Morris: North American Plantaginaceae 113 



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proliferous specimen of P. aristata referred to above has the fol- 

 lowing unusual characters: Just below the middle of the central 

 peduncle is a group of three bracts developed into leaves, the long- 

 est 96 mm. in length, in the axils of which instead of flowers are 

 three peduncles bearing two many-flowered and one several-flow- 



* 



ered spikes. These spikes are like the others on the plant except 

 in the shorter bracts. Above this group, below the base of the 

 terminal spike, are several scattered foliaceous bracts, the longest 

 65 mm. by 3 mm., each bearing in its axil a normal flower. A 

 similar specimen, though less markedly proliferous, is in the her- 

 barium of the New York Botanical Garden. It was collected at 

 Brookings, South Dakota. Another nearly like the first is Pol- 

 lard & Maxon's no. 60, from Alabama, 1900, in the U. S. Na- 

 tional Herbarium. 



Plant ago ai-istata Nuttallii (Rapin) Morris is regarded by Dr. 

 N. L. Britton to be a clear case of nanism. My own observations 

 of this subspecies in New Jersey, in July, 1900, suggest the possi- 

 bility of such being the correct position of these plants. 



In the preceding paper, for the sake of uniformity, I described 

 with others the species P. spinniosa Dene., Purshii R. & S., and 

 erecta Morris. Though, as then understood, these species were 

 plainly aggregate, judged by the material used from the various 

 herbaria, it did not seem wise to segregate them till further study 

 was made and a more accurate knowledge of the types was gotten, 

 the greatest diversity occurs in the forms referred to P. spinniosa 

 Dene., because of the least differentiation of characters in the older 

 descriptions and having no plates at hand for reference. Speci- 

 mens sent me for study from several collections, possibly referable 

 to P. spinniosa Dene., so far as American records of the type 

 could suggest, were so distinct from each other that knowledge of 

 the type became necessary. This was gained, on inquiry, from 



th 



M 



H 



(represented in Plate 12) of Decaisne's type, together with a 

 Dr act and flower from the type. This photograph and the bract 

 and flower evidently are not fully representative of the plants 

 American authorities have called spinniosa, because they are too 

 young to have ripened the pyxes and thereby swell the calyx to 



