1898] BRIEFER ARTICLES 447 
block from our consideration of this puzzling, yet intensely interest- 
ing, genus. It seems that specimens of the above in herbaria have 
~ been generally placed with or referred to C. coccinea L., and while it 
has an aspect similar to that species it may be readily recognized. a 
rotundifolia is abundantly represented in western North Carolina, 
growing along the banks of streams and even in the shallow, dry soil 
 ofold fields and upland woods. It frequently attains the size of a 
_ small tree, some 4—6" high, and blossoms perceptibly later than C. 
‘ coccinea, from which it may be distinguished by the very glandular char- 
' acter of the young shoots, thicker leaves, fewer stamens with usually 
- lighter colored anthers, and the greenish or dull russet-red fruits. 
CRATAGUS ELLIPTICA Ait. Hort. Kew. 2: 168. 1789.—A few miles 
_ west of Biltmore, North Carolina, this excellent species is abundantly 
_ Tepresented in abandoned fields and in open woodlands standing in 
company with pine and oak timber. In such situations C. edliptica 
Often attains the proportions of a small tree, and the spreading, 
_ Slightly pendulous or recurved, zig-zag branches and branchlets give 
_ Astrikingly distinct aspect that serves to distinguish the species readily 
even in winter. In the time of flowering C. ed/iptica is from ten days 
to three weeks earlier than C. flava Ait., which is not uncommon in 
the region, and, besides, differs from that species by its smaller flowers, 
larger fruit, broader, thicker, and more glossy leaves, and the pubes- 
cence covering the young shoots and foliage. 
PoPULUS BALSAMIFERA CANDICANS (Ait.) A. Gray, Man. ed. 2. 4109. 
_ 1856.— Much uncertainty yet surrounds the natural limits of distribu- 
tion of this fine tree. Professor L. H. Bailey* points out its existence 
in Michigan ; but I fail to find further information of a definite char- 
acter, 
The pistillate, possibly the only known form, 
a pied and sparingly spontaneous at Biltmore, N. C., a 
points. 
is commonly culti- 
nd other southern 
ong many water-courses 
re in the south P. alba 
m, but rapid 
ams and by 
__ Poputus axpa L. Sp. Pl. 1034- 1753-—Al 
a the vicinity of Biltmore, N. C., and elsewhe 
_ ‘Sspontaneous. I have observed only the staminate for 
_ Propagation is effected by broken branches carried by stre 
_ €Xcessive sprouting from the stoloniferous roots. 
*Bor. Gaz.'5:77 and gt. 1880; and Bull. Cornell Univ. 68: 220- oe 
