I 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 31 



silvery lavender phlox (Phlox argillacea) which normally 

 blooms in June produces occasional flower clusters until frost. 

 If cut back after the first flowering, it is sure to do so. — Ed.] 



Range of the Cactaceae. — Apropos of your note of in- 

 quiry regarding the range of the Cactaceae, we read as follows 

 in Bailey's Cyclopedia of Horticulture : ''Aside from certain 

 species of Ripsalis, this great family containing about 1,000 

 known species is absolutely restricted to America. The com- 

 mon prickly pear {Opiintia ficus-Indica) has long been natural- 

 ized about the Mediterranean region and its pulpy fruit is eaten 

 under the name of Tndian fig'." The language of the new 

 International Encyclopedia is very similar but not quite so 

 definite. I doubt much if you will be able to contravene Bailey's 

 positive statement. — /. M. Bates, Red Cloud, Xebr. [All the 

 trouble comes from that one Old World genus. Those who 

 wish to be exact might put it this way : there are native Cac- 

 taceae in the Old World but no native cacti, it being always 

 understood that the word cacti stands as the plural of cactus and 

 that the latter is a genus of the Cactaceae. — Ed.] 



Variations in Rudbeckia. — In noting the color varia- 

 tions in the yellow daisy (Rudbeckia Iiirta) in these pages, we 

 have frequently asserted that equally striking variations in 

 other directions would be forthcoming if one cared to look for 

 them. This statement has now been verified by A. F. Blakeslee 

 who gave a long list of variations in this plant at a recent meet- 

 ing of the Botanical Society of America, in Philadelphia. He 

 has noted variations in the number, width, color, shape, and 

 arrangement of the rays and in the size, shape and color of the 

 disk, as well as many variations in the vegetative parts. The 

 color variations in the flower were most numerous, ranging 

 from pale straw color to deep orange with varying intensities 

 of reddish brown at the base of the rays as reported in this 

 magazine. The form annulata with lighter and darker rings 



