44 
flowers. The infloresence is a simple spike, the flowers 
one in the axil of each bract, the lower one& pedicelled, 
the upper ones sessile. The variation in flower parts is 
shown by the following table : 
Flower Sepals Petals Stamens Placentae 
No. 1.... ...., 4 4 10 6 
No. 2 , 4 4 10 5 
No. 3 5 5 10 4 
No. 4. ..., 4 8 10 3 
No. 5 5 5 10 6 
No. 6 4 4 10 5 
No. 7.— 4 4 10 6 
No. 8 , 5 5 10 6 
— W. L. Jepson. 
VARIATION IN HEMITOMES CONGESTUM 
A fine specimen of this species was recently put 
before me by Dr. W. C. Blasdale who had received it 
from Brookdale. This is an Ericaceous parasite grow- 
ing on the roots of forest trees in the coastal region. 
The fleshy flowering spikes often barely push up above 
the leafy litter of the forest floor and in consequence the 
plant has seldom been collected. If the parasite arises 
from a deeply seated root it has a long spike ; if it is 
shallowly seated it has a short spike and may resemble, 
at least in early stages, a subglobose scaly cone. In the 
earlier years of botany on the Pacific Coast each time 
that the plant was re-collected it was published as a 
new species but it is doubtful if these various forms 
are valid. The subglobose type of infloresence, a 
sample of which has been sent from the Big Basin 
Park by Mr. O. A. Reed, answers to Hemitomes pumilum 
Greene. Hemitomes spicata (Newberrya spicata Gray) 
is doubtless also a habital variant. The flowers are 
highly varible as to number of parts as shown by the 
following table based on the one Brookdale specimen. 
Flower Sepals Corolla-lobes Stamens Placentae 
No. 1 4 4 8 10 
No. 2 2 4 8 6 
No. 3 4 5 10 9 
No. 4 2 4 8 8 
No. 5 2 4 7 7 
No. 6 ...., 4 6 11 10 
Nos. 2, 4 and 5 were lateral flowers in the spikelets. 
This parasite is a remarkable one. The stems are 
white when fresh and the infloresence is a faint flesh 
pink. The stamens are as long as the style, and the 
anthers stand around the annular stigma. The an- 
nular stigma is yellow and very conspicuous, forming 
a yellow eye to the flower. The anther- cells are wholly 
polliniferous, not 4 ‘half of each cell” as said for 
Hemitomes subterranea (Newberrya subterranea Eastw. ). 
— W. Li. Jepson. 
