Mr. Geyer's Plants of Illinois and Missouri. 99 



95. Monarda punctata, Linn. 



96. Dracocephalon Virginianum, Linn. 



97. Scutellaria galericulata, Linn. 



98. Verbena paniculata, Lam. With undivided leaves, the true 

 V. paniculata ; and with the lower leaves divided, lobed or has- 

 tate, V. hastata, Linn., which can hardly be called even a varie- 

 ty. As Lamarck's name is equally applicable to both forms, it 

 probably ought to be preferred to the Linnsean name. 



99 to 102. Four hybrids of different species of Verbena, which 

 together with several others that abound in this neighborhood, 

 Mr. Geyer appears to have found equally abundant on the sandy 

 wastes near Beardstown, and on the sandy islands of the Illinois 

 River. 



The names, chosen according to Schiede's proposition, indi- 

 cate the parent plants; but it is often difficult enough to detect the 

 parentage ; indeed to ascertain which is the male and which the 

 female parent is probably quite impossible if actual experiments 

 be not instituted. Generally both parents grow near the hybrid, 

 but as these Verbenas are perennial, the hybrids, being unable to 

 produce seed, propagate the more readily by stolons, and spread 

 in some localities so as even to exceed one or the other of the 

 parents in number. In such cases we have to rely entirely on 

 the resemblance of the offspring to some true species in the vicin- 

 ity. All these hybrids, however, are known to be such by their 

 luxuriant growth exceeding that of their parents, by their sterili- 

 ty, and mostly by their local appearance in places where their 

 parents are common. We find, as is naturally to be expected, 

 many hybrids which resemble one of their parents more than the 

 other ; and hence many intermediate hybrid forms may be ob- 

 served, so as to furnish all the connecting links between two very 

 distinct species; this of course not proving the identity of such 

 species, but rather the reverse. No hybrids are more common 

 here than those between V. stricta, Vent, and V. vrticcefolia, 

 Linn., and I possess specimens not only of V. urticaf olio- stricta, 

 (near V. stricta,) and of V. stricto-urticcefolia, (near V. urticaifo- 

 lia,) but of several intermediate forms; the extremes of which 

 might be taken for mere varieties of V. stricta and of V. urtica- 

 folia; or they may be produced by seeds from these plants, adul- 

 terated by some pollen from the other species. The difficulty is 

 increased by the fact that these doubtful hybrids produce more 



