ititll 



roL /. May, isia jvo, 7. 



Notes on a Stachys from Southwestern Virginia. — ''Stachys palustris, L., 

 var. cordata, Gray (,S'. cordata, Eiddell, 1836. S. NuttalUi, Shnttlew., 1848.). — Stem 

 beset with spreading or reflexed bristly hairs; leaves hairy or snioothish, o/>Zoj!(/, 

 heart-shaped ut the narrowed base, a\\ more or less petioled ; calj'x-teetli sometimes 

 shorter. — Common southward and westward." Graifs Man., bth ad. p. 358. 



^^Stachys Nuttallu, Shuttlew. — Perennial, erect, liispid with rigid, spreading 

 or someAvhat reflexed hairs; leaves petioled, oral-elliptii: or siihobluny, narroiDed to- 

 ward the base, cordate, long-pilose on botli sides; floral ones bract form, scarcelj" 

 surpassing tlie calyxes; teeth of the campanulate, pubescent calyx short, mucron- 

 ate-acute; tube of tlie corolla much exserted. From the mountains of Tennessee 

 (Ruegel !) to Ohio (h. HooI<.I). S. sylvatica.'^utt. Allied \o S. sylvatica,\)nt t\\G: 

 leaves much narrower at base. Calyx in tlower scarcely 2 lines ; tube of the corolla 

 almost 4 lines long." DC. Prod. 12., p. 468. 



Dr. Riddell's i^lant I have not seen and have no access to his description. 



A Stachys collected near Wytheville, S. W. Va., and represented by a goodly 

 number of specimens received from my indefatigable friend, Mr. Howard Shriver, 

 seems to belong to the foregoing variety or species, but does not accord in all re- 

 spects, as will appear from the following notes : 



Leaves ample, broadly ovate or somewhat oblong-ocate, more or less acuminate, 

 rarely narrowed toward the cordate base, coarsely and unequally crenate, sparsely 

 covered on both sides with bristly hairs, on long petioles. 



Measurements of the leaves taken from 8 difterent specimens run thus: a. 

 Length of the lamina, including the acumination, 53'4 inches ; breadth at the widest 

 part, 31^; length of the petiole, 2}^. 6. 41^— 2)^—1 1^. e. ■^—2%—\y^. cZ. 4— 2)^— 

 1%. e.3K-2-l%. /.3-li^-li2^ rj.2}i-\%-^\%. h. :>Ai-\y^-%. 



In a single specimen onlj^ the lamina of the leaf is narrowed toward the base, 

 but even then, the outline is broadly ovate. 



Calyx campanulate, minutely pubescent, less than 2 lines long, with mucronate- 

 acute and short teeth, much shorter than observed in any forms of S. pahislris. L. or 

 S. sylvatica, L., to the latter of wliich it bears a strong genei'al resemblance; tube 

 of the corolla much exserted, narrow, 4 lines or more in length. 



The two chief characters given by Koch {Fl. Germ. '2, p. 491.), by which S. pa- 

 lustris is distinguished from ^S'. sylvatica, are 1. "not glandular-pilose above." and 

 2. "subterranean stolons clavate-thickened at the tips." The Wytiieville plants 

 lack glandular hairs, but how the underground stolons may be fashioned I do not 

 know, since none were sent. 



It is desirable that the botanists of tiie South and West sliouhl look up Dr. Rid- 

 dell's S. cordata, for it is only by the study of an abundance of material brought 

 together from every quarter that its claim to specific rank can be settled pro or con. 

 8. palustris, L. in the E. United States is an exceedingly variable species. Dr. 

 Gray's varieties aspera and glabra present numberless forms and pass into each 

 other by insensible gradations. But from all these Mr. Shriver's plants ditter in 

 their smaller flowers, short calyx-teeth, slender corolla-tubes, larger and broader 

 leaves and long petioles. — Prof. Thos. C. Porter. 



All communications addressed to John M. Coulter, Hanover, Ind. 

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