﻿Bicknell: Ferns and flowering plants of Nantucket 33 



pointed out and that would seem to give it adequate standing as 

 a species. It is found also on Martha's Vineyard and apparently, 

 also, on Long Island, not always, however, perfectly maintaining 

 the characters of its typical form, and certain rather dubious 

 examples undoubtedly raise the question whether it may not be 

 intergradient with Bartonia paniculata. In certain of its forms 

 having the pedicellate branches opposite or nearly so it has so 

 much the aspect of B. virginica that it might easily be mistaken 

 for that species, but it is always to be distinguished from it by 

 much smaller anthers and distinctly two-lobed instead of entire 

 stigma. In B. virginica the mucronulate anthers are 0.75-1 mm. 

 long, and the stigma is closely united to the apex; in B. iodandra 

 the obtuse anthers are only 0.5 mm. or less in length and the stigma 

 is bifid or cleft into two evident or even divergent lobes. The 

 anthers of B. paniculata are similar to those of B. iodandra, 

 perhaps slightly larger, but the lobes of the stigma, in the speci- 

 mens at hand, are more contiguous and the stigma itself thicker 

 and more depressed. In its most distinct form B. iodandra is a 

 smaller plant than B. paniculata, of stricter habit and simpler 

 inflorescence, the pedicels shorter and straighter and frequently 

 opposite or nearly so; it differs also by larger flowers (4-6 mm. 

 long) and capsules that are oblong rather than ovoid and bear 

 stigmas that are longer and more distinctly two-lobed. It is 

 quite possible, however, that the form of the capsule and of 

 the stigma varies considerably with the degree of maturity as is the 

 case with B. virginica. The corolla is commonly of membranous 

 texture, sometimes almost translucent, and a correlated thinness 

 of tissue is seen in the calyx lobes which tend to spread or recurve 

 at the tip. In B. paniculata there is usually little evidence of the 

 purplish coloration that so readily invades the tissues of B. 

 iodandra, coloring the stems and often, but not always, the mature 

 corolla, and, in the anthers sometimes intensifying into a deep 

 maroon shade. But this coloring is not a constant character. The 

 anthers may be either clear yellow with purple filaments or deep 

 purple with the filaments yellowish. In B. paniculata the fila- 

 ments are often faintly purplish and, rarely, the anthers and even 

 the corolla may show a perceptible purplish tinge. 



