77 



souri (Trans. St. Louis Acad. Sci. I2 : ii) Mr. B. F. Bush and 

 myself were obliged again to refer this plant as above, as " a 

 slender decumbent form." 



In the years since this collection I had never until this last 

 year seen another specimen of this peculiar plant either living or 

 in any herbarium. My pleasure therefore can be imagined when 

 in botanizing on the high rocky hill about a mile to the west of 

 the D. L. & W. R. R. station at Mt. Arlington, Morris County, 

 New Jersey, the plant was again found in much the same situa- 

 tion as before. Again it was rare, but the one or two plants seen 

 were large, vigorous, and conspicuous. In aspect the plants had 

 a strong resemblance to Lespedeza repens (L.) Bart., the long 

 procumbent stems spreading for a distance of 5-9 dm. in every 

 direction from a common center. The yellowish -white flowers 

 and the longer sepals, however, at once showed that the plant 

 could not be referred here. On the other hand, the procumbent 

 character of the plant, its much greater slenderness in all its 

 parts, its much less developed inflorescence and shorter, less hairy 

 sepals forbade its continued reference \.o Lespedeza Jdrta. In fact, 

 it can best be described as very nearly exactly intermediate be- 

 tween the two widely separated species referred to above. 



In view of the rarity of the plant, of its occurrence in both 

 stations where found with Lespedeza Jdrta and L. repens, and of 

 its intermediate characters, I have come to the conclusion that 

 this plant is a natural hybrid between these two species and 

 would here describe it as follows : 



Lespedeza hirta x repens 



Perennial with many procumbent stems 6-9 dm. long, radiat- 

 ing from a common center : stems pubescent, but little branched, 

 slender : leaflets oval or elliptic, strongly appressed-pubescent on 

 both sides, the larger 2-2.5 cm. long, about 1.5 cm. broad, 

 rounded (not retuse) at apex, mucronulate, exceeding the peti- 

 oles : flowers in slender rather few-flowered spikes, on peduncles 

 2—5 cm. long and much exceeding the leaves : sepals appressed- 

 pubescent, the margins ciliate, linear-lanceolate, 3 mm. long, about 

 one-half the length of the corolla : corolla yellowish-white, the 

 standard with a purplish spot in the center, and the tips of the 



