y 



178 



long." Torrey * makes them "large, compressed." Chapman, f 

 while making no statement for the species, has his " var. ? Flori- 

 dana " " orbicular." The more recent authors % are all broad 

 enough in their descriptions to cover both forms. 



The few illustrations are quite as unsatisfactory, many of them 

 being meaningless; Dillenius,§ Barton, || and Bigelow, ^ the best 

 of them, however, represent the flat-seeded form. 



Just what Linnaeus** had is not clearly defined by his descrip- 

 tion or by most of his citations ; Dillenius' "foliis mimosae siliqua 

 hirsuta " and plate, however, is clearly the flat-seeded form and 

 may be considered as establishing this as the true Cassia Mari- 

 landica L. Martyn'sft plate, also cited by Linnaeus, is charac- 

 terless. 



As the several names:|::}: that have been considered synonymous 

 with C. Marilandica L. are all referable to the flat-seeded form, 

 or at least have no reference to the obovoid-seeded one, I pro- 

 pose to name the latter for Professor O. P. Medsger, through 

 whose material my attention was first called to it, and would 

 characterize the two species as follows : 



Cassia Marilandica L. 



Plant erect, perennial, herbaceous, 1-2 m. high, little-branched: 

 stem pubescent, slightly if at all furrowed, yellowish green : leaves 

 with a club-shaped gland near base of the petiole ; stipules sub- 

 ulate-filiform, ciliate on their margins, caducous; leaflets 12- 

 20, elliptical, unequally rounded at base, mucronate, with reflexed 

 ciliate margins, yellowish green, glaucous beneath, 3-5 cm. long, 

 one third as wide : inflorescence racemose, pubescent, a.\illary and 

 terminal, flowers many : calyx-lobes ovate, somewhat petaloid : 

 petals broadly spatulate to obovate, obtuse, bright j'cllow : sta- 



* Torrey, Flora of the Norlh and Middle Section.s of ihe U. S. i : 439. 1824. 

 fChapman, Flora of the Southern United States, 124. 1897. [Ed. 3.] 

 \ Wood, Gray, Britten, Small. 



<J Dillenius, Ilortus Elthamensis, 351,//. 260. f. jjg. 1732. 

 II Harton, Vegetable Materia Medica of the U. S. I : 137, //. 12. 1817. 

 ^ Bij.;elow, American Medical Botany, 2: i66, pi- sg. 1818. 

 ** Linnaeus, Species Planlarum, 378. 1753- 

 It Marlyn, Historia Plantaruin Rariorum, 23.//. 23. 1728. 



X\ C. acuwinafa Moench, Mcth. 27;. 1794; C. reflexa Salisl). I'rod. 326. 1796; 

 C. SKccedanea "Bell, ex herb. I'.alb.," OC. Prod., 2: 49S. 1825. 



