BULLETIN 
TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB. 
Vol. XIV New York, May, 1887. (No. 5, 
Notes on the American Species of Marsilia. 
By L. M. UNDERWOOD AND O. F. Cook. 
The accumulation of a large amount of material in public and 
private herbaria permits a clearer view of the relations of the 
American species of this genus, and the need of a thorough re- 
vision is apparent. While the status of some of our species will 
depend upon the light given by further collections and the obser- 
vation of growing forms, it is thought desirable to place on record 
the results of a preliminary study of the specimens in the two 
herbaria most extensively consulted. Free access to the collec- 
_ tions at Cambridge and at Columbia College has made this study 
possible, and grateful acknowledgment is here rendered. 
The first species of J/arsilia discovered in America were 
M. vestita and M. polycarpa, described by Hooker and Greville 
in 1831. A. Braun described a third species, M. uncinata, in 
1839, and a fourth, JZ. mucronata, in Silliman’s Journal in 1847. 
Two other species were described in the same year by Dr. 
Engelmann, viz., JZ. tenutfolia and M. macropoda. In 1857 Feé 
described JZ. picta from Mexico, and in 1860 Dr. T. F. Allen 
discovered the European M/. guadrifolia in Connecticut. MV. 
Mexicana was described by A, Braun in 1870, making in all nine 
nominal species. These comprise all the forms represented 
in the two herbaria named. Two other species were described 
by Braun from the West Indies, but so far as we know they are 
not represented by specimens in any American collection, if 
indeed they represent valid species. Since 1870 many forms _ 
have been collected, notably in the Northwest and Southwest, so 
that some of the species are represented by very extensive suites. 
