107 



blooming in the South in late spring, and drying up in summer. 

 I have seen (and photographed ) them growing close together 

 in Tallahassee, Fla., and they resemble each other in height 

 and especially in mode of branching. But that may not mean 

 much, for one of them is presumably wind-pollinated and the 

 other insect-pollinated. However, their mimicry may possibly 

 give one of them a little extra protection from grazing animals. 



A near relative of our Gymnostyles, formerly regarded as 

 congeneric with it, deserves brief mention. It is Soliva sessilis, 

 another native of South America, not mentioned by Chapman 

 or Alohr, or in Small's Flora, but listed in Small's Manual, and 

 said to range from northern Florida to Louisiana. It resembles 

 the Gymnostyles in forming prostrate colonies, drying up and 

 disappearing in summer, and having small heads of achenes, 

 with corolla and stamens inconspicuous or wanting in most of 

 the flowers; but the style instead of being weak as in Gymno- 

 styles becomes a sharp spine when mature, readily attaching 

 itself to a bare foot or paw that steps on the plant. And it has 

 branched stems a few inches long, and finely dissected leaves. 



I first met with this plant on a roadside near Evergreen, 

 Ala., on April 21, 1927, and soon afterward found it common 

 around Claiborne (in Monroe County), and in the city of Mo- 

 bile. One would hardly suppose Dr. Mohr could have overlooked 

 it if it had been as common in Mobile in his lifetime as it is 

 now; but Claiborne w^as a flourishing place over 100 years ago, 

 and is almost deserted now% and one would suppose that the 

 plant would have had better opportunities to get established 

 there in the busy days than in recent years. We may never 

 know its history, though. I have also seen it in Tallahassee, 

 Fla., and with Prof. Brown recently in Louisiana. 



The putting of Gymnostyles nasturtiifolia and Soliva ses- 

 silis in different genera would seem amply justified if they had 

 no nearer relatives (because different modes of dissemination 

 hardly ever occur in the same genus, if for no other reason). 

 But Gymnostyles anthemifolia, which Prof. Brown showed me 

 around Baton Rouge, and I saw elsewhere in southern Louisiana 

 last year, is a sort of connecting link, almost exactly inter- 

 mediate (though hardly a hybrid). According to Small it occurs 

 from northern Florida to Texas, and is native of South America, 

 like the others. 



