14 



As for Eukrania, it bases its claims to recognition on its "herba- 

 ceous" habit and the presence of a small dorsal horn on the petals.* 

 In several characters it is intermediate between C. florida and the 

 ebracteate dogwoods. 



I do not know what we are to understand by such expressions 

 as "an aggregate of generic elements." They may signify that 

 Cornus (sensu lato) is polyphyletic, distinct genera having been 

 merged; or that an original stock has become diversified. The 

 latter seems more plausible. Certainly in our ignorance of the 

 history and cytogenetics of the group the burden of proof must 

 fall on him who expounds a polyphyletic origin ; present judgment 

 seems premature. If they are really as closely related as they seem 

 to be, I see nothing to be gained by segregating in distinct genera 

 the seven (not five) recognizable sections of Cornus. 



New York Botanical Garden 

 New York, N. Y, 



Phyllanthus nummulariaefolius Poir. in the United States 



Leon Croizat 



About five years ago correspondents in Brazil and the Panama 

 Canal Zone sent me seeds of an undetermined species of Phyllan- 

 thus which they described as a polymorphous and aggressive weed. 

 I planted these seeds in a hothouse, grew out of them a sizable 

 crop of specimens and satisfied myself that P. niiinmulariaefolius 

 Poir. was the entity that had been collected. This plant has proved 

 to be as aggressive and as polymorphous in the hothouse as it has 

 been reported to be in nature, and I must now carefully eradicate 

 it several times a year. The size of the specimens varies from a few 

 inches tall, when the plants happen to grow on a dry bench, to about 

 three feet for material favored by good conditions of soil and 

 temperature. 



Pressed specimens of the same plant have also reached me from 

 Argentina, Brazil, Panama and the French West Indies, showing 

 that it is widespread in every one of the tropical American coun- 



*Rydberg (I.e.) said on the sepals; surely an error. 



