THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



71 



were short of phosphorus, and when this was applied the yield 

 at once jumped to twent3'-three bushels — nearly four times as 

 much. It is thus seen that the absence of a single needed ele- 

 ment ma}' have an exceedingh^ important effect on the crop, and 

 those who own land would do well to ascertain what their fields 

 lack to produce their maximum yield. 



CoNOPHOLis Americana. — In reference to the distribu- 

 tion of Conopliolis Americana, scpaw-root, mentioned in the 

 August (1912) number of the Aiiicricaii Botanist, page 77, I 

 can say that in about 30 years of more or less tramping to hunt 

 plants within 100 miles of Port Huron, St. Clair Count}^, Mich- 

 igan, I saw it but once — in shade near an old pine stump — until 

 1908 when it was noticed in abundance on Stony Island in 

 Saginaw Bay, a part of Huron county, Michigan. There it was 

 in thick woods of beech, maple, elm and ash. — C. K. Dodge, 

 Port Huron, Mich. 



Conopliolis is certainly rare in Rhode Island. In my fifty 

 odd years herborizing, I never saw it within our state limits. 

 Here (Touisset, Alass.), it was found last year and this, in 

 the same spot in a mixed wood oi beeches, ironwood, oaks and 

 ash, in a soft mush of old leaves. Aphyllon nnifloruni is com- 

 mon both sides of the line, which is half a mile from my house. 

 —Dr. W. W. Bailey. 



Color Changes in Rudbeckia. — The common black- 

 eyed Susan (Rudbeckia Jiirta) is greatly prone to var}'. At a 

 recent meeting of the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science, Dr. J. Beal exhibited a dozen or more 

 striking variations in the flowers which he had selected from 

 wild plants of this species and no doubt any student with access 

 to a considerable number of these plants in flower could do as 

 well. One of the variations most frequentty found is that in 

 which the normally yellow ra3'^s are marked near their bases 

 with a band of brown. Occasionally this circle of brown 

 extends to or beyond the middle of the rays, after the manner 



