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PROCEEDINGS OF THE CLUB 



Wednesday, May 28, 1902 



This meeting was held at the New York Botanical Garden at 

 3:30 p.m.; Dr. MacDougal in the chair; 15 persons present. 



The reading of the minutes was dispensed with on account of 

 the absence of the secretary. 



The first paper on the program was by Mrs. N. L. Britton, 

 under the title " Remarks on West Indian Mosses." Comments 

 were made on several questions of synonymy and nomenclature 

 arising from a study of collections recently made in Porto Rico 

 by Mr. A. A. Heller and by Professor Underwood, and in St. 

 Kitts by Dr. Britton. Attention was directed particularly to the 

 genus Scmatophyllum Mitt. 1 864 (= Rapludosteginm De Not. 

 1867 = Rliynchosteginm, section Rapliidostegium Br. & Sch. 1852). 

 This genus is chiefly tropical or subtropical in its distribution, 

 though eleven species are known to occur in North America 

 north of Mexico. 



The second paper was by Dr. P. A. Rydberg, on "Some 

 Genera of the Saxifragaceae." The speaker presented some of 

 the results of studies intended as a contribution to a projected 

 work on the flora of North America. The family name Saxifra- 

 gaceae was used in a restricted sense, excluding Rides, Hydran- 

 gea, Philadelphus, Parnassia, Itea, etc. The members of the 

 family in the narrower sense are all herbaceous plants with the 

 exception of a single species of Henchera which has a sort of 

 aerial woody stem. Dr. Rydberg commented especially upon 

 the genera Bolandra, Thcrofon, Telesonix, Hemieva, Tiarella, 

 Heuchera, Tellima, LithopJiragma, Mitella, and Chrysosplcnium, re- 

 ferring to the geographical distribution and number of species of 

 each. Henchera is the largest of these genera, being represented 

 by 58 species in North America, including Mexico. The paper 

 was discussed by Dr. Britton and others. 



Professor F. S. Earle made a brief report on a recent trip to 

 western Texas and eastern New Mexico, stating that 800 num- 

 bers of botanical specimens were collected. April and May 



