Annals 
of the 
Missouri Botanical Garden 
Vor. 3 SEPTEMBER, 1916 No. 3 
THE MISSOURI AGRIMONIES 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BUSH 
Having collected some interesting specimens of Agrimonia 
in 1915, that I could not place satisfactorily by the manuals, 
I was led to make a closer examination of the species of this 
genus, and through the kindness of Dr. Moore, of the Mis- 
souri Botanical Garden, I was enabled to study all the Mis- 
souri specimens of this genus in the Garden herbarium. 
For more than sixty years the species of Agrimonia have 
been but little understood, that is, up to the year 1893, 
when Britton's *Manual" began to be of influence in the 
way of specific names. The genus seems to have been very 
much neglected in Missouri, for I have seen only sixteen 
specimens collected in the state prior to 1893. This seems 
rather remarkable in a genus of so many species which 
are so conspieuous in the field, but the fact is due in large 
part to the prevailing impression that we had only two Amer- 
lean species, one of which was also found in Europe, and 
therefore it was of no importanee to make specimens of such 
widely distributed species. Such an impression also pre- 
vailed in many other genera at that time, notable examples 
of which are Ranunculus repens, Scrophularia nodosa, Amar- 
anthus Blitum, and Portulaca oleracea. 
Of the sixteen specimens examined, collected before 1893, 
six were labeled A. parviflora, five correctly, but one is A. 
iBritton, N. L. Manual northeastern states and Canada. 1891. 
ANN. Mo. Bot. GARD., Vor. 3, 1916 (309) 
