1918-19.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 325 



Delessart at Geneva labelled " F. Imyiis, Isles Mariannes, 

 (^iaudichaud." These islands, formerly called the Ladrone 

 or Thieves' Islands, were also named by Magellan (1521) 

 " Islands of Triangular Sails." The plant has been collected 

 by an xlnierican botanist, "M'Gregor, No. 424<, in 1913," in 

 the original locality, "' River Agana, Guam." These are at 

 Manilla, Philippine Islands, and specimens were sent me 

 by Mr Merrill. 



P. deeipiens, Weber. — The author disposes of Graebner's 

 division of this into two. The fact is, the denticulation of 

 the leaves in this is greatly a matter of age. Some leaves 

 are denticulate ; others on the same specimen are so minutely 

 so as hardly to show under a |-inch lens. The arrange- 

 ment of this by measure ma}^ be useful, but it is certainly 

 in many cases misleading. In May leaves will be under 

 one variety, in July and August under another. Mr Fryer 

 insisted that these plants must be studied in the spring 

 state, and I agree. No sectional anatomj' can alter facts 

 noted when the plants were grown and gathered month 

 by month. 



P. hiformi'^, Hagst. (Asiatic, Mongolia, Japan). — This 

 will stand as a species, as P. distinctus, Ar. Benn. (Mon- 

 golia, Japan), has entire leaves and no sessile ones like 

 those figured by the author. 



P. perfoliatus, L., var. Richardsonii, Ar. Benn. (N. 

 America). — This has been made into a species by Rydberg 

 in Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, xxxii, 599 (1905). If you take 

 the widest difference from typical iierfoliatiis {i.e. species 

 with leaves 4J inches long), no doubt it looks a very fair 

 species ; but you must ignore all the others that come 

 between that and the eastern U.S.A. specimens, many like 

 var. rotundifolius, Wallr. Dr. Hagstrom seems inclined 

 to accept this as a species, while acknowledging the 

 anatomical differences are slight. When one comes to 

 compare specimens from all over its distributional area 

 (based on forty-three specimens in my herbarium), it breaks 

 down as a species. Between the extreme western U.S.A. 

 specimens and those from the Great Lakes there is much 

 difference in aspect, and many Japanese specimens are 

 half way between, and others approach the American 

 RicJiardsonii. A remark by an excellent botanist in the 



