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THE AMERICAN
BOTANIST
CONTENTS
THE GENUS ACROSTICHUM -
By Willard N. Clute.
ENCHANTER’S NIGHTSHADE
By Miss Emma E. Laughlin.
A TRUE MARCH FLOWER =- -
By Dr. W. W. Bailey.
DOES THE BOTANIZER NEED
MICROSCOPE ? mein esl al beat etek
By A. E. Warren.
THE PRICKLEY PEAR .§- -
FLOWERS IN HIDING - -
NOTE AND° COMMENT
EDITORIAL - - - =| =
JOLIET, ILLINOIS
% % % A MONTHLY JOURNAL FOR THE PLANT LOVER + &
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Ghe American Botanist
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oe EP Bi
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ACROSTICHUM ALATUM.
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
VOL. XIII. JOLIET, ILL., JANUARY, 1908. No. 5
THE GENUS ACROSTICHUM.
BY WILLARD N. CLUTE.
HEN Thoreau wrote that nature ‘“‘made ferns for pure
leaves, to show what she could do in that line”’ it is evi-
dent that he did not have a typical Acrostichum in mind for of
all plants, the majority of this group are least like the convent-
ional idea of a fern. Beginners in the study may occasionally
press the leaves of yarrow, tansy and other plants with much
divided leaves under the impression that they are ferns, but
they rarely discover that the Acrostichums are such until they
have made considerable progress in naming the ferns. More
than two-thirds of the hundred and fifty species belonging to
this group have simple entire leaves that are more like the
leaves of plantain and dock than anything else.
The author quoted, however, was nearer right than ap-
pears on the surface for nothing could better illustrate nature’s
versatility than this fact that she has made a hundred differ-
ent species in a single genus by merely modifying the outline
of a simple leaf. In some species the leaves are broad, in
others narrow, some are long and others short, some rounded
at the apex and others pointed. The bases may be wedge-
shaped or rounded, or heart-shaped and the surfaces may be
scaly or smooth. By combining these various characters in
different groups the varied forms have resulted.
Many botanists are inclined to put all these simple
.. fronded ferns in a genus by themselves and to assert that no
— species with divided fronds should be included in it, but the
;
&d ()
cy <
VAR
method of fruiting seems to bind together both the species
with simple fronds and those in which the fronds are divided.
LIFRAR
NEW Y
BOTA
GARD!
98 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
In the method of fruiting, too, this group is peculiar. In or-
dinary ferns the spore cases are to be found on the under side
of the leaves in tiny groups of various shapes, but Acrostichum
seems dominated by the principle that what is worth doing at
all is worth doing well and when it sets out to fruit, it spreads
the entire under surface of the spore-bearing fronds with
spore-cases, while in a few species a finishing touch is put on
the job by the addition of a coating of spores on the upper
side of the frond as well, a trick that other families of ferns
do not seem to know. Spore-bearing is serious business with
Acrostichum and in some of the species with finely divided
fronds, the fronds which bear the spores are made broad, and
entire so that there shall be plenty of room for the spore-cases.
A similar method of bearing spores is found in the stag-
horn ferns (Platycerium) of the green houses and faint traces
of it are seen in such genera as Gymnogramma and Lomaria
which is regarded as an indication that all these genera are
rather closely related.
The habitat and habit of the plants are as varied as their
other characteristics. Some live on the earth in exposed
places, others may be found on the branches of trees and
others, unable to flnd a perch on the branches, send their stems
straight up the trunks to a considerable height or creep among
the mosses on old logs. ‘Those that live on trees are among
the most interesting since their fronds are decorated with soft
brown scales that are often so abundant as to conceal the green
tissues below. In others the scales are restricted to a delicate
fringe on the margin of the fronds. Those that live in the soil
usually do not have these scales, from which it is apparent
that the scales are useful to the epiphytic species in aiding the
fronds to retain their moisture.
The smaller Acrostichums are not more than two or three
inches high, and the species with simple leaves rarely have
fronds more than two feet long, but some of the other mem-
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 99
bers of the group may be eight feet high, as is the case in one
species belonging to our own fern flora—Acrostichum lomar-
toides. The Acrostichums are essentially a tropical group but
in their region are abundant both as to individuals and species.
Only two species reach the United States—in Southern Florida
—but are not uncommon. The species we have chosen for il-
lustration is a form of the widely distributed Acrostichum con-
forme which is found in nearly every part of the world where
Acrostichums occur. The varied forms are often regarded as
distinct species, and the one here illustrated is usually called
Acrostichum alatum.
ENCHANTER’S NIGHTSHADE.
BY MISS EMMA E. LAUGHLIN.
OME plants attract by means of their showy blossoms,
some by their fragrance, and others by some unusual
form; but there are plants which, like some people, can be ap-
preciated only when well known. They are like Wordsworth’s
“Violet by a mossy stone,
Half hidden from the eye,”
and do not become interesting until the observer stops, notices
closely what might otherwise be lightly passed by, and so
learns intimately the life story of a charming personality
a
new plant.
Among these unassuming plants 1s Circaea Lutetiana or
enchanter’s nightshade. It is a rather common plant of moist
woods and may be found blooming from June to September.
