2 14 The Ohio Naturalist. [Vol. V, No. 1, 



A NEW SUNFLOWER FROM ILLINOIS. 



H. A. Gleason. 



Heliaxthus illixoensis. Erect, six to ten dm. high, from a 

 long running rootstock. Stem simple, slightly angled, densely vil- 

 lous below, pubescent above. Leaves six to eight pairs, strictly 

 opposite, slightly scabrous above, softly pubescent beneath and 

 villous on the veins, obtuse; the lowest four or five pairs oblong- 

 lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, three-nerved, entire, ten to fifteen 

 cm. long, tapering at the base into a villous winged petiole equalling 

 or but little shorter than the leaves ; the upper two or three pairs 

 much smaller or bractlike, petiole short or none. Lower internodes 

 five to eight cm. in length, or the two lowest pairs of leaves approx- 

 imate, upper internodes much longer. Inflorescence of one to seven 

 heads; peduncles three to ten cm. long; involucre broadly cam- 

 panulate or hemispherical, eight mm. high; scales lanceolate, 

 acuminate, ciliate. Disk flowers yellow, rays about tlrirteen, two 

 to three cm. long, bright yellow, achenes minutely pubescent. 

 Flowers in August. 



On the sand dunes along the Illinois river near Havana, where 

 it is common in the black-jack oak woods, especially along the 

 edges and in the more open and sunnv places. Material was 

 collected in 1903 and 1904, and the type, collected on August 17, 

 1904, is in the herbarium of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 



Heliantkus illinoensis is evidently closely related to HeliantJius 

 occidentalis Riddell, v/hichit resembles in the reduction in size of 

 the upper leaves. It is at once distinguished from the latter 

 species by the villous pubescence and the greater length of the 

 lower internodes. The two are sometimes associated in the 

 field, but in general appearance they are entirely distnict. Hcli- 

 anthus occidentalis has broad, scabrous, light-green, short-peti- 

 oled leaves which are nearly erect in a basal cluster, while in 

 Helianthus illinoensis they are darker green, more or less spread- 

 ing and scattered on the stem. 



SIX NUTATING PLANTS. 



John H. Schaffxer. 



The diurnal nutation of certain herbaceous plants during their 

 period of development has aroused interest for a long time. Allu- 

 sion is made to it by a number of poets and some of the older 

 reading books had quite accurate accounts of the nutation of the 

 Common Sunflower. The observation of such phenomena should 

 aid considerably in arousing the student's interest in plant life 

 and the subject offers an inviting field suitable for nature study. 



