312 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 974 



pyriform, acuminate below, .0015-.0025 inch 

 long." So far as published reports show, no 

 specimen of Peridermium has been recorded 

 since that time having spores of this sort. 

 Among mycologists it generally has been as- 

 sumed that there must have been some error 

 about Peck's description, and the name has 

 been made to apply to a species having the 

 ordinary small ellipsoid spores. The species to 

 which the name has been thus applied is the 

 one which has been culturally connected with 

 Cronartium Comptoniw. 



After giving some attention to the matter 

 several years ago the writers came to the con- 

 clusion that in Peck's original examination he 

 possibly mistook some of the smaller peridial 

 cells for spores.^ In studying fresh specimens 

 recently communicated to us from British 

 Columbia, by W. P. Eraser, and from Colo- 

 rado, by E. Bethel, we have found large pyri- 

 form cells which agree exactly in shape and 

 size with the spores of the original descrip- 

 tion of Peridermium pyriforme. It is very 

 evident thaH in these specimens they can 

 not be peridial cells, for the peridial tissue 

 is present and is composed of very differ- 

 ent cells. There seems to be little doubt that 

 we are dealing here with a striking species, 

 very aptly named Peridermium pyriforme so 

 many years ago, but which has been unrecog- 

 nized ever since, while the name has been mis- 

 applied. Examination of our herbarium shows 

 that there are a number of other specimens 

 belonging here which had been erroneously, 

 and carelessly, placed under other species. In 

 addition to the three above-mentioned localities 

 we have specimens from Wisconsin, South 

 Dakota, Washington and Alberta. The range 

 for the species is thus seen to be northern 

 United States and southern Canada from 

 ocean to ocean. 



Having established the existence of a char- 

 acteristic heteroecious form of wide geograph- 

 ical range, the question of the alternate phase 

 becomes of immediate interest. Judging from 

 analogy and distribution, together with some 

 field observations, we suggest with much confi- 



' See Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, 33 : 420, ] 906. 



dence that Peridermium pyriforme may be con- 

 nected with Cronartium comandrm. 



J. C. Arthur 

 Erank D. Kern 

 Purdue University, 

 Lafayette, Ind., 

 July 15, 1913 



A WINE-RED SUNFLOWER 



In Popular Science Monthly, April, 1912, I 

 described the finding and subsequent develop- 

 ment of the red sunflower. The darker form 

 predicted for 1912 duly appeared, but most of 

 the intensely red types were bicolored, with 

 the ends of the rays yellow. This is ascribed 

 to the fact that the wild plant (var. lenticula- 

 ris) carries a factor for marking, which is not 

 clearly apparent until joined by the factor for 

 red. In the orange or yellow rayed plants 

 nothing more is apparent to the eye than a 

 deepening of the color on the basal part, not 

 distinctly defined or very readily noticeable. 

 In photographs, however, the marking comes 

 out, as is well shown in Dreer's " Garden 

 Book," 1912, p. 221, for the perennial species.- 

 One would imagine from Dreer's figures of 

 " Wolley Dod " and " multiflorus maximus " 

 that the rays were bicolored. A much more 

 striking illustration is given by Mr. G. N. 

 Collins,' where Bidens heterophylla appears to 

 have strongly bicolored rays when photo- 

 graphed in the ordinary way, but when photo- 

 graphed on an orthochromatic plate with a 

 color screen does not appear bicolored at all. 

 To the eye " the difl^erence in color between 

 the base and tip of the rays is barely percep- 

 tible." 



We obtained from Sutton, of Reading, Eng- 

 land, a variety of Eelianthus annuus with very 

 dark disc and pale primrose yellow rays. It 

 is a tall, upright form, with the ends of the 

 involucral bracts longer than usual. The seeds 

 are black, or nearly. This plant, which comes 

 quite true from seed, is called by Sutton, 

 " Primrose Perfection " ; we will call it var. 

 primulinus. 



In our red sunflowers so far obtained, the 

 red. however bright, was always chestnut, as 

 the result of the orange background. We saw 



^ Plant World, November, 1900, plate VII. 



