Rydberg : Rocky Mountain flora 315 



as I received the New Manual was a curious coincidence. There 

 is scarcely a genus, in which I, from my standpoint, could pick out 

 so many flaws of treatment in the New Manual. This paper, 

 therefore, has become an adverse criticism of the New Manual ^j, 

 more so than I had intended or wished. 



The way in which the authors of the New Manual have deter- 

 mined what species should be regarded as good and which names 

 should be reduced to synonymy, is rather interesting. Many of 

 Dr. Greene's species and my own have been reduced, while others 

 of older authors and of Nelson's have been kept up. The uneven 

 treatment, as I have said before, is due in some cases to the fact 

 that the authors had not seen the types. Erigeron lapiJuteus A. 

 Nels. {E. yellowstonensis A. Nels.) is regarded as distinct from the 

 exceedingly close E. droehachensis, and E. trifidus from E. com- 

 positus; while E. jiicundus Greene is made a variety of the little 

 related E. acris L., E. nnillifidus Rydb. is made a synonym of 

 E. compositus, and E. flahellifoUus Rydb. one of E. trifidus. The 

 fact is that Erigeron multifidus Rydb. is much closer to E. trifidus 

 than to E. compositus and grades directly into it. The typical 

 E. compositus is rare and more distinct. I think, though, that 

 they are all three forms of one species, while E. flahellifoliiis has 

 nothing to do with either. It has a stoloniferous rootstock in- 

 stead of a cespitose caudex and the leaves do not at all suggest E. 

 trifidus but are more like those of Ranunculus Eschscholtzii in 

 outline. 



Erigeron conspicuus Rydb. is made a synonym of E. specio- 

 sus DC. In the herbarium of Columbia University there is 

 a duplicate of the type of E. speciosus DC, collected by Douglas. 

 In this the stem and leaves are perfectly glabrous except the 

 ciliate margins of the latter and the plant is closely related to E. 

 macranthus Nutt., perhaps not distinct. E. conspicuus Rydb. is 

 considerably hairy on both the stem and the leaves, and if reduced 

 should be included in E. subtrinervis Rydb. rather than in E. 

 speciosus. If the type of E. co7ispicuus were placed before a student 

 and he used the key of the New Manual, it would be named E. 

 subtrinervis. 



Both Erigeron salicinus Rydb. and E. platyphyUus Greene 

 are made synonyms of E. macranthus Nutt. While the first is 



