1920] St. John,—A teratological Aralia hispida 153 
normal leaves, each of the lowest being subtended by an abortive 
stamen. This flower illustrates phyllody of the perianth and median 
leafy and floral prolification. 
Another flower has its perianth green and leaf-like and the stamens 
similarly abnormal. From the center of the flower the axis is prolong- 
ed, bearing 4 mm. above a pair of opposite bracts, then 3 mm. above 
— these a proliferous flower having its perianth foliaceous and bearing on 
the disc a tuft of green leaves, most of which subtend an abortive sta- 
men. 
Still another flower had the perianth enlarged and foliaceous and 
within it the same type of abortive stamens. From the center of the 
flower the axis is prolonged and 7 mm. above bears normal involucral 
bracts subtending 7 rays. "These are about 4 mm. long and each bears 
a flower with a foliaceous perianth subtending abnormal stamens and 
on the center of the disc a tuft of green leaves. It is probable that 
dissection of more of the flowers would show still other types of ab- 
normality, but those already described illustrate sufficiently the ab- 
normal infloresence of this monstrosity in Aralia hispida. Nowhere 
does the plant show any sign of an injury that might have been the 
cause of such an abnormal development. 
Gray HERBARIUM. 
A NORTHEASTERN VARIETY OF PANICUM 
H. K. SVENSON. 
Fon several summers there has been found on the sandy shores of 
ponds in Plymouth County and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, a Panicum 
which seems to bridge the gap between the sections Dichotomiflora 
and Capillaria as these groups are treated in Hitchcock & Chase’s 
“North Amerian Species of Panicum.” Although showing un- 
doubted connection with P. dichotomiflorum Michx., it has the low, 
slender habit, diffuse ovoid panicles, and small, long-pedicelled spike- 
lets, that are characteristic of P. Tuckermanni Fernald! and P. Gatting- 
ert Nash. There is furthermore a tendency toward pubescence, al- 
though many specimens are glabrous. "Transitional forms show dis- 
tinctly the relation to the typical P. dichotomiflorum. Both P. Tuck- 
! Ruopona, XXI, 112 (1919). 
