﻿GATES— PAIRS OF SPECIES 



2b. Actaea rubra var. gigantea, n. var. (fig. 9).— A forma 

 typica differt, grandior omnibus partibus; caule crasso, 3-4 mm. 

 in diametro; foliolo terminale 10-13 cm - l° n g°< latitudine maximo 

 6-12 cm., grosse dentato, dentibus ad basin 1 cm. aut plus diametro; 

 subtus rugose-venoso ; pedicellis gracilibus sed quam iis typi 

 crassioribus, 14-20 mm. longis; baccae rubrae, 7-14 mm. longae. 



This si riking giant variety is represented by several specimens and is very 

 distinct, being much larger and coarser in all its parts. It is not improbably a 

 sporadic tetraploid mutation, and it is to be hoped that some one will examine 



A. rubra when the opportunity offers. To be quite consistent, this should be 

 recognized as a species, but there is some advantage at present in regarding it 

 as a variety of A . rubra and so indicating its obvious relationship. It forms with 

 .4. rubra a "pair of species" (cf. figs. 7 and 8). Of the specimens cited later, 

 one (Dodge, 1896) is considerably smaller in all its parts, and perhaps repre- 

 sents an intermediate hybrid between gigantea an* 1 typica. such as we should 

 expect to find where the forms intercross. 



The length of the type specimen of gigantea from the base of the peduncle 

 to the tip of the central leaflet is about 28 . 5 cm., while the corresponding length 

 in typical specimens of rubra is about 17. 5 cm. 



Specimens: /. Fowler, Fredericton. New Brunswick, July 20, 1892, Herb. 

 Mo. Bot. Gard.. type; E. L. Sturtevant. Framingham. Massachusetts, July 8. 

 1890; Pammel and Ball 236. Ames, Iowa. August 1896; Cltas. K. Dodge, 

 near Port Huron, Michigan, August 2, 1896 (in part). 



A cultivated specimen from Halle in Herb. Mo. Bot. Gard. indicates that 

 the European .4. spicata L. also probably has a variety gigantea. 



Hand sections of the pedicels of A. rubra were compared with var. gigantea. 

 A series of 21 measurements of cortical cells gave in the former case an average 



9 4/*. from which it would appear that the cells are larger, although the differ- 



3. Actaea neglecta Gillman, in Lloyd, Drugs and medicines 

 of N.Amer. 235. 1884-1885. 



