170 Rhodora [August 



And so through all the standard works, continuing into the First 

 Edition of Brit ton and Brown's Illustrated Flora, the several editions 

 of Britton's Manual, Small's Flora of flic Southeastern United Stairs, 

 Gray's New Manual, and many local floras, the right of Del phi n in in 

 ConsoHda to a place among our introduced plants stood unquestioned, 

 but in 1914 Dr. N. L. Britton in the new edition of the Illustrated Flora 

 published this concise statement: "Delphinium Consolida L., a 

 European species which has a glabrous style and capsule, is widely 

 recorded as naturalized in the eastern United States,. . .but all speci- 

 mens examined prove to be I). Ajacis" 



A sweeping statement like this, even though from such an authorita- 

 tive source, always leads one to examine critically the material within 

 his own reach, especially if it has not been a part basis of the original 

 observations. In the present case this was by no means in criticism 

 but for verification, in the regular work of endeavoring to keep some- 

 what abreast of the botanical times. 



The material in the Herbarium of the Academy of Natural Sciences 

 proved, upon the most casual examination, to be without exception 

 ]). Ajacis, Hut, to my surprise, in the collection of the Philadelphia 

 Botanical Club two sheets of quite authentic I). ConsoHda were found. 

 The Herbarium of the University of Pennsylvania — well known to 

 hold valuable material supporting old local records — was found to 

 contain two collections of true I). Consolida, one being a duplicate of 

 the material already .seen in the Philadelphia Botanical Club Herba- 

 rium, but the other representing a third and new locality. Search at 

 the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy revealed a fourth collection. 

 After considerable correspondence and much disappointment from 

 both large and small herbaria, a fifth American specimen was found 

 in the herbarium of Mr. E. P. Harger of ( onnecticut. 



Prom Mr. Harold St. John I have learned that there are no American 

 specimens of the discredited species in the Gray Herbarium. Through 

 the courtesy of Dr. J. M. Creenman the series at the Missouri Botani- 

 cal Garden has been sent me for examination and I have found it to 

 contain no authentic material of I). Consolida from America. Prom 

 the National Museum at Washington, Mr. Paul C. Standley has 

 written upon my inquiry that after careful examination of their mate- 

 rial he was unable to find a single sheet of the species from North 

 America. 



Mr. \Y. W. Eggleston, learning of my search for American D. Con- 



