169 



description by Dr. Thomas C. Porter, the diagnosis of which 

 includes such field knowledge as to make it worth quoting in 

 full: "Veronica Brittonii, n. sp. 



" (V. Aiia»allis L., var. latifolia Britton). Glabrous, perennial, 

 growing in shallow, shaded rivulets; In its summer state (June), 

 the stems are erect, simple or branching, 2 to 3 feet high, round, 

 often half an inch in diameter, succulent, fistular, brittle; the 

 leaves ovate or obl()ng-o\-ate, variable in size, 2 to 3 inches in 

 length, more or less clasping at base, the lowest pair sometimes 

 contracted into short petioles; racemes numerous, many-flowered. 

 In its autumn-state (October), the stems are procumbent at 

 base and rooting at the joints, rarely producing racemes of 

 flowers; the leaves large, orbicular, i^ to 2 inches in diameter, 

 abruptly narrowed into broadly margined petioles, )4 to an 

 inch long, shining, thickish when fresh, with prominent veins 

 beneath, thin when dried, crenulate, those of the slender branches 

 similar but much smaller, petioles of the uppermost very short 

 or wanting. Inflorescence, fruit and seeds scarcely to be dis- 

 tinguished from those of V. Anagallis and V. Beccahiinga; 

 flowers pale blue, the three large lobes marked with reddish 

 stripes; capsules orbiculate, acutish." Then follow citation of 

 specimens from northeastern Pennsylvania and northwestern 

 New Jersey, and considerable interesting comment. 



From a series of letters of Dr. Porter to Dr. Britton, the 

 history of the former's interest in this plant may be traced. It 

 commenced with finding on October i, 1891 at Pot Rock, near 

 Easton, Pennsylvania, a colony of the autumnal petioled-leaved 

 form. On the 5th he wrote of having visited a colony of the 

 plant in "the little run beside the tavern above Pot Rock," 

 a station whence in "in midsummer two or three years ago" 

 he had obtained "a very different form." The plant was abund- 

 ant, and exactly that of the first discovery. On the 12th, Dr. 

 Porter was "fully convinced that this plant is genuine V. Bec- 

 cahiinga, L.," and accordingly sent a note for the Torrey Bulletin 

 to urge this opinion. He had even convinced himself of its 

 introduction from the Old World. But for us the most interest- 

 ing paragraph of this note is that contrasting the autumnal 

 state of this plant with Veronica americana: 



