Vol. i ^s.? ^'^ No. i 



TORREYA 



January, rgoi 

 NOTES ON RUDBECKIA HIRTA L. 



By N. L. Britton 



In Pittonia, 4: 174-180, recently published, Mr. Thomas V. 

 Moore, a student of the Catholic University at Washington, work- 

 ing under the direction of Professor Greene, presents a valuable 

 contribution to the arrangement and description of some of the 

 species of Rudbeckia of the hirta group. In discussing R. hirta 

 he takes exception, apparently with good reason, to the statement 

 in Illustrated Flora, 3 : 416, that this plant is native only on the 

 western prairies, and is widely distributed in the East as a weed. 

 There can be no doubt, however, that the latter portion of this 

 statement is quite true ; at the time of publication of Dr. Torrey's 

 Flora of the State of New York, in 1843, the only station for this 

 species known in that State was near Buffalo, where it was col- 

 lected by Dr. Sartwell ; it is now one of the most abundant 

 weeds in grass fields throughout, I think, nearly all portions of 

 the State and is a pest to farmers in many counties, being ex- 

 ceedingly abundant everywhere within one hundred miles of New 

 York City. No indication of its occurrence further east in the 

 northern states is given in the first edition of Dr. Gray's Manual 

 of 1848, where its range is cited from western New York to 

 Wisconsin and southward. In the second edition of Dr. Gray's 

 Manual, 1856, this is supplemented by the statement "also in 

 southern New York (White Plains), and various parts of New 

 England, but probably of recent introduction." In the sixth 

 edition of Dr. Gray's Manual, 1890, the statement of the first 

 edition is repeated, supplemented by " now common as a weed in 

 eastern meadows, introduced with clover-seed from the West." 



[The exact date of publication of each issue of Torreya is given in the succeed- 

 ing number] 



