62 Rhodora [APRIL 
heads with six or seven florets, a combination of characters appropri- 
ate to no other species than No. 1; and under @ the statement that 
the stem is obscurely purple and spotted, leaves parallel-ribbed and 
not cottony, flowers about 8, must also refer to No. 1. It is true the 
statement under 8 of leaves in 5’s is not appropriate to No. 1, which 
very rarely has 5 leaves in the whorl, and yet it could not refer to 
No. 2, for the number of florets is stated as only 8. Lamarck's 
description was drawn from a garden plant, and No. 1 might possibly 
have produced 5 leaves under cultivation. If greatest weight in 
determining the application of Lamarck's name is given to his de- 
scription, then the name E. verticillatum must be applied to our 
species No. 1. 
The oldest available name for the fourth species is apparently 
Michaux's E. falcatum. In his description the statement leaves 4- 
verticillate, oval-lanceolate, acuminate at each end and _ subfalcate, 
calyx 5-flowered, is most appropriate to No. 4. "The panicle is 
stated as multicorymbose, and the flowers white. "This species often 
has a very large panicle, and pale heads which are frequently nearly 
white in dense shade. 
The following is a key to the species and varieties discussed: 
a. Leaves ovate to ovate-lanceolate, abruptly contracted into the petiole, 
more or less 3-nerved: plant somewhat viscid, scabrous-puberulent, with 
a strong odor when fresh: stem finely purple-specked, not glaucous: 
inflorescence convex (leaves in 3’s or 4’s, very rarely in 2’s or 5’s: florets 
i WN a a O oy een o's oc eue cy yi eu besane nee 1. E. verticillatum. 
a. Leaves lanceolate to oval, tapering at the base, pinnately veined (except 
sometimes in the variety of No. 2): plant not viscid and not odorous. b 
b. Florets 9-15 (rarely 8-20): inflorescence or its divisions flat-topped: 
stem speckled if not obscured by too deep purple, not glaucous (leaves 
puberulent to glabrate beneath, in 4’s or 5’s, rarely in 3’s or 6’s: florets 
scarcely exserted). c. 
c. Leaves below the inflorescence, and bracts, inconspicuous. 
2. E. maculatum. 
c. Leaves surrounding the inflorescence, and bracts, large and conspicu- 
ous, much exceeding the inflorescence, often more or less 3-nerved. 
var. foliosum. 
b. Florets 5-7 (rarely 3-8): inflorescence convex: stems rarely speckled, 
more or less glaucous. d. 
d. Stems fistulose, purple, plainly glaucous: leaves in 4's to 6's, bluntly 
toothed, scabrous-puberulent beneath or glabrate: florets scarcely 
exserted: corolla 3.5-4.8 mm. long, very rarely longer. 
3. E. purpureum. 
d. Stems solid, green with purple nodes, faintly glaucous: leaves in 3's 
or 4's, very rarely in 2's or 5's, sharply toothed, villous-pubescent 
beneath or glabrate: florets much exserted: corollas 5.5-7.5 mm. 
long: heads paler than in the other species.......4. E. falcatum. 
1. E. vERTICILLATUM Lamarck, Encyc. ii. 405 (1786) « and 8. 
E. purpureum L. Sp. Pl. Ed. 1, ii. 838 (1753) as to synonomy under f, 
and as to description, but not as to synonomy under a, and not as 
