339 



I .1914, also by Messrs. Sutton, who obtained it from MM. Yilmorin, 



I Andneux & Co., of Paris. 



Since the above was written there has appeared in the American 

 Naturalist for March, 1919 (vol. liii.), a paper by Prof. Cockerell 

 on the Varieties of Helianthus tuberosus, in which he enumerates 

 and names six forms, all except the first having been grown b\ 

 him in Boulder, Colorado. 



f These are : (a) typicus, the plant figured by Colonna, as to 



which Prof. Cockerell remarks fc ' 1 have never seen a plant with 

 exactly this combination of characters." 



(b) nebrascenvis, a wild form from Nebraska, also very flori- 

 ferous, and with a pale brown skin. 



(c) Alexandria wild in Michigan; tubers white, with a very 

 I thin brownish skin. 



(d) purpurellus, sent out by the firm of Childs as "Pink 

 Helianthi," but without information as to its origin. Colour 

 deep pinkish-purple, as in var. purpureas. 



(e) fusiformis, the "Rose" variety of Messrs. Sutton. 



(f) alb us, of which the author says " We first got this,«u number 

 p of years ago, from Dreer of Philadelphia. Mr. L. Sutton telle 



me that his firm first offered it in 1915, having obtained it from 

 someone who said it had been sent him bv a friend in South 



» 



t 



? ? 



America. He believes it had not been grown in England before 

 this. Dreer had it much earlier in this country, having obtained 

 it from Mr. A. E. Coleman of Enonville, Ya. Mr. Coleman 

 states that he knows nothing of the origin of the variety. 



It will be noticed that 1915 (possibly a misprint) is twenty-four 

 years later than the true date of appearance of this variety in 

 Sutton's lists. "Unfortunately this mistake and the lack of a 

 definite date for Mr. Coleman's acquaintance with albus, leave 

 the relative priority of its introduction in England and in the 

 U.S.A. undecided. 

 } If Coleman had the plant earlier than 1889 it is probable that 



Pierce, who sold his stock to Suttons, must really have received 

 the tubers from the United States. 



(g) purpureus, received from Suttons as the variety long cul- 

 tivated in England. 



Of these forms (a) and (b) are much branched, floriferous forms : 



the rest are tall, less branched and more leafy, as they are known 



! to us in cultivation. Other distinctive characters are pointed out 



in Prof. Cockerell's paper. 



XXV.— "DIOSCOREA SATIVA." 



D. Pr.ain and I. H. Burkill. 



Considerable difficulty has from time to time been experienced 

 by systematic students" in deciding what should be the precise 

 ■ incidence of the name Dioscorea saliva, first proposed by Linnaeus 



in 1753 (Sp. PL ed. 1, p. 1033). The writers, in the course of a 

 revision of the Asiatic species of the genus on which they have 

 been engaged for a number of years, have had occasion to review 

 the position adopted by previous students of the genus with the 



b 2 