It was supposed to have been used by Circe in her enchant-
ments so Linnaeus named it Circaea, and added Lutetiana
from Lutetia, the name of an ancient Gallic city which was
located on the present site of the city of Paris.
Circaea is a member of the Evening Primrose Family.
When it first appears in the early spring as a cluster of fresh,
100 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
thrifty, green leaves, a cursory glance will asign it to the
Violet Family. The leaves then are ovate in form, slightly
dentate, and somewhat rounded at the base. Later, a stem
grows up out of this rosette of leaves, and its leaves are of the
pronounced Circaca type, keeping the same general form, but
becoming acuminate and having the veining quite distinct.
These leaves are slender-petioled and opposite. From the
axils of the upper leaves a few branches grow, and these, to-
gether with the main stem, terminate in racemes of small
white or pinkish flowers.
The peculiar characteristic of this plant 1s the number two
which appears in every part of its flower as well as in the
arrangement of its leaves. There are two sepals, two petals,
two stamens, and two pistils which are united into a two-
celled ovary containing two ovules. To preserve this sym-
metry the petals are obcordate, sometimes appearing to be bifid.
While the flowers are too inconspicuous to be called pretty,
yet there is a certain daintiness about the wand-like recemes
which is attractive.
The fruit is obovoid in shape, much resembling a club in
miniature, and is densely covered with stiff hooked hairs or
bristles. When mature each fruit is deflexed at an angle of
about forty-five degrees. These burs often adhere to clothing
or to animals and so are carried far from their place of
growth. Cuircaea may be reproduced from these seeds but a
surer method is by means of underground runners.
By the first of August it will be found that each plant
has sent out perhaps as many as a dozen slender creeping root-
stocks, white in color, and often more than a foot long. These
form a network just beneath the surface of the ground, or a
part of their length may be upon the surface, but the buds at
the ends will always be found under the ground. After frost
has destroyed the parent plant these white rootstocks become
separated from it and lie dormant until spring when the leaves
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 101
appear again and a new cycle of existence is begun. Some-
times the stems becomes swollen at the joints or nodes and take
on a red color which adds to the attractiveness of the plant.
When this occurs the flowers also are tinged with red, or
rather pink. Another Circaea found in colder woods is Cir-
caea alpina. This is a smaller variety and is less common.
Barnesville, O.
A TRUE MARCH FLOWER.
BY DR. W. W. BAILEY.
HE first real flower of the year as that term is popularly
understood, is, in Southern New England, the whitlow-
grass, or Draba verna of science.
It is a member of the large and very natural family
known as cresses, or mustards. The alliance, owing to its
well-marked characters was recognized by Theophrastus,
Dioscorides and other early botanists,.
These characters are, in the flower, a calyx of four dis-
tinct, erect sepals, a corolla of four spreading petals, with
stalks or claws, as a rule alternating with the sapals; and six
stamens, of which four are longer than the other two. This
goes to show that so apparently trivial a factor as number and
length may play an essential part in classification. Still’more
distinctive is the peculiar pistil, consisting of two carpels
(pistil-leaves), and hence structurally one-celled, but in fact,be-
coming two-celled by a false partition caused by an extension
of the thin placentae into a separating membrane. This is
what makes the silvery shining portion so characteristic of
the garden plant called honesty.
The peculiar ovary may be compared to a parlor, separat-
ed by folding doors, into two compartments. As on the walls
of said parlor pictures are hung, so in this cell are suspended
the ovules or young seeds. In certain Californian plants of the
102 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
family, the folding doors, so to say, are only half drawn or, to
speak accurately, the placentae fail to unite across the cell. It
is always delightful to discover these gradations, confirming a
philosophical theory worked out antecedent to their finding.
Plants of this family,while commonly herbaceous,as is the
case with all eastern ones, may sometimes, as in the mustards
here, or Thelypodium in the far West, attain a height of 12 or
more feet. In some parts of the world, indeed they are woody.
The common cabbage, in one of its forms, as cultivated in the
channel Islands off the coast of France, grows into a well-
marked little tree. So various are the habits and appearance
of different kinds of cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Kohl-
rabi, and cauliflower, that one viewing them without antece-
dent knowledge, would certainly never guess their origin.
The curious Rose-of-Jericho, prevalent on the plains of
Syria, is one of this order, and is famous for its peculiar man-
ner of drying up into a ball, made of the incurved, fruit-bear-
ing branches. In this condition it is widely blown about over
the country, till reaching a moist and favorite spot, the
branches unfold and scatter the seeds. Hence its name, in
common with several other unrelated things, of the resurrec-
tion plant. A club moss of the Far West, for instance, is
sometimes sold on our streets as the true rose-of-Jericho, an
unpardonable misnomer for a species of Selaginella.
A characteristic of all cresses, which indeed, endows them
with their name Cruciferae, is the cruciform corolla. This is
produced by the four petals, so displayed as to appear, when
looked down upon from above, as a well-marked cross often
Maltese in pattern.
The order has an interest also from the fact that its
members are, without exception, harmless and, indeed, anti-
scorbutic, 1 e, preventives of scurvy. Often has their discovery
proved the salvation of an infected ship. They are, however,
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 103
in this regard no longer so important as formerly, for the
canned vegetable industry serves to counteract the excessive
use of salt provender, the cause of the disease.
