100 Rhodora [May 



A CALCIPHILE VARIETY OF ANDROMEDA GLAUCO- 



PHYLLA. 



M. L. Fernald. 



The common Andromeda of eastern America, A. gloucophylla Link. 1 

 is characteristic of acid peat and inundated sphagnons hogs. So gen- 

 erally is this the case that, in 1910, when Professor Wiegand and the 



1 A. flttueophylla Link, Enum. IM. Hurt. Berol. pars. j. 394, was Hated ill tin; < ' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 < ' i ; 1 1 Inn 

 immediately after A. Polifolia with which Link obviously did not consider il identical. Link's 

 description was us follows: 



"3900. A. GLAUCOPHYLLA. Foliia tinearibus margine revolutia subius albidis, floribua 

 aggregatis terminalihus, pedunoulia corolla ovate parum majoribue, antheris versus apicem 



arislalis. A. polifolia Pursh am. i. 291. Differl a praeeedente cui similis pedunculoi inn 



magnitudine, qui in ilia duplo Longiorea corolla el ultra. Folia aubtua allia nee tomentosa. 

 Glandulae inter stamina." 



From lliis it would appear that Link was giving a specific name to .1 Pol (folia (i of Purs.li . 

 The latter plant, as Pursh 's treatment shows, was the earlier pulilislied 1. Pollfolia, a lalifolia 

 Ait. Hort. Kew. ii. OS (1789) from North America, as contrasted with his A. Polifolia p media, 

 the "Common Marsh Andromeda, or Wild Hosemnry" of Britain. As already shown by the 

 present writer in RhodORA, v. (57—71 (1903), the European Andromeda Polifolia differs in many 

 characters from the common American plant, A. Polifolia with us being an arctic and subarctic 

 species of very doubtful occiiirence along the northern borders of the United States. In addi- 

 tion to del'uute fruit-characters, the common American plant differs from the European in its 

 more glaucous new shoots and mature foliage, its shorter thicker pedicels (rarely twice as long 

 as the corolla; the pedicels of A. Polifolia being - 1 times as long as the corolla), in more spread- 

 ing whitish sepals, and in having the lower surfaces of the leaves very minutely tomeiilulose 

 (under a strong lens), not glabrous as in the European species. The writer has previously 

 identified the common American shrub with Link's A. tjlaurophylla; but recently Dr. J. h. 

 Small, asserting that A. ijlaurophylla is true A. Polifolia, has described the common American 

 plant as a new species, A . ninrsrens Small in IV A. Kl. xxix. pt. 1, (il (191 t). As hading charac- 

 ters of his new .s|x-cies, A. canrxcriis. Small recognizes the "pedicels once or twice as long as 

 the corolla or capsule" as opposed to A. Polifolia with "pedicels several limes as long as the 

 corolla or capsule" and calyx with "lobes . usually whitish and spreading" as opposed to A. 

 Polifolia with "lobes. . usually reddish or pale, anil ascending." 



In thus reducing Link's A. gloucophylla to A. Polifolia with very long pedicels and ascending 

 reddish calyx-lobes, it would seem that Dr. Small has laid emphasis upon only a minor point 

 in Link's description; for, us indicated by its most pronounced characters. Link was clearly 

 describing, as were Alton and Pursh lieforc him, the common American species recently re- 

 chrislencd 1. i-anesrcn.i. Thus, in his account Link very particularly emphasizes the short 

 peduncles, saying: "peduncles little longer than the ovale corolla." anil again "Differs from 

 the preceding I A. Polifolia] to which il is similar, in the length of the peduncles, which in that 

 [A. Polifolia] are twice as long as the corolla and more." Furthermore, in the description of A. 

 Polifolia a lalifolia Ait. or /3 lalifolia Pursh, the earlier published plant to which Link gave the 

 binomial A. ijlaiwophylla. both Alton and Pursh emphasized Ihe calyx-character which dis- 

 tinguishes Small's A. caricsrrns, both saying: "luciniis calycinis patenlibiis ovatis albis." The 

 contradictory, or possibly contradictory statement is Link's " Folia subius alba nee tomentosa." 

 If this comment contrasted A. qlaucophylla with the preceding species, it alone would indicate 

 Ihe possibility that Link's species is A. Polifolia; if , on the other hand, il was meant to contrast 

 A. Polifolia with A. ijlaiicnphylla there is no dilemma. In view of the short peduncles and the 

 spreading while calyx-lobes emphasized in the original descriptions of A. tjlaurophylla or of A. 

 Polifolia lalifolia Pursh (or a lalifolia Ait.) upon which it rests, there had appeared to the 



