264 
The Ohio Naturalist. 
[Vol. V, No. 3, 
NOTES FROM THE OHIO STATE HERBARIUM. II. 
H. A. Gleason. 
An Aronia New To Ohio. Aronia atropurpurea was 
described by Professor N. L. Britton in 1901 from Staten Island, 
and credited with a range from Nova Scotia to Florida, which is 
now' extended west to this State. It is distinguished from 
Aronia nigra by the tomentose lower surface of the leaves, and 
from Aronia arbntijolia by the dark purple subglobose fruit. 
Specimens of it are in the State Herbarium from the peat bog on 
Cranberry Island in Buckeye Lake Licking County, where it was 
also collected by Mr. J. F. Clevenger in October, 1904. The color 
of the fruit is so much like that of Aronia nigra, wdth wdiich it is 
associated at Buckeye Lake, that the species may be easily 
overlooked by collectors. 
Cassia Medsgeri Shafer. Everyone is familiar wdth the 
common Senna, Cassia marilandica L., but few' w'ould have sus- 
pected that the name covered tw'o distinct species. Mr. J. A. 
Shafer has just described * the species w'hose name precedes this 
paragraph and which has been hitherto included w'ith C. mar- 
ilandica, and has shown for it a wide range from Pennsylvania 
south to Georgia and w'est to Iowa, Kansas and Arkansas. His 
descriptions, which are quite detailed, show' a number of differ- 
ences between the species, but one of them, easily distinguishable 
at flowering time, is so prominent that attention may be called 
to it here. The ovary of C. marilandica is densely pilose with 
long gray hairs, which stand out at right angles, and give it an 
apparent diameter of about 3 mm. In C. medsgeri the hairs are 
sparse, much shorter and ascending or appressed to the ovary. 
This character alone is sufficient to separate the tw'o species 
immediately, and can be seen easily in herbarium specimens. 
The pods of C. medsgeri are arcuateh' curved, and scarcely 
dehiscent; the seeds about 2 by 4 mm., wdiile those of C. mari- 
landica are about 4 by 5 mm. These dimensions are taken from 
Mr. vShafer’s article, as there are no specimens w'ith mature pods 
in the State Herbarium. No Ohio localities are given in the list 
by Mr. Shafer but an examination of C. marilandica in the State 
Herbarium show's five sheets referable to the new' species, from 
Ottawa, Franklin, Washington, Stark and Monroe counties. 
Unfortunately, none of the labels gives any information as to its 
habitat, but according to Mr. Shafer it grow'S in dry gravelly 
situations. 
♦Torreya •4 :177, December, 1904. 
