Vol, 26 



No. 7 ^ 



BULLETIN 



OF THE 



rORREY BOTANICAL CLUB 



JULY 1899 



Studies In Sisyrinchium — III; S. angustlfoliiim and some related 



Species new and old, 



By Eugene P. Bicknell. 



The common Blue-eyed Grass of the eastern states, Sisynn- 

 chiion angnstifolium Miller, may be taken as representativ-e of a sec- 

 tion of the genus SisyruicJiium^ embracing those species having 

 simple leafless stems with terminal spathes. The group of species 

 so characterized, if not strictly a natural one, forms, nevertheless, a 

 Well-marked assemblage \\\ the jjenus wjiich it is alto^jether conve- 



t>"- "** -""^ t> 



nientto recognize. Nor is this subdivision entirely without natural 

 status, for, taking the genus in North America as a whole, the degree 

 01 branching shown by the different species \s seen to be correlated 

 to some extent with their distribution. Thus the simple-stemmed 

 species are, as a group, of more northern and alpine distribution 

 tnan those which develop pedunculate spathes from one or more 

 leaf-bearing nodes, while, on the other hand, the species having a 

 definitely compound system of branching are all distinctively 

 southern. 



Little inconvenience appears to have resulted from our imper- 

 fect knowledge of this particular group of Blue-eyed Grasses, for 

 long-established practice m the matter of identification has re- 

 ferred the simple-stemmed plants, one and all, to the species 5. 

 f^^^gustifoHum^ under whatc\'er name designated, A very inter- 

 esting series of distinct species has thus been overlooked. 



N 



[Issued 18 July.] (335) 



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