1896 | BRIEFER ARTICLES 169 
place an orobanchaceous parasite, not referable to any species char- 
acterized in American floras. He accordingly forwarded specimens of 
the plant to the Gray Herbarium for identification, and it has proved 
to be Orobanche purpurea Jacq. Enum. Stirp. Vindob. 108: 252 (0. 
cerulea Vill. Hist. Pl. Dauph. 2: 406; Phelipea cerulea C. A. Mey. 
Enum. Cauc. 104), a species of wide distribution in Europe and Asia. 
There is no doubt that it was introduced in its Canadian occurrence, 
and probably with grass seed. Mr. Morton notes the fact that it was 
found growing “among Achillea Millefolium.” This fact, of course, 
adds further proof of the identity of the American and European 
plants, since also in the Old World this species is regularly parasitic 
upon Achillea Millefolium. 
A hasty search through recent American botanical literature has 
failed to show any reference to the presence of Orobanche purpurea 
Jacq. Reports of other localities may be awaited with interest. A very 
curious parasite, which attacks chiefly, if not exclusively, a common and 
noxious weed, is far from being the most undesirable sort of immi- 
grant. ‘The genus Orodanche is, of course, most nearly related to our 
American genus Aphylion, so closely in fact that the two are united 
by some European authorities. The former, however, is in general 
readily distinguished by its 4-lobed calyx, the calyx of Aphyl/on being © 
5-cleft. Orobanche purpurea Jacq. has the habit of Aphyllon Ludovicta- 
num Gray. The only other Orobanche that has been introduced into 
the American flora is O. minor L., a variable species, which, however, 
has flowers ebracteolate, while in O. purpurea the flowers are subtended 
not only by conspicuous single bracts but also in each case by a pair 
of lance-linear attenuate bractlets. The whole plant is very glandular 
_ pubescent. Although a number of individuals were found, Mr. Mor- 
ton regards the Species as of very recent introduction in his locality. 
ELYTRARIA VIRGATA Michx., var. angustifolia Fernald, n. var.— 
penis linear or narrowly oblanceolate, 3 to 4 inches long, barely 
% inch wide: Scape more slender and bracts of the scape shorter 
and more appressed than in the type, from which it does not otherwise 
Dae extreme form, hardly worthy of specific rank, collected in — 
calcareous soil near Biscayne Bay, Fla., by A. H. Curtiss, July 23, 
"895 (no. 5494). 
hak nia Congdonii, n. sp.— Low annual or perhaps biennial, 
eae ranched from the base, covered especially below with a ol ee 
S€ lanate pubescence : root slender-fusiform, somewhat branched : 
