324 NEAV JERSEY AGRICULTUEAL COLLEGE 



gions wliere only the common kind is met with, confirm the opinion 

 that it is a remarkable plant for its variability, regardless of its 

 association with other species. 



THE SHEPHERD^S PUESE (bUBSA BURSA-PASTOEIS (L-))' 



The common '"Shepherd's Purse" lends itself to the study of 

 variation in many ways, but in particular as its rosettes of leaves 

 are met with in winter and early spring on nearly every uncovered 

 piece of land left untilled through the autumn months. Plate XX. 

 shows thirteen specimens with the roots removed and photo- 

 graphed from above. The great range in size of the rosettes is 

 incidental as attention is called in particular tO' the form of the 

 individual leaf. Those with nearly entire margins, as at 6, are 

 very different from those at 1, where the lobes are large, broad and 

 nearly touch each other, and in this last respect quite unlike the 

 widely separated lobes shown at 3. If one fixes his eyes upon the 

 rosette at 9 and then passes to 13 and then on to 10 and to 12, he 

 will be impressed with the diversity of forms exhibited by this 

 species. The variation in the same plant may be slight, as at 3 and 

 7, but frequently the condition is as shown at 2, where the ser- 

 rated and divided leaves are borne by the same plant. 



THE MAY APPI-E^ MANDRAKE (PODOPHYLLUM PELTATUM (l.)). 



In the "May Apple" as found wide-spread throughout the east- 

 em United States, as an attractive herb in low, open woodland, 

 is a species that it seems probable has not been disturbed by any 

 hybridizing with other species, certainly not with any of its own 

 genus, for it is monotypic so far as this country isi concerned. 



To the student of plant variation, the "Mandrake" is full of 

 interest, for, aside from the single simple pistil, there is nO' close 

 adherence to any numerical plan and when it comes to the lobes 

 of the leaves, this disregard becomes phenomenal. Space here will 

 not be taken to describe the many forms, as a study of Plat^' XXI. 

 will confirm the strong statement already made regarding the vari- 

 ability. Whether the leaf is eccentric or not is usually determined 

 by the number of leaves borne by the plant; that is', when single, 



