293 



has until recently been badlj'- misunderstood. The range of the species 

 is southern Maine to northwestern Vermont, eastern Kentuckj^, and 

 south to Delaware and along the Appalachian Mountains to northern 

 Georgia and Alabama." No doubt all of the Indiana records should be 

 transferred to Betula lutca, except the Gibson and Posey County record 

 which may be Betula nigra. 



Castanca piiniila (Linnseus) Miller. Chinquapin. This species 

 was given a place in our flora in Coulter's catalogue upon the authority 

 of Sargent, Ridgway and Schneck. Ridgwaj-, in giving an additional 

 list of the trees of the Lower Wabash Valley' saj's: "There is some 

 doubt as to No. 16 Castanea pumila, which is given on Prof. Sargent's 

 authority; but there is a possibility of an error having Ijcen made from 

 the circumstances that the name 'chincjuapin' is in that region almost 

 universall}' applied to the fruit of Quercus JMuhlenhergii." The Pose}^ 

 County record was based on a specimen in Dr. Schneck's hcaharium, 

 which proves to have been taken from a cultivated tree near Poseyville. 



Querciis ilicifolia Wangenheim. Bear Oak. This species 

 is credited to our flora by Will Scott in his ecological study of "The 

 Leesburg Swamp" in Kosciusko Countj^, published in the Indiana 

 Academy of Science, 1905, page 22.5. In a reply to an inquiry addressed 

 to him he says no herbarium material was preserved. This ecological 

 work was done during the summer months while working at the 

 biological station at Winona Lake. In a footnote in this paper we are 

 informed that for the identification of the trees listed, Apgar's Trees 

 of the Northern United States was used. In this key to the trees, 

 Quercus velutina (Black Oak) is given onljr as a variety of Quercus 

 coccinea (Scarlet Oak), and the distinction between Quercus velutina 

 with its many formed leaves, andQuercus ilicifolia is not made apparent. 

 In view of the fact that the natural habitat of Qiiercus ilicifolia is 

 sandy barrens and rocky hillsides and its western range is eastern Ohio, 

 it is believed what Mr. Scott had in hand was a variable form of Quercus 

 velutina, which is freciuent in that vicinity. The evidence is not 

 encouraging enough to include it. 



Quercus nigra Liniiffius. Water Oak. This species has been 

 reported by several authors for Indiana. It is believed that a majority 

 of the records should be transferred to velutina and imbricaria or 

 marylandica. Gorby and Schneck call Quercus nigra black jack oak, 

 which is generally the common name for Quercus marilancUca. llidgway 

 in his writings of the flora of the lower Wabash Valley, likewise speaks 

 of Quercus nigra as jack oak and says it is found in poor soil. Coulter 

 in his catalogue of Indiana plants regarded these references to nigra 



'Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 17:415. 