Our tiny Draba, in common with nearly all weeds found
in the eastern United States, is adventive from Europe. This
reminds one of a story told of Sir Joseph Hooker when on
the Arctic Expedition with the Erebus and Terror. It is said
that Sir Joseph’s ship stopped for one night off the South
Shetland Islands, as remote and inhospitable as almost any
place on earth, and he, desiring to ascertain in a general way,
what grew in such a spot, asked some sailors who were
bound ashore, to pluck any plants which, in the darkness, they
might encounter. They returned, much to his amusement
and chagrin, with a tuft of shepherd’s-purse—one of this
family—which grows in every English lane.
Draba verna, owing to its small size—it is only a few
inches in height, and owing also, to its thin, wiry stems and
rosette of small radical spatulate leaves, is very incon-
spicuous. Its flowers are white and, as they are almost im-
mediately go to seed, it requires a sharp eye to reveal them.
The pods of Draba verna are ellipsoid but later, a native
species, Draba Caroliniana has long, narrow capsules. All the
species of the genus are classed as frequently “‘alpine,’’ which
means, not that they are confined to the Swiss Alps, as people
are apt to interpret them, but are distinctive of high mountains
the world over, near the snow line. Such mountain forms are
very pretty, often with yellow flowers. They may easily be
transplanted and made available for rock-work.
Providence, R. I.
DOES THE BOTANIZER NEED A MICROSCOPE?
BY A. E. WARREN.
S a compound miscroscope worth its cost to an amateur botan-
ist? Not being an oracle my only way of tackling the prob-
lem is by the light of limited personal experience. Of course
everybody knows the miscroscope must be used in studying the
lower crytogams and in general plant histology, but this talk is
to the ordinary botanizer who confines his attention to pickable
posies. Let us hypothetically classify a plant in which the es-
sential floral organs are barely discernible to the eye.
The lazy way to analyze (?) in an obscure case is to look for
its picture (!) But illustrated popular books don’t bother
with inconspicuous flowers; they deal with the more showy
blossoms. Consequently whether we are lazy or industrious
we must depend on our own abilities.
Now we all know how very hard it is to be absolutely ac-
curate in our early observations under such conditions. It is
so very easy to ‘guess’—but guessing is an unpardonable
scientific sin. The use of a hand magnifier helps us along to
some extent. The same magnifier mounted over a dissecting
stand having hand-rests at the side is another step in the right
direction. With these facilities a surprising amount of detail
may be made out by a patient observer. But again a limit is
reached. With important structural details still just beyond
our powers of discernment the danger of guess-work is again
at hand.
Suppose we now have access to a low power compound
microscope. The tiny ovules suddenly enlarge into marvelous
little translucent globes filled with changing lights. Details of
placentae are no longer obscure. Pollen grains are little pearls
covered with intricate tracing of dainty design. Growing
pollen tubes may be seen pushing on their wonderful way.
104
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 105
Heretofore unnoticed hairs at the base of the stamens are liv-
ing things through whose transparent cellulose walls mystery
laden protoplasm is seen streaming along its complex currents.
Dos this sort of thing pay—these occasional glimpses into
some tiny corner of old Mother Earth’s illimitable store? The
compound microscope is the only entrance gate. Diagrams
and book-talk don’t admit one into the inner circle.
As for pay—well it pays some people. It will not pay
one who never has time to look at a sunset, nor gives note to
rainbow colors in a drop of dew, nor listens to the old robin
singing in the elm tree across the road. It depends on whether
the particular amateur botanist we are ‘advising’ is in touch
with the tranquil beauty which underlies all this great pulsat-
ing world of matter and energy or whether
“The primrose by the river’s brim
A yellow primrose lis] to him
And nothing more.”
Ada, Ohio.
THE PRICKLY PEAR.
T the mention of the word cactus, our thoughts instinc-
tively travel to those dry and arid wastes where the
conditions of growth are so rigorous that few plants, save
the thickest skinned and most stolid can hold their ground. It
is something of a surprise, then, to be told that cacti are found
in many places where a more luxuriant flora prevails. Several
species are found on the plains as far north as the Dakotas and
Minnesota, and one strays into Manitoba. In the Atlantic
States, one species, the common “prickly pear’ (Opuntia vul-
garis) reaches the northeastern limits of its range in Massa-
chusetts and is fairly common in the vicinity of New York
city.
Like all cacti it loves the sun but accepts winter’s cold with
composure, and true to its instincts, selects the most exposed
106 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
places for its home. It may frequently be found basking in the
sun on the crests of the exposed rocks, rooting in soil so thin
that it is a perennial wonder how it lives at all. In such
rock situations it seems scarcely in keeping with the scene.
No matter how often it is passed its unusual form seldom be-
comes completely blended with the other vegetation. But
in the “sand barrens” of Long Island and New Jersey it
gives the finishing touches to the picture of barrenness, sprawl-
ing over the hot sand in places where nothing else will grow.
Many of those who chance to find this plant, take the
flat joints of the stem for leaves. The real leaves are seldom
noticed. They are thin narrow, scale-like structures that ap-
pear of little use to the plant and soon fall away. From their
axils are commonly produced small spines or bristles which
protect the plant from grazing animals. All the functions of
leaves are performed by the stems.
