^273 



theless, in its original form, and[in the various combinations and 

 modifications produced during the last few years in cultivation, 

 the red sunflower merely follows the path already well worn by 

 other genera of Compositae, such as Helenium and Gaillardia. 

 Just as in the orange and orange-brown forms of Cheirinia, it is 

 simply a matter of the increase of anthocyan pigments. Char- 

 acters of this sort frequently become diagnostic of species; or 

 originating somewhere, b^ing inherited in Mendelian fashion, 

 produce a well-marked dichroic condition in a type previously 

 nearly uniform. In the case of the red sunflower, "red" plants 

 are already beginning to appear in various places about Boulder, 

 the pollen having been carried from our garden by bees. It will 

 be interesting to see whether, in a number of years, the "red" 

 variety becomes established as a regularly occurring variation in 

 the wild flora; and if it does so about Boulder, whether it will 

 gradually spread over the plains. Such questions are certainly 

 interesting and make it abundantly worth while to closely study 

 and describe variations as they are found to occur, 



SHORTER NOTES 

 ScLEROCARPUS AFRiCANUS Jacq. IN AMERICA. — ^The Com- 

 posite genus Sclerocarpus is interesting as having its type species 

 in tropical Africa and its others in warm temperate and tropical 

 America. The object of this note is to record the occurrence 

 of S. africanus Jacq. on the Island of St. Thomas, Danish West 

 Indies, where a solitary plant was found on a sandy beach near 

 Charlotte Amalia in February, 1913 {Britton, Britton & Marble 

 483) ; only one plant could be found after an hour's search of the 

 locality, and it therefore seems probable that this is a waif. 



N. L. Britton 



</ Two New American Grasses. — Schizachyrium curasavicum 

 sp. nov. 



Annual. Stems 1-2 dm. tall, branched, glabrous; leaf-sheaths 

 smooth and glabrous, keeled; blades up to 8 cm. long, 3-4 mm. 

 wide, flat, linear, gradually narrowed above to an acute point, 

 glabrous on the keeled lower surface, the upper surface sparingly 



