Volume I No. 7 



MUHLENBERGIA 



A. A. HELLER, Editor 



Los Gatos, California, November 6, 1905 



[All unsigned articles in this journal are by the Editor, and the types of all 

 new species described by him are deposited in his private herbarium, unless 

 otherwise stated.] 



THE WESTERN VERATRUMS 



In 1898 while working over his collection of plants from 

 western Washington, the writer not only discovered an excel- 

 lent new species in this genus — V. caudatum — but found a great 

 admixture of forms under the name Veratrum Californicum. 

 The following year he had an opportunity to examine pretty 

 thoroughly the collections of Columbia University and the New 

 York Botanical Garden, and later had submitted to him the ma- 

 terial in the U. S. National Herbarium. He came to the con- 

 clusion that either several new species had to be admitted, or a 

 very elastic description drawn up to fit V. Californicum^ and 

 decided that only intimate acquaintance with the plants in the 

 field could form a basis for determining the matter. Having 

 observed plenty of true Californicum in the field during the 

 past four seasons, he now feels qualified to do a little prelimi- 

 nary work on the genus. Having undertaken the task, he 

 would like to have the co-operation of botanists in the West. 

 Good photographs of the plants as they occur in their accus- 

 tomed habitat are invaluable, as well as properly prepared speci- 

 mens. Mere scraps of a plant (and such only one often finds in 