The cactus understands how to reduce living to its sim-
plest terms. It is as if it had withdrawn both leaves and
branches inside its trunk, resolved to take everything serene-
ly. In the place of bark, the stem is covered with a thick
epidermis that is slow to part with the moisture entrusted to
it, let the sun shine as hot, or the wind blow as cold, as it will.
It lives slowly, like a toad.
The flowers appear in June from the edges of the flat
stems. They are among the handsomest blooms that the bar-
rens produce, being yellow in color, with numerous petals and
stamens like other cactus flowers, but with considerable re-
semblance to the water lily. No two flowers, however, could
be further apart in disposition and habits. They divide fire
and water between them and each is supreme in its own
element. For the lily, water; for the cactus, sand and sun.
In similar fashion they divide the hours, the lily’s day ends as
the prickly pear’s begins.
The flowers are succeeded by dull red, pear-shaped fruits
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 107
about an inch long that stand erect on the smaller end and
make the plant almost as conspicuous as the blossoms do.
They are ripe in late October. The prickly pears that come
to the autumn markets are the products of a southern species,
but our native prickly pear is very like the other, except in
size and is also edible. It can scarcely be called palatable.
There is a certain wildness of flavor about it, however, which
those who welcome new experiences from Nature will always
be glad to taste.—From an article in New York Tribune.
FLOWERS IN HIDING.
HE ancients told of a flower, the asphodel, which bloomed
only in the sunless meadows of the underworld. Mod-
erns long ago set the story down as a bit of poetic fancy, but
the myth really has a counterpart in fact—so hard is it for the
imagination to transcend entirely the realm of the real. I
found this out one day in late spring when I plucked up a
purple violet by its roots, and lo! radiating horizontally from
the base were a number of subterranean blanched stalks tipped
with tiny pink and purplish buds which had been buried with
the roots in the earth. These are true flowers, producing
abundant seed underground, but are without petals, fragrance,
or nectar. Any one may see for himself these gnomes of flow-
ers by examining the bases of blue violet plants in late May
or June. In some species of violets the secret flowers are
borne not on the horizontal creepers, but on upright stalks,
and such flowers are not buried, though in other respects they
are similar to the underground kind.
There are others of our wild plants less common than the
violet that produce subterranean blossoms. One of these is the
polygala or milkwort, a small herb frequent in sandy soil,
which may attract us by its pretty spike of purple flowers that
give never a hint of the underground runners tipped with plain-
108 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
er bloom. Another is its cousin the fringed polygala or flower-
ing wintergreen, one of the most charming of all our wild blos-
soms; and I have found also in the pine barren region of our
Atlantic coast a grass that mingles earth-born flowers with its
roots.
In all these cases the underground flowers are quite small
and never develop petals, but they are more prolific in the
production of seed than the showy ones of the upper world.
Imprisoned in the dark, hidden away from the diversions of a
sunlight life, they have nothing to do but devote themselves
strictly to the business of seed making ; their capacity for beau-
ty has been checked in the bud, and from infancy they have
been disciples of the practical life while other flowers are lead-
ing a debonair, open-air existence, entertaining the bees and
dispensing fragrance and beauty to every passer-by. So have
we seen the Gradgrinds of business shut themselves in their
dingy counting-houses with no thought but to turn their ener-
gy into dollars; while other men are wholesomely helping their
neighbors, enjoying God’s blessed sunshine, and taking their
families upon a holiday now and then.
But flowers have other ways of hiding than burrowing in
the ground. The fig tree, for instance, has such a secretive -
method of flowering that people who have lived within the
shade of one all their lives, will sometimes contend that it
never blooms. As a matter of fact the branches bear every
year tens of thousands of blossoms, not one of which is ever
seen by the human eye. They are borne on the inner walls of
hollow, jug-like receptacles, which just before the leaves ex-
pand in the spring, push out upon the young twigs. In this
darkling chamber, into which the sunlight never penetrates,
the tiny florets packed side by side in a sociable company,
mature and produce their seeds. The snug little house grows
rapidly and gathering juiciness as it grows, becomes the
delicious fig that we all like.
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 109
Less completely hidden than the fig’s blossoms, but still
concealed from all but the most prying visitors, are the flowers
of many plants of the arum tribe—the family to which the
Jack-in-the-pulpit, dear to every childish heart, belongs. Here
the homely little flowers nestle about the base of a spike which
is inclosed within the arching “pulpit,” and are entirely shut off
from public view. The skunk cabbage, earliest of all our wild
bloomers, belongs to the same tribe, and hides its floral chil-
dren even more effectively. In late winter, before its rank
leaves have unfurled, this plant sets upon the still frozen marsh
a mottled, purplish cradle, not unlike a conch shell in shape,
within whose twilight depths blooms a small ball of flowers,
spreading a breakfast of pollen for winged insects that mar-
velously find them in their hiding-places.—C. F. Saunders in
Young People.
