JOHNSON: A REVISION OF THE SECTION BORAPHILA 61 



from wS. Vreelandii and in distinguishing 5'. Newcomhei from 5". fer- 

 ruginea by the relative length of their petals in millimetric denomina- 

 tions. While, as pointed out above, several forms are indicated as 

 occurring in, and limited to, certain regions of the entire range of our 

 species, they can not be separated on the characters mentioned in the preced- 

 ing lines. With large collections from several herbaria before me, covering 

 the entire range of the above-named species, it appears, if the collections are 

 grouped according to localities, that the bulblet-bearing character is common 

 to all, and that such great fluctuations in the form and size of the petals 

 occur, even in specimens from the same collection and on the same sheet, 

 as to make valueless any specific distinctions on these grounds. Small's 

 species Spatularia Newcomhei, of which a photograph only is available 

 (MBG 717014), and which, according to Small, is known only from the 

 type locality (Queen Charlotte Islands) has its homotype in Cowles' 167, 

 from Glacier, British Columbia (MBG 744924), and in MacDougal's 384, 

 from Kootenai County, Idaho (UMH) ; except for the few bulblets on the 

 last named, it is, in leaf character and pubescence, indistinguishable from 

 Spatularia Newcomhei. The same applies to No. 451, Shaw's Selkirk flora. 

 Small's Spatularia Vreelandii is merely a small statured form of the plant, 

 homotypes of which occur in collections from all parts of the entire range. 

 On sheet No. 422334 USNH, collected by Culbertson at Windham Bay, 

 Alaska (Baker 4921), for instance, are two plants, one large and leafy- 

 bracted, with numerous large flowers and no bulblets and strikingly similar 

 in floral characteristics to Small's 5*. Nezvcomhei; the other small, (12 cm. 

 high) with all but the terminal flowers replaced by bracts, and corresponding 

 in every way with S-mall's description of i". Vreelandii. In fact the several 

 forms which have been described as species occur together constantly 

 throughout the entire range, often appearing together in collections from 

 various herbaria, on the same sheet. A good comparison of coast and 

 inland forms is found in Rosendahl's No. 1809, from Cowichan Lake, Van- 

 couver Island, which is exactly similar to a specimen collected by Marcus 

 E. Jones at Sperry Glacier, Montana, at least in foliage characters. Accord- 

 ing to Dr. F. K. Butters, who has made a thorough and comprehensive 

 study of the Selkirk flora, both bulblet-bearing and non-bulblet-bearing 

 forms may be found repeatedly growing together, and he has observed that 

 the bulblet-bearing habit is commonly associated with altitude. Seeds of the 

 Selkirk plants planted by Dr. Butters in the greenhouse of the University 

 of Minnesota developed into plants which ran to bulblets entirely. Plants 

 collected by Butters and Rosendahl on the snowshed at Glacier, British 

 Columbia, differ markedly from others of the same locality in being tall, 

 excessively tufted, and profusely branched, with an abundance of flowers, 

 fruit, and glabrous leaves. 



