Obolaria virginica L.: A Morphological and 
Anatomical Study. 
THEO. HOLM. 
With Plate XIX and Woodcut 6. 
EW plants, as regards both habit and relationship, have 
JL puzzled botanists more than the one known as Obolaria 
virginica , and a comparison of the various diagnoses which 
have been made of it, even up to a recent date, shows that 
it is as yet generally very imperfectly known. To thoroughly 
understand this plant it is necessary to study it in a living 
state on the very spot where it grows. The many and diverse 
opinions expressed in regard to its true nature arise from 
a study of the dried material only. 
The name itself has quite a history. The plant which is 
now dedicated to Linnaeus as Linnaea borealis was the first 
one to be called Obolaria , this name being applied to it by 
Siegesbeck. Gronovius, or rather Linnaeus himself, however, 
changed the name of this plant to Linnaea borealis , and trans- 
ferred to our North American gentianaceous plant Sieges- 
beck’s name, Obolaria , which it still bears. The history 
of this plant, however, is much older than its present name, 
extending back to the days of Plukenet and Morison. The 
former called it Orobanche virginiana , and in Morison’s and 
Ray’s works it is known under the same name. Later it 
was described by Clayton, but under no special name, it being 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XI. No, XLIII. September, 1897.] 
