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



seeds than the nearly intermediate hybrids, though far less than 

 the true species. In the course of time, if they propagate at all, 

 they may revert again to their parental species, especially if the 

 very probable supposition be true, that, when the ovary of these 

 hybrids is fertile, the pollen is inert. 



99. Verbena panicuiato-stricta : more hirsute than V. panicu- 

 late/,, but not canescent like V. stricta ; leaves much narrower 

 than in V. stricta, subsessile or decurrent in a short petiole, sim- 

 ply or doubly or incisely serrate ; spikes more crowded than in V. 

 paniculata, more fascicled, not paniculate; calyces hairy, some- 

 what gray, longer than in V. paniculata ; corolla intermediate in 

 size and color, much paler than in V. paniculata ; style persist- 

 ent for some time on the ripening fruit, as in V. paniculata. 



Grows in abundance on the sandy, sometimes overflowed, banks 

 of the Mississippi, opposite St. Louis, with other hybrid forms, 

 and with V. stricta, V. urticafolia, and V. bracteosa. V. panicu- 

 lata is very rare there, perhaps destroyed by the growing bushes, 

 which now cover the formerly grassy spots. Nevertheless, the 

 narrow leaves, deeper colored flowers, and persistent style, prove 

 sufficiently that V. paniculata is one of its parents. Flowers in 

 July and August. 



100. Verbena urticsefolio-bracteosa : decumbent like V. brac- 

 teosa, but large, spreading sometimes two or three feet ; leaves 

 small, like V. bracteosa, laciniate ; spikes fascicled, filiform ; flow- 

 ers distinct, as in V. urticafolia ; bracts longer than the calyx, 

 but not more than half as large as in V. bracteosa ; corolla larger 

 than in V. urticcefolia, with a longer tube, very pale purple. 



The parents of this hybrid cannot be mistaken ; the growth, 

 the leaves, the bracts of one, and the spikes, and the smaller size 

 and paler color of the corolla of the other. 



On sand-bars and sandy islands in the Mississippi (St. Louis) 

 and Illinois rivers, (Beardstown.) Flowers July to September. 



101. Verbena stricto-urticgefolia: an interesting hybrid between 

 two very distinct species. The plant is more canescent than V. 

 urticafolia ; the leaves shorter petioled, sometimes nearly sessile, 

 of firmer texture, and not simply serrate, but generally doubly or 

 even incisely serrate ; sometimes even so much incised or lobed. 

 that I would have been inclined to look to V. hastata or V. brac- 

 teosa for an explanation, but we cannot admit the action of three 

 species in the formation of hybrids. The spikes are filiform, the 



