﻿414 ON THE BOTANY OF JAPAN. 



the rounded or obtuse base) are peculiar.* Like so many other amphigaean genera, 

 Polygonatum is wanting in Western America. So also is Convallaria majalis, which, 

 ranging through the whole breadth of the Old World, from Western Europe to Japan, 

 is found in the New World only in the higher Alleghany Mountains south of Penn- 

 sylvania (the most northern known station is about lat. 37°), although the climate of 

 all the northern part of our country seems well adapted to the species, since it flour- 

 ishes and multiplies in gardens and grounds without the least care. 



On the other hand, SmUacina [Majanthemum) hifoVta extends around the world, but 

 under three pretty well marked geographical varieties ; — the European, which, extends 

 to Eastern Siberia ; the var. Kamtschatica, which replaces the former on the Pacific 

 Siberian coast, in Japan, and in North America west of the Kocky Mountains ; and the 

 var. Canadensis, throughout all the northern part of this country east of the Mississippi 

 and the Rocky Mountains. But it is curious to notice that SmUacina stellata, which 

 extends across the whole breadth of the American continent, and even occurs in Nor- 

 way, is absent from Asia, unless S. Dahurica be identical with it ; while 8. trifolia, 

 here confined to the northeastern part of America, and unkno^Ti in Europe, also 

 inhabits Siberia, and probably Japan also, as it has been detected on the shores of the 

 Okotsk Sea. And S. racemosa, which ranges across the whole breadth of North 

 America, is replaced in Japan by S. Japonica, Gray, the characters of which are con- 

 firmed by additional specimens. The Himalayan species upon which Kunth founded 

 his genera locaste and Medora appear to be strict congeners of /S. racemosa and S. 

 Japonica. 



Another American type, repeated in Japan and Northeastern Asia, is Clintoiiia, Raf. 

 Fruiting specimens gathered in the northern part of Japan doubtless belong to C 

 Udensis, Trautv. «& Meyer, from the adjacent Okotsk region. This species and C. 

 Andreivsiana, Torr., of California, are somewhat intermediate between the two Eastern 

 American species, of which the northern one, C. borealis, is replaced by C. utiijlora 

 west of the Rocky Mountains. The Himalayan C. alpina I have not seen. 



Good specimens were obtained of Disporum sessile, which varies considerably in 

 foliage, but appears to keep distinct from D. pullum and from the Himalayan D. Pit- 

 sutitm ; also, of my D. smilacinum, the character of which now needs some emendation, 

 especially as to the ovules. These, in the present specimens, are two in each cell, as 



* Polygonatum falcatcm (sp. nov.) : glabrum ; caule tereti 1 - 2^-pedali ; foliis altemis elongato- 

 lanceolatis sensim a basi ad apicem angustatis falcatis breviter petiolatis, nervis validioribus 3 ; pedunculis 

 brevibus 2 - 6-floris ; floribus flavidis ; filamentis subclavatis glanduloso-scabris. Simoda. 



