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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLV 



difficult positions in which they are bound to find them- 

 selves and to bring to a successful end the undertaking 

 upon which they have embarked. Further, a thorough 

 knowledge and an excellent judgment are essential. Yet 

 none of these are sufficient unless they be complemented 

 by an all-pervading love for the subject, a devotion which 

 counts all obstacles as naught and persists in the face 

 of difficulties which to most men would appear unsur- 

 mountable. Frank Meyer, agricultural explorer, now, 

 for the second time, exploring eastern Asia — last heard 

 of when entering Thibet — exemplifies this ideal. Such 

 are the men who on their return to the civilized world 

 bring back with them the rare plants which delight the 

 collector and which, in themselves frequently of apparent 

 insignificance, in a few years add immensely to our col- 

 lections. The discovery of Nicotiana Forgetiana 4 is, in 

 recent years, perhaps the most widely known instance 

 through the part played by this species in the introduc- 

 tion to our gardens of Nicotiana Bandera (A 7 . alataX 

 Forgetiana). But not always is it necessary to draw on 

 the flora of distant countries. By thoroughly going over 

 a well-covered territory one may be able to add new 

 varieties of a more or less well-known species, such as 

 was the case with Oocalis stricta viridiflora,* which, since 

 the time of publication of the original paper, has been 

 found near Thomson, Ga. 6 This plant, since the spring of 

 1909, has established itself in the Ann Arbor experiment 

 garden, spreading rapidly from seed selfsown in the 

 latter part of the same summer. The plants grow in the 

 open as well as in more shaded places and on a light, 

 sandy soil. The varietal character maintains itself per- 

 fectly, as it does in the Missouri Botanical Garden, where, 

 on a recent visit, I saw a bed of it, in the open and on a 

 fairly heavy soil. Though there is a certain amount of 

 variation in the intensity of the green coloring of the 



4 Curtis' Botanical Magazine, 4th Ser., 1, pi. 8006, 1905. 



•Hus, H., "Virescence of Oxalis stricta," Ann. Rep. Missouri Bot. 

 Gard., 18: 99, pi. 10, 11, 1907. 



'Bartlett, H. H., "On Oxalis stricta viridiflora," Ehodora, 11: 118, 

 June, 1909. 



