267 



partially embraced by an adjoining section. Hence we come to 

 look for traces of character in one division that are more highly 

 developed in another next to it. 



In Compositae we have section Tubulifiorce " corolla tubular 

 and regular in all the hermaphrodite flowers," and section Lah'a- 

 tiJlonE "corollas of all or of only the hermaphrodite flowers bila- 

 biate. (Gray's Synoptical Flora, pp. 49, 50.) But if we examine 

 some genera of Tubulijiorcs carefully, we find abundant evidence 

 of irregularity, though in a light degree. 



In Hehopsis, Silphinm, and others, we find the irregularity 

 confined to a tendency of the pistil with the syngenesious anther, 

 to bend down and partially overlap one oi the lobes of the floret; 

 and in one species of the latter, Silphium perfoliatnm, the tendency 

 01 the floret itself to become bilabiate is quite marked. Two 

 iobes of the floret — and which may be called upper lobes — are 

 more distinct than the other three (lower ones), and the pistil 

 with its subtending column of anthers declines ov^er the central of 

 the three lower lobes, and which might almost be termed the lip. 

 Again in Helianthiis, though the florets are regular and the 



sexual organs retain a central position at the expansion of the 

 'obes, the pistil (in H. dorotiicoides), does not push up through 

 the center of the synthetic anthers, but bursts through the sides, 

 bending somewhat towards one of the lobes of the corolla, all 

 indicating a tendency towards irregularity. 



Similar illustrations might be given from other genera or 

 species of the tubulifloral section of Conipositse, showing that the 

 dividing line between it and the labiatal section is not as absolute 

 as we may have supposed. TlIOS. Mf.EIIAN. 



's the Amber-Colored Choke-Cherry entitled to a distinct Name?* 



In August, 1887, in the town of Dedham, Mass., there were 

 to be found growing on a gravelly hillside a small plantation oi 

 Pi'umts Virginiana; on the opposite side of the road one smaller 

 '^1 extent; about thirty feet on the road a /*w////^, differing in 

 many points. 



The color of the bark the same; limit of height of common 



*Specimens of the leaves were presented at the meeting of the Botanicnl Club 

 of the A. A. A. S., at Cleveland, August 17th, iSSS, with description. 



