6s 
Vol. VI, No. 12.] BULLETIN OF THE ToRREY Botanical CLus. [New York, Dec., 1875, 
§ 66. Epiphegus Virginiana, Bart., Var. Rawana, Austin.— 
Differs as follows: Plant smaller, more slender, of a very pale 
almost pure white color throughout (very slightly tinged with 
yellow) becoming yellowish brown in herbarium; bracts a little 
longer and narrower, particularly the pair at the base of the calyx; 
pedicels longer (sometimes 4 inch or more long); calyx smaller and 
_ of a thinner texture, the teeth not keeled nor so broadly nerved ; 
corolla more numerously and finely nerved, of a much thinner 
and more lax texture, the upper lip about 5 nerved, its apex much 
more vaulted and less broadly (until flattened out, indistinctly) 
notched, longer than the lower lip, teeth of the lower lip about one 
half as long and less complicate-keeled ; stamens in pairs, barely 
didynamous, more exserted; stigma a little smaller; pod smaller; 
seeds a trifle narrower; the undeveloped corollas of the lower fertile 
flowers are much more narrowly conic; and it flowers two or three 
weeks earlier —On the roots of the Beech, on the east side of High 
Peak, Catskill Mountains, Sept. 9th, 1875, about a hundred plants, 
more or less. Ona three day’s tramp we saw not a single plant of 
the typical form. Rav and Austin, 
Eprrortar.—Mr. Austin is inclined to think his plant even 
more distinct than a mere variety. On the other hand, it appears 
to us merely a difference of form due mainly to premature and 
feebler development. We have found Epiphegus with the unopened 
flowers as early as the 19th of August and as far north as Hamilton 
Co., N. Y., and still more advanced in Morris Co., N. J., Sept. 1st. 
These earlier growths seem to us intermediate between Mr. 
Austin’s and the common form. 
Mr. Austin in his note speaks of an occasional malformation of 
the stamens, and we have found similar cases among our early 
flowering specimens. As the upper flowers seem to have lost their 
usefulness to the plant, we might expect them to show irregulari- 
ties as a sign of degeneration, and, moreover, as the species itself 
seems to be entirely self-fertilizing, it is in accordance with theory 
that it should at length produce feebler forms, such as the present 
subject. The noting these forms affords valuable material for 
testing the theory. There are a number of our native plants which 
produce flowers of two sorts, the more showy of which are for the 
most part sterile, but particularly adapted to keep the vigor of the 
race by an occasional intercrossing. The study of these plants 
and a comparison of the various degrees to which the disuse has 
extended would be an interesting contribution to science, 
Most plants have several modes of propagating themselves, 
two or more kinds of flowers, buds, rhizomes, etc., of which usually 
only one or two are used, But, if the reproductive energy is re- 
stricted in one direction, we generally find it expending itself in 
another. Thusa plant that spreads freely by its roots is sparing 
in blossoms, but may often be thrown into bloom by hindering the 
- growth of the roots. Epiphegus seems to present an extreme case. 
While the pollen of the closed (cleistogamic) flowers is extraordi- 
-narily precocious and effective, there seem to be almost insuperable — ie 
difficulties in the way of the fertilization of the open flowers. We 
