01 



lu till" lal(M- iiiiiMii;ils (Cray and Itiittoii and I'.rowii) no varieties 

 of Hydrumjca arhorescciis L. are recognized. In botli tlie sixth and 

 seventli editions of Gray's Manual reference is made in tlie des- 

 cription of H. arhorescciis L. to the rare occnrrancc of radiant 

 flowers tlius : "flowers often all fertile, rarely all radiant, like 

 the Garden Hydrangea." In the seventh edition the expression, 

 "lilie the Garden Hydrangea", is omitted. 



In Britton and Brown's Illustrated Flora (2nd edition) we find: "marg- 

 inal sterile flowers usually few or none, but sometimes numerous, or form- 

 ing the entire inflorescence." 



In Bailey's Encyclopedia of Horticulture (Vol. 3. p. 1022, 1015.) three 

 varieties of //. arhorcsccns are listed as follows : "Var. cordata, Torr. and 

 Gray, has the leaves broadly ovate and cordate. Var. sterilis, Torr. and 

 Gray. A form with all the flowers sterile, sepals broadly oval, rounded or 

 mucronate at the apex; leaves oval to oblong ovate, rounded or abruptly 

 contracted at the base. It is doubtful whether this form is still in cultiva- 

 tion. Var. grandiflora, Rehd. A foi-m of variety cordata with all the flow- 

 ers sterile : heads 5-7 inches across ; flowers %-inch across with ovate acute 

 sepals; leaves ovate to ovate-elliptic; cordate or rounded at the base." 



From the foregoing it is clear that Bailey regards var. grandiflora Rehdei 

 as a form of var. cordata Torr. and Gray, and expresses doubt as to whether 

 var. stcrili.s Torr. and Gray is still in cultivation. He does not state when 

 and where this variety had been in cultivation, nor are we told how var. 

 grandiflora originated from var. cordata. Torrey and Gray (1. c. p. 591.) 

 make no reference to the flowers being even occasionally all sterile in var. 

 cordata. 



The following remarks pertain to the wild specimens in the woods and to 

 those transplanted to the lawn as stated in the foregoing, and not to plants 

 propagated from those and subjected to cultivation. The native plants of 

 //. arhorcscens L. growing in this vicinity agree with the descriptions in the 

 manuals with the exceptions of the leaves. In Gray's manual the leaves 

 are described as ovate, rarely heartshaped. while Britton and Brown refer 

 to them as rounded, cordate, or rarely broadly cimeate at the base. In 

 Torrey and Gray, the leaves are ovate or cordate, mostly acuminate, ser- 

 rately toothed, puberulent or nearly glabrous. 



In the plants observed by myself the leaves were generally heartshaped, 

 although there may be a wide variation in different plants and upon differ- 

 ent stems of the same clump. These gradations range from a broad, deeply 

 cordate, truncate, to rounded and narrowly tapering bases. The smaller 

 leaves near the inflorescence are frequently narrow with narrow tapering 

 bases. 



Variety sterilis possesses the same stem and leaf characters as the fertile 

 sijecies. The flowers, however, are all radiant, snowy-white, from li/^-3 

 cm. in diameter, very much larger in cultivated specimens ; sepals broadly 

 oval, rounded or obovate, somewhat pointed or rounded at the apex, but not 

 mucronate ; in most of the flowers stamens and pistil present, the latter 



