140 
IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
In Iowa the species is widely distributed, becoming a weed in some 
localities. The writer has collected the species in Muscatine, Johnson, 
Decatur, Shelby, Osceola and Lyon counties, and has observed it in Win- 
neshiek, Linn, Van Buren, Lucas, Page, Fremont, Montgomery, Benton 
and Emmet counties. Professor Fink reported the species from Fayette 
county; Professor Hitchcock from Story county; Mr. Gow from Adair 
county; Barnes, Reppert and Miller from Scott county; and Peck from 
Hardin county. The species also occurs in Henry and Polk counties. 
Hitchcock, A. S. Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, Vol. 
5, p. 520, 1892. 
Pammel, L. II. Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Sciences, 1892, Vol. 1, 
part 3, p. 60, 1898. 
ETnk, Bruce. Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Sciences, 1896, Vol. 4, p. 
108, 1897. 
Fitzpatrick, T. J. Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Sciences, 1897, Vol. 
5, p. 129, 1898. 
Fitzpatrick, T. J. and M. F. L. Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Sciences, 
1897, Vol. 5, p. 166, 1898 ; Vol. 6, 1898, p. 198, 1899. 
Barnes, W. D. ; Reppert, Fred ; and Miller, A. A. Proceedings of the Haven- 
port Academy of Sciences, Vol. 8, p. 261, 1900. 
Gow, James E. Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Sciences, 1900, Vol. 8, 
p. 159, 1901. 
Cratty, R. I. Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Sciences, 1908, Vol. 11, 
p. 215, 1904. 
Mueller, H. A. Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Sciences, 1903, Vol. 11, 
p. 278, 1904. 
Peck, Morton E. Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Sciences, 1904, Vol. 
12, p. 208, 1905. 
2. VAGNERA Adans. Fam. PI. 2: 496. 1763. 
Herbs, with simple leafy stems, scaly below, from rather heavy root- 
stocks, with ovate, lanceolate or oblong leaves, and small white or green- 
ish flowers in a terminal raceme or panicle. Perianth-segments 6, equal, 
spreading, with the six stamens inserted at their bases. Ovary sub-glob- 
ose, sessile, 3-celled, with two ovules in each cell; style short or slender; 
stigma 3-lobed or 3-grooved. . Berry globular, usually with one or two 
subglobose seeds. 
Flowers many, panicled. 1. F. racemosa. 
Flowers few to several, racemose. 2. F. stellata. 
1. Vagnera racemosa (L.) Morong. Wild Spikenard. 
Convallaria racemosa L. Sp. PI. 315. 1758. 
Smilaoina racemosa D'esf. Ann. Mus. Paris, 9 : 51. 1807. 
Vagnera racemosa Morong, Mem. Torr. Club, 5 : 114. 1894. 
Rootstock horizontal, thick, fleshy, with many rootlets; stem 1 — 3 
feet high, erect or ascending, leafy, sometimes zigzag, somewhat angled, 
finely pubescent especially above, frequently glabrous; leaves oval or 
oblong-lanceolate, sessile or the lower 1 — 3 inches long, acuminate, finely 
pubescent beneath and occasionally above, minutely ciliate on the mar- 
gins; flowers 1 — 4 lines long, many, in a dense peduncled panicle, about 
2 lines broad, equaling the pedicels or longer; perianth-segments oblong; 
berry red, 2 — 3 lines in diameter, speckled with purple, aromatic. 