Birps As Botanists.—We have several times noted in
this magazine instances in which birds of prey have been
known to decorate their nests with various fresh plants, and
further notes on this point are given in a recent number of
Science. Branches of green laurel have been found in the nest
of the golden eagle and when these were taken away: others
were brought to replace them. The osprey is reported to carry
fresh seaweed to its nest and the herring gull adds grass and
various other green materials to its nest. Freshly-cut sprays of
hemlock have been found in the nest of the red-tailed hawk. The
collecting of these materials is regarded as due to a “recrudes-
cence of the building instinct” and it is said that no significance
attaches to the fact that the materials gathered are fresh and
green. It may be pointed out, however, that when the birds
are really nest-building they rarely, 1f ever, collect flowers and
leafy things for the work.
NOTE AND COMMENT
WaNTED.—Short notes of interest to the general bot-
anist are always in demand for this department. Our readers
are invited to make this the place of publication for their
botanical items. Jt should be noted that the magazine is is-
sued as soon as possible after the fifteenth of each month.
INJURED SycAMoreEs.—In the 18th Report of the Mis-
souri Botanical Garden Hermann Von Schrenk reports that in
Missouri and various other parts of the country the young
leaves of the sycamore were killed by the severe frosts in the
spring of 1907. While it is not to be doubted that sycamore
leaves may occasionally be killed by frost, yet the fact remains
that some sort of fungus attacks the young leaves making it
a difficult matter, at first glance, to decide whether the injury
was caused by frost or fungus.
PLant Distripution.—Every species inhabits the areas
which it has been able to reach and occupy from the starting
point of its place of origin. Neither its birth-place nor any of
the places within its range may offer the most suitable condi-
tions for the best growth and highest development. Beyond
seas, Over mountain ranges, across the equator or past other
equally effective barriers, may lie plains, valleys, plateaus and
even continents, where if once introduced it might overbear all
competition from the plants already there, extending its dis-
tribution a million-fold. Let the barriers be once passed and it
enters into a new kingdom as the various invasions of weeds
amply testify. The soil, the various factors of climate, the
course of the seasons and the actual composition of the plant
110
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 111
covering already present in the region, may be such that the
intruder becomes an integral part of the flora and it may
indeed perish in its original habitat and in the places success-
ively occupied by it, leaving us no clew as to its place of origin.
—D. T. MacDougal, in Plant World.
Law AND THE BARBERRY.—Plant students of the present
day are familiar with the fact that the wheat rust, which does
great damage to various grains, ordinarily begins its existence
by producing cup-like fruiting parts, called aecedia, upon the
leaves of the barberry. By means of spores borne in the ae-
cidia it is able to spread rapidly to the grain later in the sea-
son. Long before the real nature of the wheat rust was dis-
covered, observant farmers had noted the connection between
the barbarry and rusted grain and as early as 1755 the then
Province of Massachusetts passed “An Act to Prevent Dam-
age to English Grain Arising from Barberry Bushes” which
fixed a penalty of a two-shilling fine for every bush left stand-
ing after a certain date.
DESERT FLowers.—A desert is popularly regarded as a
vast stretch of sandy sterile soil upon which no rain falls and
in which, therefore, plants cannot grow. A more accurate
definition of a desert would be, a region in which rain falls
at such long intervals during part of the year that most
plants cannot maintain a continuous vegetative existence. Cer-
tain plants like the cactus and agave or century plant, store
up water during rains for use in drouths and are thus con-
sidered true Xerophytes, but many thin-leaved annuals have
learned the habits of the dessert and thrive even in such inhos-
pitable regions. At certain seasons of the year, especially im-
mediately after the rainy season, plants spring up as if by
magic and carpet the waste with flowers. In many places there
are so many plants that they crowd one another. A count of
112 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
some regions has shown more than a hundred seedlings to
the square inch. All these desert annuals are noticeable for
the rapidity with which they develop. This is doubtless due
to the fact that they are the descendants of a long line of
plants which have time and again had it forced upon them that
they must ripen their seeds before the precious moisture in the
soil has disappeared. The seeds, too, seem to understand some-
thing of this, and in years when, for one cause or another, the
rains are scanty, they do not grow at all but lie in the soil until
another year of greater rainfall.
Hysrips AND VARIATIONS.—The prominence given these
subjects at present makes the following list of titles of articles
published in this magazine of interest. The number preceding
the colon indicates the volume and the other the page. Hy-
bridizing plants 6:111, violet hybrids 7:117, 12:11, wild hy-
brids 12:16, Hybrid lobelias 5:101, Asplenium ebenoides a
hybrid 3:51, crossing orchid genera 5:37. The citrange, tan-
gelo and plumcot, 5:119, variation in pecan, 2:57, variation in
round leaves orchid 7:55, variation in plants 3:48, variation in
common polypody 5:55, elementary species 8:97, making new
species 10:17. Making a new variety 9:73. Possibilities of
species-making 11:21, the interpretation of species 10:117.
The American hop trees 11:43, more extinct species 3:52,
9:15. Species of varieties 4:74, origin of species by muta-
tion 3:26, new species of plants 7:111. Cinamon fern fruiting
in Autumn 2:44. Two forms of Virginia creeper 3:35. For-
mation of leaves in water 3:35. Varying size of Jack-
in-the-pulpit 9:78, Variation in toad flax 12:43. A large
Arisaema 11:40. A large head of sunflower 11:88. Single
volumes may be had for 50 cents each or for 40 cents when
ordered with a year’s subscription. The numbers are not sold
singly. See advertising pages for complete sets and other
numbers for different lists of titles.
