92 



ing one opened bunch of rose-colored blossoms. To my surprise it 

 proved to be Rhododendron Rhodora^ Don. Further search brought 

 us two additional specimens, for it had barely begun to bloom. A 

 week later, the bushes were, no doubt, in their full glory. The por- 

 tion of the swamp on the left side of the road was first visited. On 

 the damp, shaded ground flourished profusely Anemone nemorosa, 

 Coptis trifolia, Polygala paucifolia, Aralia tr if alia and S^nilacina 

 bifolia, but no sign of what we sought could be detected. We then 

 returned to the edge of the swamp, and tried it on the right, or east 

 side of the road. Good fortune favored us, and in less than five 

 minutes we stood in the midst of an acre of Helonias bullata. It 

 grows underneath larch-trees {Larix Americana, Mx.) in soft, black 

 muck, and its chief associates are Clinionia borealis and Sa'rracenia 

 purpurea. ^ Here and there appeared a stout scape, about 2 feet high, 

 capped with its short spike of purplish flowers, and at its base clust- 

 ered the broadly ovate new leaves beside the oblanceolate and very 

 elongated old ones of last year. Such results from the exploration of 

 a hmited area during the brief space of an hour indicate that other 

 interesting species await discovery in that swamp. Mr. Butler, who 

 is a good amateur botanist, also informs me that in the same region 

 . there are several other bogs and swamps rich in floral treasures, in 

 one of which Calla palustris abounds. On our way back to Dover 



fnunts. 



j^ 



Easton, Pa. * Thomas C. Porter. 



§ 



While collect- 



ing specimens of the above species in the Burro Mountains, N. M., I 

 noticed a great difference in the flowers on two adjacent plants. In 

 one form the styles were exsert, and the stamens shorter than the 

 petals, while in the other the styles and petals were of about equal 

 length. Naturally, I at first thought this a case of dimorphism, but 

 the following observations convinced me of my error. The long- 

 styled form had broadly spatulate petals of a very bright scarlet-red 

 color, while in the other the petals were narrowly spatulate, and of a 

 darker purphsh-red, thus indicating a difference of variety. Although 

 the stigma is not exsert in both forms, yet by the contraction of 

 the withering corolla it shortly becomes so, the corolla dried 

 tightly around the style preventing all access of the pollen to its own 

 stigmas, which up to this time remain tightly closed and probably 

 impotent. The latter fact could not be certainly determined, owing 

 to a lack of material. The plant is very scarce in this immediate 

 vicinity, and when I again visited these few plants no flowers re- 

 mained. But I have no doubt that such is the case; for up to the time 

 of the inclusion of the anthers (should any pollen remain), the stigmas 

 are not only tightly closed, but hard, dry, and green, and in no case 

 could any pollen be found upon them. The stamens, moreover be- 

 fore the closing of the corolla, become limp and collapsed ' But 

 after this period the stigmas open, and pollen in abundance may be 

 found upon them. Now if, as apparent, this is an arrangement for 

 cross-fertihzation, which is equally effected in both the long and 

 short-styled forms, dimorphism is needless. 



