﻿Vol. 42 



BULLETIN 



TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB 



MAY, 1915 

 Notes on the Michigan species of Polygon at urn* 



Much difficulty has been experienced, during the past few 

 years, in trying satisfactorily to place all our forms of Polygonatum, 

 known as Solomon's Seal, within the prescribed limits of the two 

 species accredited in our manuals to North America. There are a 

 number of characters which seem to be common to all. The stem 

 is finely many-striate, cylindrical and smooth when green but 

 channelled more or less deeply when dry; the leaves of all are 

 glaucous beneath and have minutely pubescent or papillose mar- 

 gins, the papillae of which range from 85 ix in P. cuneatum to 7 fi 

 in P. biflorum; they are indefinitely nerved, the smallest having not 

 less than fifty-five nerves, which can be definitely distinguished 

 by the unaided eye; and they are never acute but end in a short, 

 narrow or broad, very obtuse or rounded apex; the peduncles are 

 compressed, channelled on one side, and arching; the pedicels, 

 at least at the flowering season, are bracteate near their junction 

 with the peduncle; the perianth-lobes are deltoid, dark green, 

 and barbellate within; the filaments are partly adnate, partly 

 free; the anthers are sagittate; the fruits are black with a bluish 

 bloom, as in many species of Vacciniutn, and if collected before 

 maturity appear, in the dried specimens, to be indehiscent, but 

 at full maturity they are dehiscent, rupturing with the slightest 

 pressure; the bony, whitish or greenish white seeds are turgid, sub- 

 reniform, and smooth. The forms can be definitely separated into 

 * Contributions to the Botany of Michigan, No. 11. 

 [The Bulletin for April (42: 169-246. pi. 10, 11) was issued April 27, 1915-] 



247 