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 113
Tue Taripot Patm.—tThe talipot Corypha umbraculi-
fera) is one of the most beautiful of palms with a tall mast-
like trunk sometimes reaching a height of over a hundred feet.
The great semi-circular, fan-like leaves are often as much as
fifteen feet in radius giving a surface of about 350 square feet.
The natives claim that the talipot can be used for one hundred
and one purposes, the principal ones being as a rain coat and
a sun shade. When a talipot palm reaches maturity its leaves
decrease in size and finally a gigantic but nearly four feet
in height is developed. This bud bursts open with a report
and an immense inflorescence unfolds itself, appearing like a
pyramid of cream-colored flowers rising to a height of 20 feet
or more above the leafy crown. Innumerable nuts follow in
due course and their appearance is a sign that the tree is near-
ing its end. It gradually begins to droop, the leaves wither
and in less than a year it falls dead.—Plant World.
PLant PuyLa.—Most people are familiar with the fact
that the genus is not the highest group in classification. Be-
yond the genus is the family which includes many genera as
the genus includes many species, and beyond the family is the
order containing numerous families. Beyond the order is
the sub-class, beyond this the class, and at the top of the list
the Phylum. The phylum is the name given to the great
groups of the plant world. By many these have been con-
sidered to be only four in number, namely, the Thallophyta
or algae and fungi, the Bryophyta or mosses and liverworts,
the Pteridophyta or ferns and fern allies and the Spermato-
phyta or flowering plants and conifers. In a recent publica-
tion entitled “A Synopsis of Plant Phyla” Prof. Charles E.
Bessey has rearranged the phyla and their lesser divisions and
now recognizes 12 Phyla, 34 classes, numerous orders and 636
families. The largest number of families is found in the An-
thophyta or flowering plants which contain 280 and the next
114 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
largest is the Carpomyceteae of fungi with 145. Each family,
order, sub-class, class and phylum are briefly described and
show more clearly than usual the relationship of the plant
world.
VITALITY OF PLANts—The vitality of many plants seems
largely a matter of moisture. A plant that cannot endure
frost, and which, of course, would be killed by a heat many
degrees below the boiling point of water, can cut off its seeds,
each of which contains a plant like its parent, and after these
are thoroughly dried, they may be subjected to heat above the
boiling point or exposed to the greatest degree of cold that can
be produced and escape unharmed. Give these seeds water,
however, and they act exactly like the parent plant in their
relations to heat and cold. The change in the seed, which
enables it to endure extremes of heat and cold, while due
largely to lack of water, is also due to other causes, for the
protoplasm becomes harder, more granulose and denser, and
changes somewhat in chemical composition.
THE FLOWERS OF THE Hop.—The hop (Humulus lupu-
lus) is one of the plants known as dioecious, that is it produces
pistillate (female) flowers on one plant, and staminate (male)
flowers on another. Some recent observations by W. W.
Stockberger have shown that the power to produce stamens
is latent in the case of the female plant and flowers containing
both pistils and stamens have been seen. A second observa-
tion bearing on the same phenomenon is that the underground
runners which produce new plants may give rise to plants that
are of the opposite sex from the plants which produce the
runners. The question of the origin of dioecious flowers has
yet much of mystery about it. In all probability the flowers of
different sexes have been formed by the dropping out of one
set of essential organs in each, but how this has been of ad-
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 115
vantage in the evolution of such species is still problematical.
The whole willow and poplar alliance have dioecious flowers
and might form good subjects for experiment along this line.
The power to produce the structures lacking in each type of
flower is doubtless latent in each plant if one could discover
the conditions necessary to bring it out.
FunctTIon oF StoMata.—In all the higher plants the
leaves are covered with a thin skin or epidermis that is nearly
impervious to water and air, but since the vital processes of
the leaf cannot go on without access to the surrounding air,
the epidermis is provided with millions of small openings
called stomata. These consist of two, usually crescent-shaped,
cells which are currently supposed to open and close as the
needs of the plant require. In dry air they were expected to
close and thus retain the moisture of the leaf, but in moist air
they were supposed to open and allow transpiration. Every
book on botany makes this statement but like so many other
things in botany that have been taken for granted, it is now
known to be incorrect. Whatever else the stomata do, they do
not open and close in response to varying amounts of moisture
in the air.
SEED DISPERSAL IN PoLyGoNUM.—It is a common failing
with scientists to over look any publication that does not make
great pretentions to authority. In consequence many botanical
facts that may be well known are again “discovered” by scien-
tists who do not take the trouble to look up the literature of
the subject. An instance of this came to notice recently in a
publication by two botanists with the suggestive names of
Reed and Smoot, in which the seed dispersal of the Virginian
knot-weed (Polygonum Virginianum) is discussed. Essent-
ially the conclusions they make were published in Kerner &
Oliver’s “Natural History of Plants’ many years ago. In
substance the principal method of dispersal is this. The fruit
116 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
stalk has a joint at the base which becomes very brittle as the
fruit matures. The walls of the stalk are rather hard and
rigid and the growth of the pith so compresses the cells in the
interior that considerable tension is developed. At the slight-
est touch, therefore, the seeds are projected for some distance.
