264 The Ohio Naturalist [Vol. V, No. 3, 



NOTES FROM THE OHIO STATE HERBARIUM. II. 



H. A. Gleason. 



An Aroxia New To Ohio. Aronia atropurpurea was 

 described by Professor N. L. Britton in 1901 from Staten Island, 

 and credited with a range from Nova Scotia to Florida, which is 

 now extended west to this State. It is distinguished from 

 Aronia nigra by the tomentose lower surface of the leaves, and 

 from Aronia arbntifolia by the dark purple subglobose fruit. 

 Specim.ens of it are in the State Herbarium from the peat bog on 

 Cranberry Island in Buckeye Lake Licking County, where it was 

 also collected by Mr. J. F. Clevenger in October, 1904. The color 

 of the fruit is so much like that of Aronia nigra, with which it is 

 associated at Buckeye Lake, that the species may be easily 

 overlooked by collectors. 



Cassia Medsgeri Shafer. Everyone is familiar with the 

 common Senna, Cassia marilandica L., but few would have sus- 

 pected that the name covered two distinct species. Mr. J. A. 

 Shafer has just described * the species whose name precedes this 

 paragraph and which has been hitherto included with C. mar- 

 ilandica, and has shown for it a wide range from Pennsylvania 

 south to Georgia and west to Iowa, Kansas and Arkansas. His 

 descriptions, which are quite detailed, show a number of differ- 

 ences between the species, but one of them, easily distinguishable 

 at flowering time, is so prominent that attention may be called 

 to it here. The ovary of C. marilandica is densely pilose with 

 long gray hairs, which stand out at right angles, and give it an 

 apparent diameter of about 3 mm. In C. medsgeri the hairs are 

 sparse, much shorter, and ascending or appressed to the ovary. 

 This character alone is sufficient to separate the two species 

 immediately, and can be seen easily in herbarium specimens. 

 The pods of C. medsgeri are arcuately curved, and scarcelv 

 dehiscent; the seeds about 2 by 4 mm., while those of C. mari- 

 landica are about 4 by 5 mm. These dimensions are taken from 

 Mr. Shafer's article, as there are no specimens with mature pods 

 in the State Herbariimi. No Ohio localities are given in the list 

 by Mr. Shafer but an examination of C. marilandica in the State 

 Herbarium shows five sheets referable to the new species, from 

 Ottawa, Franklin, Washington, Stark and Monroe counties. 

 Unfortunately, none of the labels gives any information as to its 

 habitat, but according to Mr. Shafer it grows in dry gravelly 

 situations. 



'Torreya 4: 177, December, 1904. 



