyes, is trustworthy. Dr, Gray’s state- 
ment is, of course, of no sort of consequence in the estimation of 
Mr. Greene, neither is that of the writer who examined the 
type two years ago in the Gray Herbarium at Harvard. 
Mr. Greene says, ‘‘A dozen years ago I found by the way- 
side in Berkeley a Cichoriacea new to me, and of which no 
account was given in the State Survey volumes or in any other 
American book,’”’ while as a matter of fact Crepis Cooper is 
given with its synonym in Bot. Calif. i, 436, published in 1876, 
and the full descriptions therein indicated are both in older 
American books. The only knowledge Mr. Greene has of these 
matters is evidently Dr. Gray’s own statement in the Synoptical 
Flora, for in his usual second-hand fashion he copies the incor- 
tect reference given there to the Pacific Railroad Reports. 
The concluding short paragraph of Mr. Greene’s article con- 
tains three distinct misstatements: (1.) Herniaria cinerea is 
not an ‘‘obscure weed,” but quite the contrary. (2.) It is not 
the only instance in which Mr. Greene has “‘ honored”! an old 
weed with a new name. He conveniently forgets Ranunculus 
Biolettii, Alsinella ciliata, various species of ‘‘ Tissa,”’ Lythrum 
adsurgens, Lythrum Sanfordi and Biolettia riparia though the last, 
to be sure, only immigrated from Texas. (3.) Mr. Greene may 
have ‘‘ worked upon the Californian Flora nearly as many yearsas 
Asa Gray did,’’ but if so he furnishes the world with its first 
example of a sucking botanist. Gray’s active work on our 
Western botany began with The Flora of North America, 1838, 
and ceased only with his death in 1888. Mr. Greene was born 
in 1843, and made his first Californian collection at Yreka in 1876,. 
where he was the minister of a small Episcopal congregation 
His incumbency lasted for but a few months, and he soon after 
*Bot. Calif. i, 595; Syn Fl. ii part i, 359. 
