50 Rhodora [February 



ANCHUSA IN NEW ENGLAND. 



J. Francis Macbride. 



The genus Anchus a is not included in any of the floras covering New 

 England although it lias been known locally for twenty years. . I. 

 officinalis L. was collected by Prof. J. F. Collins at Providence, Rhode 



Island. July 2, 1895. On October S, 1S97, Mr. Sidney Harris secured 

 it on waste ground bordering the Fens, Boston; and September l'<>, 

 1899, Judge Churchill collected it on a "dump" at the beach at Fair- 

 field, Connecticut. These three collections were referred to l.i/copsis 

 arwnris I,., a plant which closely simulates, in aspect, .1. officinalis. 

 In RHODORA, hi. 214 (1901) Mr. Edward B. Chamberlain mentions 

 the specimen from Providence under its correct name, and in the same 

 publication [x. 154 (1908)], Mr. William P. Rich, in an entertaining 

 article on "City Botanizing," in which he bases his observations on 

 plants growing wild in Boston, records .1. officinalis as occurring "on 

 several gravelly banks in August and September." He indicates that 

 he mistook it for Lycopsis arvensit P., and is indebted to Dr. E. IP 

 Panics for the correct determination. The genera Anchusa and LjfOOp- 

 sis arc, indeed, very closely related and some of the more recent 

 European botanists have united them. Men who have treated the 

 group nionographically, however (and these include some of the 

 greater botanical students) without exception maintain both genera. 

 Anchusa as so far represented in America, at least, may be distin- 

 guished from Lycopris (in addition to the straight corolla) by the charac- 

 ter of a flat receptacle; the nutlets of /.. arrrnsis are attached to a, 

 more or less elevated gynobase. 



The following specimens, cited from the Gray Herbarium ((Jr.) 

 and the Herbarium of the New England Botanical Club (X. P.), 

 seem to indicate that the plant is locally well established, particularly 

 at Boston and at Fairfield, Connecticut. However, the fact that no 

 additional stations are given for its occurrence in "The Flowering 

 Plants and Perns of Connecticut" 329 (1910), would lead one to 

 believe that it is not inclined to spread rapidly, since, as observed 

 above, .Judge Churchill found it at Fairbanks as early as 1899. 

 MASSACHUSETTS: Back Bay region, Boston, Oct. S, L897, Sidney 

 Harris (X. P.) ; Sept. 15, 1901, IP. /'. Rich ((Jr.); June 23, 1903, 



