860 MINNESOTA BOTANICAL STUDIES. 



new species, under the name of longepedunculata, but it answers 

 much better to Hillebrand's description of variety recurva, than 

 does No. 2581. The following is his description: " Spikes on 

 peduncles of 3-10", much lengthening with growth, and strong- 

 ly recurved, the slender, almost filiform and glabrous rachis 

 often attaining a length of 2£ inches, covered with persistent 

 pedicels, but the flowers confined to the apex." My specimens 

 fit this description perfectly, many of the peduncles being over 

 two inches in length, and strongly recurved. It was found in 

 a single restricted area, but was plentiful there. The bushes 

 were small and slender, only two or three feet high. 



JDiplomorpha oahuensis (A. Gray). 



WiJcstroemia foetida var. Oahuensis A. Gray, Seem. Journ. Bot. 

 3: 302. 1865. 



The uniting of this with WiJcstroemia foetida, a species not 

 found nearer than Samoa, is not at all satisfactory, especially 

 since the other Hawaiian species are endemic. Another rea- 

 son for considering it as specifically distinct, is that it is a 

 variable plant as it occurs in the Hawaiian Islands, No. 2211, 

 collected on the lower slopes of Konahuanui, back of Honolulu, 

 Oahu, is similar to specimens collected by the botanists of the 

 Exploring Expedition, except that the leaves are broader. The 

 type is Remy, 223, collected on Oahu. Hillebrand arranges 

 the species under two heads, those with large leaves, and those 

 with small leaves. Under the large leaved group we have two 

 species, oahuensis and elongata, with slender, glabrate spikes. 

 By following this classification, one has the choice of referring 

 all large leaved forms- with a smooth inflorescence to one or 

 the other of these two species, or describing new species. The 

 former plan is not satisfactory, and the latter is not a safe one, 

 unless the person who follows it has had an opportunity to 

 study all of the forms in the living state. 



In the bog at the head of the Wahiawa river, Kauai, was col- 

 lected a form (2737), which is referable to oahuensis, of which 

 species it has the leaf characters, but according to Hillebrand's 

 descriptions, has the flower characters of elongata, for the scales 

 are only half the length of the ovary, which is thick, with a thick 

 nearly sessile stigma. It is a low bush, the branches usually 

 decumbent and resting on the wet moss and hepatics which are 

 found nearly everywhere on the surface of the bog. Some- 

 times the bushes are erect, about two feet in height. Hille- 

 brand gives the habitat of oahuensis as "in valleys and along 

 the lower skirts of the woods on all islands." 



