86 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ter ; stalks hairy ; flowers blue, purple, or almost white ; woods, com- 

 mon East. II. acutiloba (sharp-lobed hepatica), wild from Vermont, 

 West, has pointed lobes to the leaves, sometimes five of them, and 

 paler flowers." 



We are not favored with the round-lobed hepatica in this vicinity, 

 and can not say from observation how bright its flowers might be in 

 the pure, clear atmosphere of this prairie-region ; but it is true that 

 the sharp-lobed species does not pale in comparison with the East- 

 ern flowers of the A. hepatica, unless my memory has faded in the 

 mean titne. The blue we get is deeper than can be caught from the 

 sky on our clearest April day. There remains little else upon which 

 to hang the species except the shape of the lobes of the leaves, and 

 this is exceedingly variable. Last spring a patch of a hundred blooms 

 or more grew close by the retreating edge of a snow-bank, only a few 

 feet from my window, and the little clusters of blossoms varied so much 

 among each other that an unobserving person would look the second 

 time to note the shades of color. The foliage in like manner varied, 

 and in some instances it seemed that there was evidence enough in 

 that one bed to overthrow the strongest belief in there being two 

 species of American hepaticas. I say we do not have more than one 

 species here, and that is largely due to the fact that it is easier for 

 us to put them all under A. acutiloba than to try and distinguish the 

 two. To say that the acute-lobed leaves are sometimes tive-lobed, 

 is no distinction. In the college herbarium is a specimen of the round- 

 est of the round-lobed from Michigan, with this same characteristic. 

 The greater number of sepals (seven to twelve) in the A. acutiloba, 

 there being six to nine in the other, has little weight, especially if we 

 examine the specimens of A. hepatica from Europe. In turning to 

 "The Manual," it is found that Dr. Gray, of course, comprehends the 

 situation, and adds the following " saving clause" at the close of the 

 description of II acutiloba : " Perhaps runs into the other." 



One further observation upon the hepatica, and then we will hasten 

 on to other and quickly following April flowers. One plant of the A. 

 acutiloba was found, the calyx of which was unusually small and dark 

 blue, while the involucre was larger than ordinary. A closer examina- 

 tion revealed that these flowers were pistillate, and only vestiges of 

 stamens could be found, and these in only two of the many flowers. 

 The pistils, thirty-five to fifty in each flower, were about double the 

 average number in ordinary blossoms. The plant seemed to be quite 

 generally " off the track." The involucre of one flower had a fourth 

 leaf (the ordinary number being three), which resembled a sepal in 

 form and bright color. One of the three green leaves of the same in- 

 volucre, instead of being of the normal entire form, was trilobed at the 

 tip, giving it a strong resemblance to a leaflet of the meadow-rues 

 (Thalietrian), an adjoining genus. Upon looking up this interesting 

 unisexual tendency in the hepatica, it was found that Dr. S. Calloni 



