196 
JOSEPH F. ROCK 
is also intermediate between the two species and evidently comes closest to 
PI. pachyphylla var. hawaiiensis. It has the capsule and seeds of PL 
princeps, but is stemless and has the habit of var. hawaiiensis of PL pachy- 
phylla. 
Characters such as pubescence of spike and leaves are not reliable, as 
glabrous and pubescent spikes occur on one and the same plant. The wool 
which often covers the under side of the leaves is permanent, while on the 
spike it is deciduous. Pubescence or slight hairiness disappears often 
entirely in older plants, while it is present in younger, flowering specimens. 
The stem in Plantago princeps is hairy in var. Queleniana, but glabrous 
between the nodes in other varieties and often even glabrous on the leaf 
scars. The stamens and style are long exserted in all forms of both species 
with the exception of var. Queleniana according to Gaudichaud's drawing, 
and also in the typical form as described by Chamisso and Schlechtendal. 
Male spikes, however, have not been found and that statement cannot be 
verified at present. As regards the characters of the seeds in the two species, 
the difference is very slight; the seeds of PL pachyphylla are not greatly 
different from those of PL princeps, and the number of seeds in each locule 
is also variable. In PL pachyphylla the seeds are recorded as oval and 
light brown. The seeds examined of that species by the writer are all dark 
brown and oblong rather than oval; the margins of the seeds are lighter 
because of their being transparent. 
A decidedly interesting variety of PL pachyphylla was discovered by the 
writer on the high, swampy plateau of the Kohala mountains. While the 
wool in all the varieties of PL pachyphylla is light brown or fawn-colored, 
the Kohala variety is densely covered with long, stiff gray hairs. The leaves 
are very thick and brittle and, including the length of the hairs on both 
surfaces, are fully 2.5 cm. or an inch thick. The numerous spikes are also 
densely hairy. This variety grows in sphagnum in open bogs. The capsule 
and seeds are those of PL pachyphylla; otherwise the writer would describe 
it as a new species because of the very different vegetative characters. 
One would come to the conclusion that location has a good deal to do 
with the plant habit; this is not the case with these species, although it 
may have some influence. The main reason, to the writer's mind, is 
hybridization, for we find three or four varieties growing together side by 
side, as is the case with var. pusilla, var. glabrifolia, var. rotundifolia, and 
var. kauaiensis of PL pachyphylla. So far the first variety has been found 
only on Kauai, while var. rotundifolia occurs also on Maui on the summit 
swamp of Mt. Eeke, in a modified form (oblong leaves instead of sub- 
orbicular). Variety kauaiensis is represented by a form (forma rohusta) 
both on Maui and Molokai ; on the latter island the plant is less robust than 
on Maui. Variety glabrifolia seems to be a large, glabrous form of var. 
kauaiensis and comes very close to large, glabrous forms of forma rohusta 
from Molokai. While these intermediates occur, numerous individuals of 
each apparent variety grow side by side. 
