THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



107 



marked only when they begin to ripen, being clear red at ma- 

 turity. Apparently somebody made the mistake and the rest 

 copied it. A similar error exists in the Manuals regarding the 

 fruits of an allied species, the starry Solomon's seal (Srnilacina 

 sfellata). The new Gray's Manual dodges the point, but the 

 sixth edition says "berries blackish." Britton has them *'green, 

 with six black stripes, or blackish," and Matthew^s calls the 

 fruit "spotted". Wood, who was an acute observer, comes 

 nearest to the truth but cannot quite get away from the general 

 idea that the fruit is black, saying "dull ruby-red, nearly black." 

 As a matter of fact, the berries until nearly ripe are green in 

 color, striped from base to apex wath six purplish-black lines, 

 three twice as broad as the others and alternating with them. 

 Later these black stripes disappear and the berry becomes clear, 

 dark red. The berries, even at maturity, are sub-triangular in 

 cross section, not globular as the books have it, with a single 

 hard seed in each of the angles. The broader stripes of black 

 mark the line along which the carpels are joined. 



Color Variation in Rudbeckia. — In the November, 

 1913, number of this periodical, the editor in his discussion of 

 the variously colored forms of Rudbeckia hirfa leaves little 

 room for new varieties. There is, however, a form which, 

 while belonging to the general type of R. hirfa var. annulata, 

 differs from it in that the outer ends of the rays are not colored 

 a solid brownish red, but are only spotted. In the specimen 

 w^hich I found and planted in my garden the spots are. more 

 reddish than brown. This plant was found in rather dry gritty 

 or sandy soil in an open field toward the northern end of Xew 

 Rochelle, N. Y. It bore two flower heads; one as described 

 above, the other with the ordinary yellow^ rays. The day be- 

 fore, at Scarsdale, N. Y., in a rather damp spot, I found a 

 specimen of R. Jiirta var. bicolor. In this the inner part of the 

 rays for about one-sixth of th^ir length are colored a rich 

 veh^ety brown. — Edunn IV. Hiunplircys. [Until one searches 



