REPORT OP THE STATE BOTANIST 1903 23 



The caps were either wholly or partly yellow. This is the com- 

 mon form in our State. It has the upper surface of the cap either 

 wholly pale yellow or the center only tinged with red or orange, 

 the margin remaining yellow. The form having the whole upper 

 surface of the cap uniformly bright red or orange red is very rare 

 with us. Yet this is the form commonly figured by European 

 mycologists as Amanita muscaria. The form having 

 the pale yellow cap was described by Gonnermann and Rabenhorst 

 as a distinct species but Fries reduced it to a variety. The 

 instances mentioned above are strong presumptive evidence of its 

 harmless character and may be taken as another point of differ- 

 ence between this plant and the poisonous fly amanita. They 

 strengthen the claims of those who have regarded the plant with 

 the yellow cap as a distinct species. Still these two mushrooms 

 are so closely allied in size, shape and structure that it does not 

 seem prudent to regard^them as distinct species and the yellowish 

 capped one as edible, till full trial and investigation has estab- 

 lished the fact beyond question. 



Aster roscidus variif olius n. var. 



Lower stem leaves ovate or oblong ovate, cordate, acuminate, 

 serrate, petiolate, 2-5 inches long, upper stem leaves much smaller, 

 oblong, entii*e, sessile or with a very short, widely winged petiole, 

 scarcely more than 1 inch long. 



Woods along the shore of Lake Ontario north of Mexico. Sep- 

 tember. 



The whole plant is glandular. The three or four upper leaves are 

 abruptly reduced in size. 



Aster undulatus L. 

 A small form, 1.5-2 feet tall, with leaves ovate or subrotund, 

 the lower petiolate, cordate and serrate with broad teeth, occurs 

 near Minerva. It is related to A. undulatus abrupti- 

 f o 1 i u s , but is a much smaller plant. 



Antennaria neglecta Greene 

 A dwarf form having the heads densely capitate, the stems of 

 the pistillate plant only 2-4 inches long and of the staminate plant 

 2 inches or less, occurs at Minerva. It is in flower the first week 



