1917] Fernald,— Forms of American Gentians 151 
Attempts have been made to distinguish the American from the 
Old World plant by the more acute corolla-lobes and smaller seeds, 
but abundant specimens show these characters to fail and this was 
realized as early as 1862 by Engelmann when he wrote: “G. acuta is 
evidently but a form, a geographical variety of G. Amarella, as Dr. 
Hooker has indicated, and which is confirmed by our dwarf variety 
and other forms collected in Colorado....; the characters of acutish 
lobes of the corolla and small seeds do not hold good; Dr. Parry’s 
No. 307 has seeds as large as G. Amarella from Prussia, and several 
forms have quite obtuse lobes.” ! 
Nearly all authors have agreed that G. acuta and G. plebeja are 
identical and in view of this fact it is worthy of note that Chamisso 
himself did not publish G. plebeja. It was published by Bunge in 
1824 as “G. plebeja Chamisso in litteris”; but promptly, in 1826, 
Chamisso & Schlechtendal repudiated the species, placing it unequiv- 
ocally under G. Amarella and saying: “Huic speciei addinus Gentia- 
nam in herbosis insulae Unalaschka lectam olinque sub nomine 
G. plebejae a Chamissone cum amicis communicatam.” ? 
Although G. acuta does not differ even varietally from G. Amarella 
it is noteworthy that Michaux’s type material collected at Tadousac 
in eastern Quebec was not the common lilac-flowered form of the 
plant but a somewhat unusual form with the flowers creamy-white 
or yellowish, or, as described by Michaux “viridi-lutei.” This 
ochroleucous form is occasional about the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
sometimes occupying habitats by itself, sometimes with the more 
common lilac-flowered G. Amarella. It is a striking color-variation 
but, in view of the fact that the name G. acuta has been so generally 
used in the specific or varietal sense, it would be highly misleading 
to perpetuate the descriptive name acuta for a form which is char- 
acterized only by its yellowish flowers and not by any other differ- 
ences. This ochroleucous form may, therefore, be designated 
G. AMARELLA L., forma Michauxiana, n. nom. G. acuta Michx. 
Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 177 (1803), in the strict sense.— Corolla ochroleucous. 
G. QUINQUEFOLIA L., forma lutescens, n. f., lobis corollae ochro- 
leucis. 
Corolla-lobes ochroleucous.— Occasional in the range of the 
typical lilac-flowered form. As TYPE may be designated material in 
1 Engelm. Trans. St. Louis Acad. Sci. ii. 214 (1862). 
2 Cham. & Schl. Linnaea, i. 181 (1826). 
