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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLIX 



7. II. debilis Nuttall. Florida to Texas. 



8. H. praecox Engelm. and Gray. Florida to Texas, 

 near coast. Differs from debilis by being strongly 

 hirsute. 



9. H. cucumerifolius Torrey and Gray. Texas. Differs 

 from debilis and prcecox by having the branches mottled 

 with purple. 



The last three were eventually reduced by Gray to a 

 single species, but Small keeps them separate. My wife 

 and I have grown H. cucumerifolius for several years, 

 and have crossed it with annuus X lenticularis. The 

 first cross is quite fertile, but it is impossible to get any 

 quantity of F 2 seed. Mr. Leonard Sutton in England 

 has had the same experience; he writes (April 3, 1915) 



We are arranging for a large breadth of the cucumerifolius crosses 

 this season, but we have found as you mention that very little seed is 

 produced, and we are hoping that the plant will improve in this respect 

 if grown for a few years, and the best seeding plants are selected for 



These hybrids are of considerable horticultural value, 

 especially those derived from crosses with the red sun- 

 flower, so it is desirable to secure fertile strains if pos- 

 sible. Something may be attained by crossing back with 

 the parent species. 



The H. cucumerifolius type is dwarf, freely branching, 

 with broad bright green leaves, shiny on both sides. TEe 

 involucral bracts are long and narrow. The bulb or 

 swelling of the disc corollas is minutely puberulent, 

 whereas that of the lenticularis forms is long hairy. In 

 the F 1 hybrid the bulb is long-hairy as in lenticularis, the 

 character being dominant. Although H. cucumerifolius 

 is very unlike the other species (except debilis and 

 pracox) in apperance, its constant structural differ- 

 ences are very few. The base of the leaves, as in the 

 annuus forms, may be auriculate or truncate. The disc 

 bracts may be long-ciliate, or with the margins merely 

 appearing scurfy. It is proper to state that my material 

 belonged to cultivated strains ; possibly the wild plant is 

 less variable. 



