204 
The Ohio Naturalist. 
[Vol. XIV, No. 1 
partial authority. But there can be no uniformity of plant names 
until botanist have discovered the nature and limits of species and 
genera. To the reviewer, therefore, the retention of the principle 
of priority in the present manual is one of its commendable feat¬ 
ures, and will advance rather than retard the progress of American 
botany. 
In the way of criticism it might be pointed out that in some cases 
there seems to be too great a tendency toward the division of 
genera and families even when they are naturally rather compact. 
If this process were to become as prevalent as species splitting has 
been recently, botanist might well despair. We would soon 
have local manuals of dictionary size. The study of subgenera 
and of the myriads of varieties and fluctuations can be accomplished 
without disturbing the names which are of importance to many 
who do not devote their entire lives to systematic questions, but 
who neverthless, have daily use for the names of many of our eco¬ 
nomic species. 
As in all manuals and treaties of the present time, there are 
various statements, contrary to the facts, inherited from the 
superficial past. As an example, the stamens of the Smilaceae are 
rightly said to be “2-celled,” but the same statement is made in 
regard to the Liliaceae, a number of genera of which, if not all, are 
known to the writer to have four microsporangia and to be quad- 
rilocular. Neverthless, taken all in all, the “Illustrated Flora” 
is one of the most comprehensive and accurate botanical works 
that have appeared in the present generation. J. H. S. 
Correction.—In the April number, Juncus gerardi Lois was 
inadvertently omitted. Add this species in the synopsis just 
before J. dudleyi. 
Juncus gerardi Lois. Gerard’s Rush. 
Plant rather tall and slender, tufted, with creeping root- 
stock; leaves flat, nonseptate, with membranous auricles; inflor¬ 
escence paniculate, perianth segments obtuse; stamens (i barely 
exceeded by the perianth; capsule longer than the perianth, 
obovoid and mucronate, trilocular; seed dark brown, acute at the 
base, conspicuously ribbed. In salt meadows and the vicinity of 
the Great Lakes. Cuyahoga County. 
Add after Smilax pseudo-china the following: 
Smilax hispida Muhl. Hispid Greenbrier. 
A glabrous, climbing, tendril-bearing vine with branches some¬ 
what angled. The stem commonly bearing numerous, slender 
prickles; peduncle inches long; leaves thin, ovate, abruptly 
acute and cuspidate at the apex, obtuse or sub-cordate at the base; 
seven-nerved; umbel 10-25-flowered; fruit a bluish-black berry. 
In thickets. General. 
Date of Publication, November 18, 1913. 
