258 



lanceolatis vel oblongo-lanceolatis 4-6 mm. longis acutis vel 

 obtusis extrinsecus dense lanato-tomentosis ; floribus 10-12; 

 pappi setis ca. 4 mm. longis; acheanlis striatis hirtellis. On trail 

 from Camp Toa to Camp La Barga, Province of Oriente, Cuba, 

 altitude 400-450 m., 22-26 February, 1910, /. A. Shafer, No. 

 4149 (herbarium Field Museum, catalogue No. 294789, herba- 

 rium N. Y. Bot. Card., fragment and photograph in herbarium 

 Mo. Bot. Card.) ; Camp La Gloria, south of Sierra Moa, Province 

 of Oriente, Cuba, 24-30 December, 1910, /. A. Shafer, No. 8257 

 (herbarium Field Museum, catalogue No. 294806, herbarium 

 N. Y. Bot. Card., fragment and photograph in herbarium Mo- 

 Bot. Card. 



The species here characterized resembles Senecio pachylepis 

 Greenm., but differs in the character of the tomentum, in the 

 conspicuously wooly bracts of the involucre, and in the slender 

 bracteoles. j ^ Greenman 



Mule as a botanical term, — In The Botanic Garden, con- 

 taining the "Loves of the Plants," which is also entitled "A 

 Poem with Philosophical Notes," there occurs an old but now 

 little known use of the word mule to designate a hybrid. 



This unsigned poem published b}' J. Moore, of Dublin, in 

 1790, contains among the copious annotations of this fantastical 

 and most amorous life of the flowers many curious statements 

 and theories. Though given in the larger dictionaries, many 

 students of botany state that they have never heard the term 

 mule used for a plant hybrid. It seemed, therefore, worth while 

 to reprint part of one of the footnotes containing the word. 



"There is a kind of pink called Fairchild's mule, which is here 

 supposed to be produced between a Dianthus superhus, and the 

 Caryophyllus, Clove. The Dianthus superhus emits a most 

 fragrant odour, particularly at night. Vegetable mules supply 

 an irrefragable argument in favour of the sexual system of 

 botany. They are said to be numerous; and, like the mules of 

 the animal kingdom, not always to continue their species by seed. 

 There is an account of a curious mule from the Antirrhinum- 

 linaria. Toad-flax. . . . Amongst the English indigenous plants, 



