18 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OP 



Elbphantopps tomentosus, L. Common in open woodlands from Milford, 

 Delaware, southward. Sept., Oct. 



Pluchea bifrons, D.C. Borders of a mill-pond near Salisbury, Somerset 

 county, Md. Sept. 



Mentha aquatica, L. Shores of Nanticoke River near Seaford, Delaware. 

 Sept. Stems 3 to 4 feet long, decumbent, sending up erect flowering branches. 

 Probably naturalized. 



Myosotis versicolor, Pers. Naturalized near Wilmington, Delaware. 

 June. 



Heliotrophjm Curassavicpm, L. Shores of Chingoteague Bay. Doubtless 

 indigenous. 



Alnus maritima, Muhl. ! in Herb, et Plant. Amer. Sept., MSS., vol. i. 

 p. 193 ; Nutt., Sylva, vol. i. p. 34. Frequent in Sussex county, Delaware, 

 and southward in Maryland. Flowering in September ! Specimens of this 

 plant, consisting of small branches with leaves only, exist in the herbarium 

 of Muhlenberg. In the Academy's herbarium there are specimens, collected 

 by Dr. Pickering, with leaves and fruit. By last season's collections, the 

 anomaly of a fall-flowering alder is brought to light. So singular a departure 

 from the habit of the genus may well excite a doubt as to whether it is not 

 a mere sport, or the precocious blooming of an ordinarily spring-flowering 

 plant. Yet the observations made seem to preclude this idea. The plant 

 was noticed at several stations over a range of fifty miles, and in the begin- 

 ning of September was every where found in blossom. In going over much 

 the same ground about the middle of the month, the sterile catkins had all 

 fallen or withered ; and when again observed in the beginning of October, no 

 preparation for spring flowering could be seen, although on A. serrulata the 

 young catkins were already an inch long. Next season's observations will 

 probably decide the question. This shrub, or small tree, attains the height 

 of 16 to 18 feet, growing much like A. serrulata, but with a moie open habit, 

 and with the bark lighter colored. The leaves are smooth and glossy, on 

 longish petioles, not furrowed above, thick, and strongly veined beneath. 

 Sterile catkins resembling those of A. incana, but the scales more glutinous. 

 The glossy foliage and handsome sterile catkins (should they prove to be 

 regularly produced in the fall), would make this a desirable shrub in lawns, 

 &c 



Cephaloxys flabellata, Desv., (Juncus repens, Michx.) Low grounds 

 near Salisbury and Snow Hill, Md. Sept. 



Eleocharis simplex, Torr. Common in low grounds in Sussex county, Dela- 

 ware and in Maryland. 



Scirpus Canbyi, Gray, n. sp.* In a small stream and mill-pond east of Salis- 



* Dr. Gray has kindly furnished the following: 



"Scirpcs Canbyi, sp. nov. Culmo elato (3 5-pedali) folio praclongo eannliculato-triquetro 

 Btipato interne obtuse trigono superne triquetro apiee ininvolucrum monophyllum pseudo-umbel- 

 Um plurifloram longe superans desinente; umbella sossili dichotonio-composita; umbeUulis saepis- 

 sime biradiatis involueellatis, radiis omnibus elongatis plerisque monostachyis ; spicis oblongis ; 

 *quamis laxeimbricatis oblongo-ovatis acutiusculis dorso viridulis nervosis margiuibua late scari- 

 osis pallidis ; setis perigynii 6 patnntim barbellatis achenium obovato-triquetrum subito rostella- 

 tum paullo superantibus. 



" So distinct is this species that there is no other known to me with which it may be 



(.particularly compared, liy its mode of growth, triangular stem and erect one-leaved invo- 

 lucre, appearing like a continuation of the naked stem, it would have to be referred to 

 the section which contains S'. pungens. But the radical leaf is remarkably developed; the 

 greenish spikes (half an inch long) of a very different aspect, all on long and slender rays. 



which come off in pairs (the first pair closely sessile at the base of the involucre) from the 

 nodes of a zigzag rhachis, in the axil of a bract or involucel (the lowest of which resembles the 

 .nvblucraa leaf only on a smaller scale, the others more reduced and scarious), and mostly accoiu- 



[J 



an. 



