^"iHo'o!"] PROCEEDINGS . OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 19 



Shearer aud described as a uew species,* but has later beeu considered 

 as merely a variety by Henisley,t aud it is very interesting, that we 

 have here an Asiatic representative of Liriodendron, hitherto supposed 

 to be confined to our country. Moore (/. c.) remarks about this form, 

 that it differs from the typical one in having the leaves more deeply 

 lobed and being glaucous underneath. According to the description, 

 given by Forbes and Ilemsley {I. c), there has been observed a certain 

 variation in the foliage of the same tree, siuce the leaves are either 

 deeply lobed and the lobes very obtuse, or the lobes are very short and 

 very acute. The authors, however, remark that these characters to- 

 gether with the size of the flower, which was a little dififereut from that 

 of the typical form, might possibly be sufficient to rank it as an inde- 

 pendent species, but the leaves do not give any distinctive character 

 aud the flowers differ only in size. We find, however, very little about the 

 general variation in the foliage of the recent species, for the only author 

 who meutious it is Curtis, J who says: "They [the leaves] vary greatly 

 in the division of their lobes." In the figure of the tree, given by F. A. 

 Michaux (l. c), there is, however, a leaf with two pairs of lobes, one of 

 which has a short tooth at its base, while, as was stated, the most com- 

 mon form seems to be merely fourlobed ; Bigelow § mentions, that "• in 

 the large leaves the two lower lobes are furnished with a tooth or addi- 

 tional lobe on their outside." Finally Heer || has given a very interest- 

 ing note on the foliage of the recent Liriodendron as follows : 



Die uutersteo BUltter der Zweige haben beim lebeudeu Tiilpeubaum haiifig keiiiti 

 scitlichen Lappen und siud voru gegen die Ausbuclitung zugerundet, wiihrend die 

 obeni Zweigbliitter die bekanntea grossen, vorn zugespitzten Seiteulappeu babeu und 

 der mittlere Lappen zu beiden Seiten der Ansranduug in spitzen Ecken endet. Von 

 den uugelappten, grundstiindigeu Biiittern zn diesen scbarf gelappten oberu findeu 

 sich zahlreicbo Uebergiinge. Icb babe Taf. xxiii, Fig. 1, ein zwciggrundstiindiges, 

 ungelapptos Blatt abgebildet, welcbes den ungelappteu der Kreideart sebriibnlich 

 sieht; audemsolben Zweigstaud weiter obeu Fig. 2, bei welcberanurganz scbwache, 

 seitliobe Lappen vorhanden sind, wie bei L. Meekii prinuBViim, wiihrend die meistea 

 Bliifcter des Baunies die gewiJhulicbe, scharff gelappte Form zeigten. Der lebende 

 Tulpeubaum zeigt daher dieselbe Polyinorpbie der Bliitter, wie die Kreideart und 

 stelit diesersehr nahe. Indessen sind die ungelappteu Bliitter der lebenden Art viel 

 breiter und kiirzer, maucbe fast kreisruud, am Grande nicht in den Stiel hinablau- 

 fend ; der mittlere Lappen ist am Grand niemals verschmiilert und die Lappen sind 

 aussen in der Regelin eino Spitze auslaufeud. 



It seems therefore that Heer has understood the recent Liriodendron 

 perhaps better than any one else ! 



If we now consider the figures on Plates iv to ix, all of which repre- 

 sent dilferent stages of growth of Liriodendron TuUpifera, collected along 



* Moore: Description of some new Phanerog, coll. by Dr. Sboarer, at Kiukiaug, 

 China. (Journ. of Bot. n. s. iv, 1875, p. 225). 



tF. B. Forbes and W. B. Hemsley : An enumeration of all the plants known from 

 China proper, Formosa, Hainan, Corea, etc. (Journ. of Linn. Society, XXIII, No. 150 

 1886, p. 25). 



t Wra. Curtis : Botanical Magazine vii, 1794, p. 275. 



^ I. Bigelow : American Medical Botany 1818, p. 109, 



II Oswald Heer ; Flora fogsilia arcticq. Vi, 1882, p. 89, 