The plant also has a second means of distributing its seeds for
the slender bakd fruit is barbd and readily catches into the
coat of any animal that brushes past it.
VIRESCENCE IN OXALIs.—The student on the watch for
the curious in nature may occasionally find flowers in which
some or all the parts have taken on the color, if not the char-
acter, of leaves. When the color and not the form is affected,
is called virescence, but when the form also is affected the phe-
nomenon is called frondescence. Several instances of frondes-
cence have been recorded and illustrated in this magazine and
the green rose and green carnation are familiar phrases of the
same thing. The latest contribution to our knowledge of the
subject is made by Henri Hus, who found at St. Louis a green
flowered race of Ovalis stricta which he calls viridiyora. In
this the petals have taken on a deep green color, but are little
altered otherwise except for being a trifle smaller and thicker.
The plant sets seeds abundantly and th peculiarity of the
flowers is transmitted to the seedlings.
Haws ANbD Hepces.—lIt is pleasant, occasionally, to
speculate upon the derivation and meaning of the words con-
nected with plants. Take the case of the word haw, which at
present stands as the name of the thorn-tree’s fruit (Cra-
taegus). This is only a secondary definition, apparently, for
the original haw meant an enclosed garden or yard and we
may assume that these thorny trees, growing on the borders of
the haw or garden would soon be called hawthorn if, indeed,
they were not given this name because their well armed stems
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 117
were first used to fence in the haw. When haw is spelled
haugh, however, it means a low-lying plain beside a river and
haw-haw is the name given to a sunken fence, wall or
ditch. In this last we see the name transferred from the ground
surrounded by a wall to the wall itself and haggard which is
allied to haw originally meant of the hedge or woods. Hedge
and haw are in a sense synonymous, though there are some
who would derive hedge from edge by the prefix of an h in
the style of some of our English cousins, and point to the
fact that we still speak of edgings for borders as a confirmation
of their view of the matter.
NAME OF CAROLINA PopLar.—Considerable difference of
opinion exists, as to whether or not the Carolina poplar is a
distinct species. Prof. C. E. Bessey has been investigating the
subject and his results are summed up in a reprint from the
Report of the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture for 1906-7.
The first use of the name, Carolina poplar, was made by Aiton
in 1789 in connection with Populus angulata. This name has
been used at intervals since by numerous authorities. Bailey’s
“Cyclopedia of Horticulture” calls the tree var. Caroliniensis
of Populus deltoides. The specific name, deltoidces, it may be
remarked, is applied to the species better known as Populus
monilifera. Prof. Bessey concludes that there are three com-
mon cottonwoods in the Eastern and Central States to be
named as follows: Carolina poplar (P. angulata), Eastern
poplar (P. deltoides), Western poplar (P. occidentalis). In
connection with these we may mention the two native aspens,
the large toothed (P. grandidentata) and the common (P.
tremuloides) and the three poplars from the Old World com-
monly cultivated, namely, the white poplar (P. alba) the Nor-
way poplar (P. nigra) and the Lombardy poplar (P. dilatata).
To make our list complete several others might be added.
118 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
Ant PLants.—A few years ago, nothing seemed surer, in
the stories of returned travellers and botanists, than the fact
that certain species of tropical plants maintained body guards
of stinging ants as a defense against leaf-eating animals and
in return for their services fed and housed the entire regiment.
Recent unsentimental students of this matter assert that the
plants can get along without the ants quite as well as a dog
can without fleas and thus all the “adaptations”? which the
plants were supposed to have evolved with reference to the
ants must be translated in some other way. ‘The ants, how-
ever, are said to be completely adapted to the plant and do
not seem to prosper at all without them. If the plants derive
any advantage from the presence of the ants this seems a mere
incidental. In this connection it may be observed that we have
an ant-plant in the Northern States in the form of the blazing
star (Liatris scariosa). In old plants the center of the tuberous
underground parts usually decays and almost invariably the
cavity thus found is inhabited by a colony of ants. The pres-
ence of these ant colonies doubtless keep various creeping in-
sects away from the plants, but the benefit is not apparent for
other plants that lack a colony prosper in spite of it.
WEED SEEDs.—In a general way we are familiar with the
fact that every wild species maintains its existence only by a
constant struggle, but we seldom fathom the depth of the
struggle. A grass field, for instance, looks peaceful enough,
but a moments reflection will convince that the plants in this
particular field are here only because they are the survivors or
rather victors of a thousand battles in which uncounted multi-
tudes have gone to their deaths. These battles have possibly
been waged most fiercely between plants of the same species,
but there are other battles of species with species, of plant
with insect of plant with cold and drouth and heat and food.
The pistils of necessity must receive the precious pollen, and
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 119
the seeds produced must not only be strong and viable, but
they must escape destruction by birds, mammals, insects and
various elemental forces. . 6.) + =). ¢s
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THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
VOL. XIV JOLIET, ILL:, AUGUST 1908 No. 3
man shall perhaps rush by and trample down plants
as high as his head, and cannot be said to know that
they erist, though he may have cut many tons of them, littered
his stables with them, and fed them to his cattle for years.
Vet, if he ever favorably attends to them, he may be overcome
by their beauty.’ —Thoreau.
THOREAU'S COVE.
By WILuaArpD N. CLUTE.
