30 



Italy nearly 2,000 years ago ; and other evidence seems to con- 

 nect it with some umbelliferous plant, similar to Cariim Carui, 

 the caraway, a name probably derived from the same source. 

 The rough resemblance of a Chara and an umbellifer is very 

 considerable, and the history of the word would seem to be that 

 it arose as a local name for an Italian flowering plant, was in use 

 in this sense for many centuries, and passed into its present 

 acceptance at the moment when it acquired botanical significance. 



C. B. Robinson. 

 New York Botanical Garden. 



A Red-Fruited Huckleberry. — When visiting the botanically 

 well-known Bergen Swamp in Genesee County, N. Y., in August, 

 1907, examples of Gayliissacia resinosa (Ait.) T. & G. with red 

 or wine-colored fruit were found. The berries were more juicy 

 than in the common form, about like those of Vacciniiim vacil- 

 lans as compared in this quality with the average fruit of G. 

 resinosa. The usual form with black fruit, as well as G. duinosa 

 (Andr.) T. & G., was also well represented there. The oval or 

 oblong leaves of these red-fruited shrubs were somewhat smaller 

 than is commonly the case, 2-3 cm. x 1-1.5 cm., frequently con- 

 siderably tinged with red, and more inclined to an acute or acutish 

 apex. The leaves of the black-fruited form from the locality 

 were quite obtuse. The shrubs were in those parts of the swamp 

 called "open," in which there are clumps or small areas of 

 bushes of various kinds, often with one or more trees of stunted 

 white pine or white cedar growing with them. Here the ground 

 flora was of sphagna and other peat-loving mosses and of such 

 herbaceous plants as frequent habitats of this character. The 

 larger part of the open swamp has a marly soil, loosely covered 

 with grasses and sedges, and usually with a thin sheet of water 

 above the marl even in the dry season. The water is clear, and 

 in places had a slow movement in the direction of its outlet to 

 Black Creek. The spots occupied by bushes were raised a little 

 above the general level, being gradually converted into high- 

 moor. In such an environment was a clump, 2 or 3 meters 

 across, of this red-fruited huckleberry, well exposed to the full 

 light and heat of the sun. 



