1916] Fernald, — Some Notes on Spartina 177 



credited to our area. I do not doubt but that many of the rarer intro- 

 ductions holding places in our manuals rest upon as little, or even less, 

 conclusive evidence than that given by Delphinium Consolida. One 

 need look no further than among the near allies to find some pertinent 

 cases — for example, Adonis autumnalis and Nigella Damascena. 

 Eranthis hyemalis, for long years holding a traditional but undisputed 

 place in our American flora because naturalized at Bartram's Garden, 

 Philadelphia and in Painters' Arboretum, near Media, Pennsylvania, 

 is distinctly not above suspicion. 



It is to be hoped that those who may feel that I). Consolida has not 

 been shown eligible to a place in our manuals will also feel constrained 

 to bring critical attention to bear upon the status of D. Ajacis. 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 



SOME NOTES ON SPARTINA. 



M. L. Fernald. 



In checking the species of Spartina in northeastern America the 

 writer has been surprised to note the recent treatments in the manuals 

 of eastern North America of the coarse smooth salt marsh species. 

 Hitchcock, in the 7th edition of Gray's Manual, following Merrill, 1 

 treats it as S. glabra Muhl., with vars. pilosa Merrill and aitcrniflora 

 (Loisel.) Merrill; while Nash, in the 2d edition of Britton & Brown's 

 Illustrated Flora, treats it as S. stricta (Ait.) Roth. In the 1st edition 

 of Britton & Brown, Nash, following Gray, 2 had treated the American 

 plants as S. stricta with two varieties, though he had added the lumi- 

 nous note, "Our plant does not appear to be satisfactorily identified 

 with the European," 3 ; but in the 2d edition, the varieties have been 

 omitted and with them the clarifying note, and all the American plants 

 reduced outright to the European S. stricta. Examination of the 

 European plant, however, shows S. stricta to differ from all the material 

 from eastern America not only in the very pilose lemmas emphasized 



i Merrill, U. S. Dept. A^ric. Bur. PI. bad, bull. no. 9, 8 (1902). 



2 Gray, Man. ed. 2, 552 (1856). 



a Nash in Britton & Brown, III. Fl. i. 177 (1896). 



