405 
in every direction, so as to produce an almost perfect spindle. So 
far as we can discover, there are no microscopic differences be- 
tween this form and the globose type, either in the spores or pe- 
ridial cells, both showing the same characters and the same varia- 
tions. The difference in the gall, however, is so marked and so 
constant, and the parasite on both pines is so common, that the 
Shape of the gall often serves as a ready means of identifying the 
trees at a glance. Occasionally larger trunks will be affected, and 
then the gall retains its typical elongate character instead of the 
rounded convex forms that appear on Pinus echinata in the South, 
and that we have seen on Pinus rigida as far north as Massachsetts. 
The occurrence of such marked macroscopic characters opens up 
an interesting question as to how much weight should attach to 
what may be called “ habit characters.” Shall they be disregarded, 
shall they be recognized as varietal differences, or shall they serve 
aS specific characters of equal weight with those which require a 
microscope to detect? We have provisionally adopted the first 
course in the present case. 
AUBURN, ALABAMA, July, 1896: 
Studies in the Botany of the southeastern United States—VII, 
By Joun K. SMALL. 
Rumex Lanetoisi n. sp. 
Perennial, glabrous, somewhat scurfy, dark green (when dry). 
Stem erect or ascending, 5—7 dm. tall, simple or with a few nearly 
€rect branches, more or less flexuous, at length strongly furrowed : 
leaves oblong or linear-oblong, 3-12 cm. long, acuminate or acutish, 
rose crenulate, slightly crisped, somewhat prominently nerved es- 
pecially beneath, narrowed into a petiole which is usually I or 2 
cm. long; ocreae very thin, early falling away ; panicle rather open, 
not leafy, 1-2 dm. long; racemes strongly ascending, 5-10 cm. 
long, usually interrupted; flowers about 2 mm. long, in dense 
whorls (in fruit); pedicels about 5 mm, long, articulated near the 
base, enlarged ‘towards the end; wings rather coriaceous, deltoid, 
4 mm. long, the sides rounded, the apex blunt, the surface promi- 
nently nerved, each bearing a papillose calosity 1 mm. broad and 
3 mm. long; achene ovoid, nearly 3 mm. long, abruptly contracted 
into a very short base, slightly acuminate at the apex, the faces 
dark red, the angles slightly paler and margined. 
