BiCKNELL : Studies in Sisyrinciiium 497 



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gined and serrulate, mostly i mm. or more wide (.5-2 mm.): 

 spathcs erect, the mostly cuspidate-acuminate bracts striate with 

 delicate raised nerves, sli<;htly unequal or the outer one slenderly 

 prolonged for as much as 2 cm. when, as not infrequently occurs^ 

 the stem is simple ; interior scales brownish-tinged, becoming over 

 ' ' the length of the inner bract : flowers deep violct-bluc, often 

 numerous, 3-12, on nearly erect, slightly exserted pedicels 15-22 

 mm. long, which become somewhat spreading above in fruit ; peri- 

 anth 8-10 mm. long; stamincar column 4-5 mm. high, anthers 

 small, bright orange -yellow ; capsules dark and thick-walled, sub- 

 globose to obovoid, 3-5 mm. high : seeds black, globose, 1-1.5 mm. 

 in diameter, distinctly pitted and with a rather prominent umbilicus'. 

 In sand or sandy soil near the coast, Long Island to New 

 Jersey, flowering from June till Augu.st, the fruit sometimes per- 

 sisting: till October. 



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Day : Monmouth Co., Oct. 2, 1886, N. L. Britton. 

 ■ New York: Statcn Island, Todt Hill, June 12, 1887, and 

 TottcnviUe, Aug. 3, 1890, N. L. Britton ; Long Island, Southamp- 

 ton, June, 1898, W. N. Clute; Hempstead, June 30, 1899, .Miss 

 Fanny A. Mulford ; Sag Harbor, July 20, 1899, still in flower, N. 

 L. Britton ; Amagansett, Aug. 7, 1899, Miss E. Babcock. 



The specimens cited arc contained in tiie herbaria of Columbia 

 University and the New York Botanical Garden and in my private 

 collection. 



An interesting and unexpected addition to our eastern coast 

 flora, of very restricted range, so far as yet appears, but in ' all 



r 



to the New England coast.'' 



Jersey 



The species is a perfectly distinct one and though appearing 

 intervenient with .S. graniinoidcs and ^. Af/anticuni is in closer re- 

 lationship with a group of more southern species, including 5. 

 xcropJiylluin Greene and 5. rnfipcs, characterized by a dense 

 fibrous coating about the base of the tufts. In the possession of 

 this character 5. arcnicola differs 'notably from all other species of 

 the northern states except S. Fanvdlii, a very different species in 

 other respects. , 



On herbarium sheets specimens sometimes show fully as much 



* Mr. Bickncll writes, under the date of September 14, that he finds S. arenicoU 

 the common species on Nantucket Island. — Ed. 



