49s 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLV 



cause it is the second historical case of mutation on rec- 

 ord. Further, because of a certain analogy with Spreng- 

 er 's discovery of Chelidonium majus laciniatum. 18 

 Sprenger, an apothecary of Heidelberg, cultivated a 

 large number of plants in his garden as was the custom 

 in those days, and, about 1590, observed there a type of 

 Chelidonium majus formerly unknown to him and to 

 which he gave the name Chelidonia major foliis et flori- 

 bus incisis. Tournefort, in his "Schola botanica," men- 

 tions three forms, Chelidonium majus vulgare C. B., 

 Ch. majus foliis quernis C. B. (Ch. folio laciniato J. B.) 

 and Ch. majus foliis et flores minutissimr laciniatis Hort. 

 reg. par. The second of these was identical with the 

 variety discovered by Sprenger, the third a form which 

 had originated in the Paris Botanic Garden and was dis- 

 tinguished from the other by the greater reduction of 

 the leaf blade. Of the laciniate varieties of both Cheli- 

 donium majus and Mercurialis annua there exist there- 

 fore two forms. While those of Chelidonium majus, and 

 especially the first, are fairly well known and may be en- 

 countered in almost any botanic garden, it is not so in 

 the case of either of the laciniate varieties of Mercurialis 

 annua. At least I do not remember seeing them, nor do 

 I recollect the occurrence of their names in the seed-ex- 

 change lists annually published. 



In at least one instance the claim has been made that 

 one of the laciniate varieties of Chelidonium majus orig- 

 inated de novo 14 a claim which to Korschinsky 15 appears 

 to lack foundation. No such claim has been made for one 

 of the laciniate varieties of Mercurialis annua. How- 

 ever, as seen from de Candolle's account, given above, at 

 least one of the laciniate forms was reported as occur- 

 ring both in the botanic garden at Angers and also atlssy- 

 lEveque. These two towns, the first in Maine-et-Loire, 



"Roze, E., "Le Chelidonium laciniatum Miller," Joum. de Bot., 9: 

 296, 1895. 



"CIob, D., "Reapparition de la Chelidoine k feuille de Fumeterre," 

 Compt. rend., 115: 381, Paris, 1892. 



15 Korschinsky, S., " Heterogenesis und Evolution," Flora, 89: 240, 1901. 



