ROBINSON: POLYCODIUM 557 
be very greatly reduced although sometimes differing considerably 
within the same inflorescence. P. oliganthum approaches the 
former condition but seems to have been referred correctly to the 
P. floridanum group. The linking material affords some justifica- 
tion for the view that specific lines should not be drawn on this 
character, but the corolla in the group thus separated is always 
smaller, one half to one third of the length of that of the remaining 
species, and it seems preferable to consider it as distinct and as 
forming a single species only. Its range is from South Carolina 
to Florida, all of the types of the species proposed having come 
from the latter state. If this view be accepted, there seems no 
reason why its name should not be Polycodium floridanum (Nutt.) 
Greene. 
From the remainder it is exceedingly easy to separate Poly- 
codium neglectum Small by means of its glabrous branchlets and 
leaves. These characters hold definitely for large series of collec- 
tions, but there seem no others correlated with them, and the 
plants often grow side by side with those of P. stamineum. It is, 
therefore, a matter of opinion as to whether the two should be 
held distinct. | 
Polycodium melanocarpum was described by Mohr* as Vac- 
cinium stamineum melanocarpum without a definite type specified. 
It was raised to specific rank by Kearney,} who expressly stated 
that his own collections were not typical. Mohr, subsequently 
discussing it as a species, gives as the type locality “Mountain 
region of Alabama. More specifically, St. Clair County, near 
Ashville, July 1880.” The ground for separation was the succulent 
nature of the fruit and its color. Mohr also proposed two varieties, 
V. melanocarpum candicans and V. melanocarpum sericeum. In 
Small’s Flora§ the former variety becomes P. candicans (C. Mohr) 
Small, and Polycodium melanocarpum includes both the species 
and its variety sericeum; ‘“‘hypanthium usually more or less 
pubescent.”’ The seventh edition of Gray’s Manual goes further: 
“calyx white-tomentose.” Study of material in the herbarium of 
Sanaeeieeersen nade ORIN NE ERE 
* Bull. Torrey Club 24: 25. 1897. 
t Bull. Torrey Club 24: 570. 1897- 
} Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 6: 658. 1901. 
§ Fl. SE. U.S. 894. 1903. 
