282 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [APRIL 
in the number of the staminal whorls. Calyx and corolla present the nor- 
mal condition, while the stamens have taken the shape of petals. Though 
the ten stamens belong to two whorls, the petalodes are more or less connate 
at the base into ro-merous whorls; but the petalodes of all the whorls are 
in superposition, showing thus that they must be considered as consisting 
of alternate 5-merous whorls, and this is also apparent by the aestivation 
of the broader petalodes of the outer whorls; the first five petalodes, of 
course, are opposite to the corolla lobes, as the ericaceous flower is obdi- 
plostemonous. The number of 1o-merous whorls in each flower is about 
ten; the shape of the petalodes changes from the broadly oval of the 
outer ones to the oblong shape of the innermost petalodes. Even the 
carpels are changed into narrow oblong petalodes. Only in one case I 
found an incompletely developed anther adhering to one of the petalodes. 
As it would be interesting to have this shrub in cultivation, though the 
horticultural value of this form is lessened by the rather difficult cultiva- 
tion of the species, we sent rooted suckers to the Arnold Arboretum, but 
the plants did not survive, and concerning the fate of a few sent to a Ger- 
man nursery I know nothing. The old plant, however, is in all probability 
still there, and we may yet hope to see this handsome form introduced into 
cultivation. Dried specimens of it are preserved in the herbarium of the 
Arnold Arboretum.—ALFRED REHDER, Arnold Arboretum. 
c PUCCINIA UPON MELOTHRIA 
_ (WITH ONE FIGURE) 
This rust was found in the neighborhood of West Raleigh, N. C., in the 
autumn of 1907 upon Melothria pendula. The host is not a common plant 
in this locality, only two plants being seen during an entire collecting 
season; one of these was thoroughly infected, the other not at all. 
The species is of special interest on account of the comparative paucity 
of rusts affecting the cucurbits, as well as owing to the economic importance 
of this family. On the whole family as represented by the North American 
genera, either native or exotic, listed in SMALL’s Flora oj the South Eastern 
United States, Gray’s Manual, Gray’s Field, Forest, and Garden Botany, 
and Britton and Brown’s Illustrated Flora, there are mentioned in 
Fartow’s Host Index no rusts at all. In Saccarpo there are six species, 
as follows: .(1) Uromyces Melothriae on M. tomentosa in Abyssinia; (2) 
U. Cayaponiae on C. racemosa in Africa; (3) U. Hellarianus on Cayaponia 
in Porto Rico; (4) Puccinia Cucumeris on C. ficijolia in Abyssinia; (5) P- 
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