158 Vail : Studies in the Asclepiadaceae 



Kansas: Fort Riley, E. E. Gayle ■>"/./, June 24, 1892 ; Man- 

 hattan, Riley County, IV. .1. Kelletman, 1890; Riley County, /. 

 B. Norton 762, 1896 (type, in the Herbarium of the New York 

 Botanical Garden.) 



A specimen labelled A. syriaca L. from Independence, Mo., 

 B. F. Busk J55, June, 1895, might be referred here, the leaf- 

 characters being clearly those of A. kansana, but the flowers are 

 in too poor condition to study. A specimen from Osborne 

 County, Kansas, C. L. Shear /jo, June 22, 1894, also labelled A. 

 syriaca L., without flowers, appears to belong here. 



Differing from Asclepias syriaca L. in its broader oblong-ovate 

 and oblong-elliptical leaves, in the erect-spreading hoods that are 

 narrower at the apex, and in the character and greater number of 

 the processes of the densely tomentose follicles. 



Asclepias syriaca L. from the Eastern States has longer, nar- 

 rower, more acute leaves, shorter, more rounded and erect corolla- 

 hoods and follicles that are much less tomentose and have fewer 

 and much shorter processes. (Plate 16, figures \a and \b ; 

 Plate 17, figure i, a-f.) 



Asclepias Bicknellii sp. nov. 



Stems erect, glabrous or strigilose in lines above, glaucous, 3 dm. 

 or more high : leaves opposite, short-petioled ; blades oblong or the 

 upper ones elliptical-oblong, 11 — 16 cm. long, 3.5—8 cm. wide, 

 acute at the apex, truncate or rounded or sometimes subcordate 

 at the base, glabrous or nearly so above, paler, glaucous and spar- 

 ingly strigilose beneath, undulate on the margins ; petioles 2—5 

 mm. long : umbels terminal and axillary ; peduncles 6—9 cm. 

 long, strigilose; pedicels slender, 2-2.5 cm - l° n g> strigose : 

 calyx-segments ovate-lanceolate, acute, glabrate ; corolla-segments 

 oblong, 7 mm. long, pale greenish, tinged with purple, glabrous ; 

 hoods erect, 4 mm. high, rounded and somewhat pendulous at the 

 saccate base, pale pink, crenately notched or undulate at the apex ; 

 horn falcate, flat, arising from the base of the hood, long-exserted 

 over the anthers: follicles not known. (Plate 19.) 



Van Cortlandt Park, New York City, collected by E. P. 

 Bicknell, June 25, 1895. Type in the Herbarium of Columbia 

 University (N. Y. Botanical Garden). 



A possible hybrid appearing to be intermediate between A. 

 syriaca L. and A. aiiipicxicau/is Smith or A. exaltata (L.) Muhl. 

 Named in honor of Mr. E. P. Bicknell. 



