Characters of the New Species. 449 



b) whitish, 



b) 1. Crumples many, pointed, 



narrowing ofif into the 



stalk (Figs. 48, 72, 75, 76, 



95) 11. O.albida. 



b) 2. Crumples few, narrowing 



off into the stalk, wavy, 



brittle, veins reddish — 



(Figs. 52, 68) .... 12. O. rubrinervis. 

 b) 3. Crumples few, scarcely 



narrowing off into the 



stalk, almost grasslike . 13. O. sublinearis. 



II. Leaves sessile, short and broad, almost 



heartshaped, crumpled (Figs. 51, 52, 78, 79) 14. O. nanelLa. 



The new species can best be distinguished from one 

 another by their so-called habit. This is, as in the case 

 of O. Lamarckiana itself, largely dependent on external 

 conditions. In the first place biennial plants are as a rule 

 naturally stronger than annual ones. The former are 

 sometimes more than two meters high; the latter often 

 little more than a meter. In both cases the time of sow- 

 ing makes a difference; the earlier the plants come up 

 the more time they have for their full development. The 

 height and amount of branching of the plants are largely 

 dependent upon the amount of sunshine they get, and on 

 whether they are growing close together or not. 



The result of this is that spurious differences, which 

 are either indirectlv connected, or not connected at all, 

 with real specific characters, may appear in comparing cul- 

 tures of related species, and obscure the real differences. 

 On the other hand genuine differences sometimes tend 

 to become obliterated. But if uniformity of treatment is 

 insured, beds of my new species have a perfectly distinct 

 and different aspect and can be recognized with certainty, 

 even at a distance. 



