The stones of V. prunifolium and Lentago he was unable to distinguish, 
and he almost felt inclined to unite both, as, in our neighborhood at least, 
the former, was a most variable plant with broad or narrow, obtuse, 
acute or acuminate, glabrous or rusty leaves, and larger or smaller 
flowers, growing in rocky woods or in deep bottoms, and with many 
approaches to the eastern V. Lentago , which, in its typical form, was not 
found here. 
In V. nudum and still more in V. obovatum, the markings so characteris¬ 
tic of V. acerifolium are already present, though not very distinct. 
The stones of the European and the American V. Opulus which he could 
examine, were all broadly oval and longer than wide; but a few specimens 
of what was labelled V. edule had stones broader than long and deeply 
emarginate at base; further investigation must show whether this is a 
constant character, perhaps with others sufficient to re-establish that 
species of Purshian. The only fruit of K dentatum he could examine was 
unripe, and the stone was no doubt narrower than it would be in the 
ripe berry. 
Among the fruits of Viburna, mostly from the East Indies, obligingly 
communicated by Prof. A. Gray, he found those of V. punctatum similar 
to V. nudum , though larger; V. erosum, of Japan, with a lenticular irre¬ 
gularly marked stone, might also belong here; V. orientale, of the 
Caucasus, was the representative of our V. acerifolium; the red-fruited 
V. cotinifolium, premnaceum, stellulatum, and perhaps ColbrooJcianum, had 
stones similar to our black-fruited dentatum and pubeseens, though nar¬ 
rower. The stones of V. plicalum, of Japan, V. Simonsii, erubescens, 
and also of grandiflorum, were like those of our V. scabrellum. 
Eor those species of Viburnum , he had more fully examined, he would 
suggest the following arrangement, in which he had been obliged to 
overlook the presence or absence of a radiated inflorescence, which here¬ 
tofore constituted the principal character of the sections of this genus : 7 
1. Opulus would comprise species 5-7 with lobed leaves, radiated or 
uniform cymes, red or black-red» berries, and flat, smooth or marked 
stones. 
2. Lentago with species 1-4 ; leaves serrulate or sometimes entire, 
glabrous or squamulate, cymes even, berries bluish-black, stones flat, not 
or scarcely marked. 
3. Lantana with species 8-11; leaves finely or coarsely dentate, glab¬ 
rous or often with stellate pubescence, cymes even or, rarely, radiate> 
berries bluish-black, stones strongly marked, compressed or tumid. This 
section might be subdivided according to the form of the stones above 
described. 
4. Tinus with species 12-15; leaves perennial (always ?), entire or 
minutely sinuate-toothed, cymes even, berries purple or black, often 
shining, stones tumid with ruminated albumen. 
In explanation of the measurements given in the above table he would 
add, that he had, in conformity with the usage now almost universal 
among men of science, adopted the French decimal measure, and hoped it 
would supersede even in common life the inconvenient mea sure of feet, 
inches, and lines. For those not familiar with it, it will suffice to state that 
the millimetre is about equal to half a line. 
Dr. Engelmann had observed similar, though not as strongly marked 
differences in the fruits and stones of the different species of Cornus. Thus, 
the stone of our common C. asperifolia (a small tree with us) is siibglobose, 
small, nearly smooth, marked with very slight furrows; the eastern C. 
circinata has larger stones, marked by indistinct undulations ; the low, 
shrubby C. sericea of pur swamps bears a stone twice as large, and quite 
knotty, with thick ridges ; our Dogwood, C. Jlorida, has a larger and elon¬ 
gated stone, acute at both ends, and slightly grooved; the stone of 
the nearly allied Californian Cornus Nuttallii is still larger, obtuse at both 
ends, and scarcely grooved, and that of the northern C. Canadensis is 
from a rounded base elongated to a pointed tip, and is perfectly smooth. 
He solicited botanists to furnish him with ripe fruit of any species of 
Viburnum and Cornus within their reach, so as to enable him to prosecute 
these investigations. . 
Missouri botanicae Garden, 
geemann papers 
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