^ Posidonia oceanica found in North America 



E. J. Alexander 



One of the most interesting botanical finds in recent years 

 was made on May first by Robert Runyon of Brownsville, 

 Texas, when he picked up among sea-wrack thrown up on the 

 coast near the mouth of the Rio Grande in Texas several pieces 

 of Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile, previously known only from 

 the Mediterranean Sea and off the Atlantic coast of the Iberian 

 peninsula. The specimens are of stem-fragments with leaves 

 starting into spring growth, and since, when found, the leaves 

 were pale green, it seems likely that the plants were torn loose 

 somewhere near the North American coast. 



This plant, related to the eel-grass. Zoster a marina, is one 

 of a small number of flowering plants which inhabit the sea, and 

 the least seen of them, for it is supposed to inhabit deeper 

 waters than the rest, but there seems no record of its having 

 been found in situ, so that its habitat and manner of growth is 

 not certainly known. 



Mr. Runyon's specimens are of branching portions of semi- 

 succulent stems, some of which are six to ten inches long, and 

 would seem to indicate that the plant has a shrub-like form of 

 growth. It is hoped that more material may be found in the 

 future, especially in flower or fruit, that we may certainly know 

 if it be truly the Mediterranean species, since no other conclu- 

 sion seems possible from the material found. 



New York Botanical Garden 



85 



