the American Botanist 



VOL. XXIV. 



NOVEMBER 1918. 



No. 4. 



TJhrough the gray and sombre wood, 

 jfgainst the dusk or" fir and pine, 



jCast of their florai sisterhood 



TJhe hazel' s yellow btossoms shine. 



— Whittier. 



THE ARCTIC FLEABANE 



By Mrs. Blanche H. Soth. 



"V^WXY authorities refer these alpine daisies to Erigeron 

 •** ■*• uniflorus. When they grow in sterile soil in exposed 

 situations they are aptly described by the general characters of 

 that species — "low woolly, monocephalous, five leaved ; stems 

 pedunculiform at the summit" — but when they grow in shelt- 

 ered, moister places nearer timberline, they are longer stemmed, 

 larger flowered, lose much of their woolliness and have broader 

 leaves. This large form was called Erigeron leueotrielius by 

 Dr. Rydberg in the "Flora of Colorado". 



It is easy to collect every variation between the two ex- 

 tremes. Puzzled by my inability to separate them, I sent some 

 specimens to Dr. Rydberg asking his opinion of them. He re- 

 plied that Erigeron uniflorus is not found in the United States 

 at all, perhaps not on the continent, that it is a native of Green- 

 land, distinguished by its inrolled rays. He further said that 

 Erigeron leueotrielius had been named from some abnormally 

 large specimens of Erigeron simplex and that all my alpine 

 daisies of this type were of the latter species, as that name was 

 the proper one by reason of priority. 



Llfcfc 

 NEW YOK*. 

 60TANICAL 

 (iAkLtbA. 



