38 The Ottawa Naturalist. [May 



to the Atlantic in the British provinces, has been recorded in 

 Professor Macoun's Catalogue of Canadian plants, and it shows a 

 similar wide range in the United States, even as far south as 

 from California to the coasts of P'lorida. But it does seem strange 

 that we actually know so little about this plant in America, and 

 that no one has, so far, attempted to illustrate the species as it 

 occurs in the north and south, east and west, in cultivated 

 grounds, in woods, thickets, etc., instead of being contented 

 with the idea that it is always the same introduced " common 

 Chickweed." 



In Europe the plant is known much better. Already Linnaeus 

 distinguished between " pentstemon " and, "decastemon" as two 

 forms of the species, both of which were then figured in Flora 

 Danica by M. Vahl and O. F. Mueller (1769-70) ; the locality for 

 "pentstemon" is given as everywhere in cultivated grounds, 

 while the other is said to be frequent in springy places, A corres- 

 ponding variation in the number of stamens from 3 to 10 is, 

 furthermore, recorded by Lightfoot^ and Rafn." Meanwhile 

 Father Bernardinus of Ucria'^ described an apetalous Stellaria, 

 which he consequently named S. apeiala, and which in many 

 respects looks like a depauperate or abnormal form of our Chick- 

 weed. This is the plant which Dumortier^ described as Alsine 

 pallida and Jordan^ as Stellaria borceana, and which Pir^" finally 

 figured under the name S. pallida. " Pentstemon," " De- 

 castemon " and " apetala " thus signify two distinct plants of 

 which the two first were at that time supposed to represent 

 Stellaria 7nedia, while " apetala" was a species distinct from this. 

 However, some years later we find the Linnaean form "decastemon" 

 elevated to specific rank as Stellaria neglecta Whe.,'' a suggestion 



^ Lightfoot, John. Flora Scotica. 1777, p. 172. 



^ Rafn, C. G. Danmarks og- Holsteens Flora, iSoo, p. 381. 



^ Father Bernardinus of Ucria. Planta; ad Liiina?Hnum opus addenda; 

 et secundum Linnaei systema noviter descriptJE. " Rcemer's Archiv fiir die 

 Botanik," Vol. I, 1796, p. 68. 



^ Dumoriier B. Prodronuis floras Belgica;, 1827, p. 109. 



^ Jordan, A. Pug-illus plantarum novarum, 1S52, p. 33. 



^ Pir^, Louis. Notice sur V Alsine pallidn Dmtr. " Bull, de la soc. 

 Roy. de Botanique de Belgfique," Vol. 2, 1863, p. 43. 



' Weihe in " Bluff et Fingerhuth : Compendium flora; Germanize, " 1825, 

 Vol. I, p. 560. 



