1918} | Long,—American Record of Scirpus mucronatus 43 
For a long time there has been in the collection of the Philadelphia 
Botanical Club a specimen collected by Charles E. Smith in 1864 
originally bearing the name “Scirpus mucronatus” and in a nearby 
corner of the label “fide Gray.” At some later time the word “ mucro- 
natus” had been heavily crossed through and “ debilis” written above. 
The locality, often so accurately designated by Smith is merely 
“(Del. Co.).” There is a single plant on the sheet of what appeared 
to be a rather immature, very ordinary-looking Scirpus debilis, with 
still erect involucral leaf. This specimen had failed to be definitely 
associated with the mucronatus record, in the absence of scepticism 
and especial interest. The copious notes often accompanying the 
C. E. Smith plants frequently bear critical comments by several 
botanists on the identity of the specimens, and often many changes 
of names. It was thus very easy to overlook this sheet on the pre- 
sumption that there had been a mere casual misidentification. 
Several years ago when a series of duplicates from the Aubrey H. 
Smith Herbarium was being obtained from the University of Penn- 
sylvania specimens were secured bearing the label data: “Scirpus 
mucronatus L., Rhoads Swamp, Marple, Del. Co.” There were a 
number of plants and loose culms, rather robust, and one almost 
6 dm. tall, but in no manner, upon casual examination, differing from 
well developed Scirpus debilis. With the examination of this material 
an interest — and a suspicion — arose. A glance into Keller and 
Brown showed that while Scirpus mucronatus was recorded from 
Rhoads’ Swamp on authority of Mr. Benjamin Smith, from exactly 
the same locality S. debilis was reported by Dr. Linnaeus Fussell! 
Although all manual and flofa references to this “Scirpus mucrona- 
tus” in Pennsylvania tacitly accepted it as a probable introduction 
from Europe, an interesting premonition of its true character is to be 
seen in an opinion originally voiced by Dr. Britton in his note, and 
no doubt suggested by C. E. Smith. “Mr. Smith has sent me the 
following note on the locality: ‘It is in a small patch of Sphagnum 
in a field, 300 feet above tide water’,” Dr. Britton quotes, and then 
says, “Mr. Martindale has it from the ballast grounds at Camden, 
but there seems no doubt that the Delaware County plant is a native.” 
The Porter Herbarium, with its wealth of Pennsylvania material, 
had only recently come to the Philadelphia Academy, and but little 
of it had yet been removed from the original covers and mounted. 
In the species cover of “Scirpus mucronatus” were found three sheets 
