﻿OSTENFELD: RUPPIA ANOMALA SP. NOV. 661 



in a very remote place in the genus, and even in the whole family 

 of Potomogetonaceae, of which one of the main characters is the 

 distinct and free carpels. 



As I have not collected the plant myself, I do not know if the 

 conditions of life are in any regard peculiar; it may be that a closer 

 study of the plant in its natural environment will elucidate the 

 mystery which always seems to lie behind such a case where a plant 

 being Hke a common species in most respects differs in one essential 

 point. This new species of Ruppia has an analogue in the famous 

 Capsella Heegeri Solms,* which only differs from the common 

 Capsella Bursa-pastoris L, in the shape of the fruit, a character 

 which would remove it from the genus Capsella and from the 

 group of genera to which Capsella belongs, if purely formal reason- 

 It is possible that Ruppia anomala has sprung from R. maritima 

 in a similar manner to that supposed to have been the case when 

 Capsella Heegeri was found on the drill-ground at Landau in 

 Germany. It is to be hoped that some botanist will be able to 

 visit Lake Guanica and study the Ruppia in a more thorough 

 manner than I have been able to do. Perhaps he will clear up the 

 matter; at present we have only to consider it a new and aberrant 

 species. 



Notes 

 After the manuscript of this article was sent to America for 

 publication, Dr. N. L. Britton informed me that he had visited Lake 

 Guanica again this year and had collected a Ruppia which he was 

 sending me for examination. When this material arrived it was at 

 once evident that we had to do with the widespread Ruppia mari- 

 tima. The specimens were in flower and fruit and showed elon- 

 gated, partly coiled peduncles and free and long-stipitate drupelets, 

 i.e., they werequite typical R. maritima, non^ exhibiting the peculiar 

 characteristics of the plant described above. As to the collecting 

 place Dr. Britton said, "the Ruppia came from the same shore of 

 Lake Guanica that the other aquatic plant was obtained from. I 

 cannot say that it was at exactly the same spot, but it must have 

 been within one or two hundred meters." This is a very interesting 



* Solms-Laubach, H. Graf zu. Cruciferenstudien I. Capsella Heegeri Solms, eine 



