19K)] Long, — Delphinium Consolida in America 175 



or in large part a natural sterile waste"; while Mr. Bissell says boldly 

 that lie does not know it as a good escape or persisting; and Mr. 

 I larger characterizes it as "a fugitive garden escape" which he has 

 seen only by roadsides. It would seem probable that the same general 

 opinion obtains in Connecticut as in the Philadelphia area. From the 

 Eastern Shore of Maryland — to turn in the opposite direction — Rev. 

 •I. P. Otis, while noting that a Delphinium has for several seasons 

 been apparently taking care of itself in a door yard and the adjoining 

 truck-patch in the village of Sharptown, writes that his observations 

 are in agreement with those of the Philadelphia botanists. May there 

 be added this last evidence — which almost exactly voices my own — 

 that of Mr. W. W. Eggleston: "My own personal experience with 

 J). Ajacis in the field is very limited, never having collected it more 

 than two or three times. It has always been as a chance seedling." 



If an opinion from the Philadelphia area may be taken as typical 

 for the eastern United States, it will be agreed that 1). Ajacis must be 

 recognized as one of the weaker elements of our flora. But whatever 

 its actual status it is to be recognized among our notable garden 

 escapes, though the fact of its thorough naturalization would seem to 

 be still open to some question. 



There are comparatively few statements in the more recent local 

 floras, even when the two species are distinguished, which can be 

 taken at their full value in searching for information on the frequence 

 of 1). Ajacis. The statement in The Plant Life of Maryland that I). 

 Ajacis is "infrequent" appears hopeful till it is balanced with I). 

 Consolida occurring "Throughout the state .... common." There 

 are so many general statements of state-wide frequence in this volume 

 that one cannot but suspect that tradition is in large measure respon- 

 sible rather than accurate observations. It is of interest to note that 

 in the Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Ferns of Connecticut, 

 where statements on distribution are commonly found so credible, 

 the species is reported as " Rare. Escaped from gardens into waste 

 land and fields," only four stations being noted, and it is said to be 

 " Adventive from Europe" rather than credited with the usual phrase, 

 "Naturalized from Europe." Mr. Norman Taylor's statement in his 

 Flora of the Vicinity of New York (which includes most of the Phila- 

 delphia area) — " An escape from cultivation throughout the range" — 

 is rather noncommittal as to the extent of naturalization shown by the 

 species, but it is to be strongly recommended as being less open to 

 criticism than the average opinion found in manuals and floras. 



