24 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



less paniculate and leafy; the brandies arising from tlie 

 axils of leaves, bearing scattered sessile flowers." In 

 Sedastrum Hemsleyanum the inflorescence is described 

 as an ''elongated panicle." But the key to the genera 

 ]:)laces both under the division — "flowers terminal, ar- 

 ranged in one-sided racemes or cymes. ' ' Farther down in 

 the key Sedastrum is placed in a division, — "Flowers 

 never arranged in panicles." The inflorescence of Se- 

 dastrum Hemsleyanum Eose, and of Sedastrum ehracte- 

 atum (M. & S.) Eose, is, in fact, paniculate, but the ulti- 

 mate branches are secund spikes — not "scattered." The 

 "sessile" character given for the flower might exclude 

 our species from the genus Sedastrum were it not for 

 the fact that one species, S. ehracteatum (M. & S.) Eose 

 is described as having flowers "sessile, or short-pedi- 

 celled," a character also attributed to some species of 

 Sedum. In the key to the genera the Sedastrum group 

 is separated from the Sedum group by the former hav- 

 ing "carpels erect," the latter having "carpels usually 

 spreading." But for the fact that many species of ^S'e- 

 dum. have erect carpels our plant might fall with Sedas- 

 trum. A comparison of the characters given for the two 

 genera in the above cited monograph would indicate 

 there is no one distinct character separating them. The 

 "basal rosettes of leaves" ascribed to Sedastrum are 

 found in Sedum as well, and "the stem * * * dying 

 down to the base after flowering" is not borne out by 

 Sedastrum Hemsleyammi Eose, in which the lower por- 

 tion commonly remains healthy and produces rosettes in 

 the leaf axils which may or may not produce roots, de- 

 ]:)ending on whether or not the stem is recumbent, but 

 ultimately produce branches. But this character is to 

 be observed in Sedum as well. Consideration of the 

 floral characters shows no distinction between the genera. 

 The "inflorescence more or less paniculate and leafy," 

 while not agreeing with a large per cent of the species 

 of Sedum can, nevertheless, scarcely be considered a dis- 

 tinct character, since many recognized species of Sedum 



