1896.) Botany. 585 
Century II is announced to appear soon. We bespeak for it a 
liberal patronage——Cuarurs E! Bessey. 
The Columbines of North America,—Thirteen species of 
Aquilegia are described as occurring in North America in Robinson’s 
edition of Gray’s Synoptical Flora (1895). 
These fall into two types, as follows : 
A. Old World type, with hooked or curved spurs 
A. brevistyla, Rocky Mountains of British Ammeeiea, and the Black 
Hills of South Dakota. 
A. saximontana, Rocky Mountains of Colorado. 
A. flavescens, Pembina and British Columbia to Oregon and Utah. 
A. micrantha, southeast Utah. 
` A. ecaleatata, southwest Colorado. 
A. jonesii, northwest Wyoming and Montana. 
B. American type, with straight spurs: 
A. canadensis, common east of the Rocky Mountains. 
A. formosa, Alaska to northern California, Idaho aia Utah. 
A. truncata, California. 
A. caerulea, Rocky Mountains from Montana tò New Mexico: 
A. chrysantha, southern Colorado to New Mexico and Arizona. 
A. pubescens, California. 
Ai longissima southwest Texas. 
It is interesting to note that in aT Orns ii and Guay s Flora of North 
America (1840) here were but four species described, viz, : A. cana- 
densis, A. formosa, A. caerulea and A. brevistyla. It is possible that 
some of these species may be reduced to varieties upon a more critical 
study of the genus, but even with the most rigid reduction we should 
still be left with a large representation of these interesting plants. 
Their curious beauty and comeliness, with their general distribution, 
may well warrant the suggestion which has been made to make the 
Columbine our national flower.—CHARLES E. Bessey, 
Sets of North American Plants. — Two sets of ‘panty i in- 
teresting North American fl flowering pl 
rium curators at this time. They consist very largely of species from 
Florida, that wonderfully rich semi-tropical region whose botanical 
treasures we are just learning to appreciate. The first is a set of 400 
specimens by the veteran collector A. H. Curtiss, of Jacksonville, 
Florida. A personal examination of the specimens warrants the same 
high commendation which all of m Curtiss’s work has hitherto 1 Te- 
ceived. 
