﻿NOTES ON VAGNERA 



Vagnera stellata (L.) Morong 



The common woodland form, 3-4.5 dm. in height, bearing seven 

 to twelve leaves with a short, harsh pubescence on the veins on the 

 lower surface, becoming, with age, glabrate or smooth, at least to 

 the touch. 



Michigan: Ypsilanti, May 29, 1891, Farwell 1121; Parkedale 

 Farm, May 19, 1912, Farwell 2567; Rochester, June 28, 1914, 

 Farwell jdgg. 



This I take to be the typical form of the species. There is a 

 wide range in the size of the plant and leaves, in the pubescence, 

 and in the habitat of this species; the rhizome seems to vary in 

 size correspondingly; the fruit, while young, is green; but as it 

 approaches maturity it becomes purple on the angles; then inter- 

 mediate lines of a paler color appear; later it is finely lined or 

 spotted and ultimately becomes a ruby red as in V. racemosa 

 and the other species of the genus. Fruit, however, in this 

 species is a rarity; most of the flowers are sterile and drop from 

 their pedicels at an early stage as though the plant were of hybrid 

 origin ; if such is the case the parents probably are V. racemosa 

 and V. frifolia. 



Vagnera stellata mollis var. nov. 



Differs from the typical form of the species in having the leaves 

 densely and permanently velvety pubescent all over the lower 

 surface; in the more numerous leaves, six to fourteen, 1-5 cm. 

 wide and 3.5-20 cm. long; plant often larger, attaining a height 

 of nearly i m., but sometimes smaller and not exceeding 18 cm. 



Michigan: Parkedale Farm, May 30, June 11, and July 4, 

 1914, Farwell 3651, 366q}/2, syso}^; growing in muck lands, on 

 barren hilltops, and in Sphagnum, in the order named. South 

 Dakota: Black Hills, W. S. Rusby. 



The habitat of the variety is as variable as that of the typical 

 form. The plants growing in Sphagnum are the smallest but seem 

 to perfect fruit more readily than those in other situations; those 

 growing in rich muck in elder thickets are the largest and do not 

 perfect fruit at all ; the plant does not disdain the exposed tops 

 and sides of more or less barren hills but fruit is seldom seen in 

 such localities. With all its variableness, however, the soft vel- 

 vety pubescence of the plant remains constant. 