T is just possible that the name of Henry D. Thoreau is a
name, only, to many of the rising generation of naturalists,
but to those who are familiar with the literature of the out-
door world, it will ever stand for a unique and interesting
figure among students of nature. Thoreau practically devoted
his entire life to a communion with nature following his chosen
bent with a zeal and ethusiasm never equalled before or since.
A thinker of much depth, contemporary and friend of Alcott,
Hawthorne, Emerson, Channing and other eminent men, he
gave a new fame to an already famous town, and has left an
impress upon the natural history of New England akin to that
which Gilbert White left upon Old England, but far deeper and
richer in effect He never married, preferred solitude to com-
pany, and satisfying his few wants with the money earned by
= occasional lectures, and by odd jobs of surveying for the sur-
rounding countryside, he was free to devote himself to the con-
_ templation of nature
Thoreau was born in Concord, Mass., July 12, 1817 and
spent most of his life in his native town. In 1845 he built with
his own hands a small frame house on the shore of Walden
66 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
Pond and lived there by himself for more than two years. It
was here he wrote his first and most famous book which he
named ‘‘Walden,” and here, aiso, was undoubtedly carried on
much of the writing of his “Week on the Concord and Merri-
mac Rivers.”’ Concerning the location of his house, he says in
“Walden:” “Near the end of March 1845 I borrowed an axe
and went down to the woods by Walden Pond nearest to where
I intended to build my house and began to cut down some tall
arrowy white pines, still in their youth, for timber. It was a
pleasant hillside where I worked, covered with pine woods
through which I looked out on the pond and a small open
field in the woods where pines and hickories were springing
up” As to his reasons for taking up his residence here he says
in another place, “I went to the woods because I wished to
live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and
see if I could not learn what it has to teach and not, when I
came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
After he abandoned his house it was taken by a Scotch
gardener who moved it some rods away into Thoreau’s bean-
field. A few years later it was carried three miles northward
where it stood until after Thoreau’s death On the title-page
of the first edition of “Walden” there is a cut of the house
from a drawing made by Thoreau’s sister Sophia but, accord-
ing to Sanborn, the biographer of Thoreau, the trees are not
accurately drawn.
On the spot where Thoreau’s house first stood there is now
a cairn of stones which is constantly increasing in size as each
pilgrim to the spot adds a stone from the shore to the pile. An
illustration of this interesting spot is given in the frontispiece
of this issue. It was made from a photograph taken by the
botanist Alfred W. Hosmer and selected for the editor by Prof.
J. Y. Bergen, author of the well-known botanical texts. On
the back of the photograph, probably in Hosmer’s handwriting
is the title ““Thoreau’s Cove, Walden.”
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 67
The best-known of Thoreau’s works are the two books
already mentioned. Others are “The Maine Woods,” “Cape
Cod,” “A Yankee in Canada” and “Excursions.” Several
others have been issued since his death, compiled from the vol-
uminous journals which he kept for many years. Those who
have not dipped into them, would do well to try “Walden.”
In passing it may be mentioned that the herbarium of Tho-
reau is deposited in the public library at Concord where it may
be seen by those who so desire.
TRICKY PLANS:
By Dr. W. W. BaAILey.
E are so much in the habit of conceiving plants as
modest and guileless; fair and innocent, that we experi-
ence a shock when we learn that less moral kinds exist. Some,
indeed are most ingenious deceivers at times fooling even the
alert human observer. In this matter they mainly hold two
purposes in view, either to entice insects to the flowers as
pollen carriers, or to entrap them for animal food.
From the earliest days of Botany, it has been known to
everyone that the round-leaved Sun-dew (Drosera rotundi-
folia) catches ants, flies and other small insects. In an ex-
cursion made a few years ago to the upper part of this state,
with Rev. Robert Cheney, then Rector of Pascoug—a gentle
enthusiast, he found a specimen of sundew holding fast by two
leaves to a grasshopper. I tried to carry traps and victim
home, but mere shaking about in my tin box released the poor
hopper, to his joy and my unholy sorrow. Let us see how this
plant acts as a trap. Only a few inches in height, it possesses
a radical cluster or rosette of curious leaves, the blade of each
leaf is circular and about the circumference of an old three-
cent silver coin. It is bestudded all over with long hairs, which
Darwin aptly called “tentacles.” from their resemblance to
68 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
the feelers of certain insects. ‘Each tentacle is capped by a
globular disk, which exudes a sticky substance, brightly glist-
ening in sunlight. Hence the pretty name of the plant. The
scientific name is from the Greek—droseros, dewy—so the
naturalist and the mere plantlover both recognize its pecu-
liarity.
Under normal conditions the leaf has a flat or merely
depressed surface. If a minute insect alights upon it, very
shortly the tentacles nearest him curl over, hold him and exude
more secretion. More and more tentacles become involved and
the creature is gradually passed to the center of the leaf. The
blade then becomes depressed or hollowed like a basin. The
struggling animal is held tight, and is more and more bathed
in a juice now known to be closely comparable to the gastric
juice of animals. The intruder is, indeed, with the exception of
chitonous or hard parts, like wings or the elytra of beetles,
completely assimilated.
Darwin, who made an exhaustive study of sundew, and
whose observations have been confirmed by many others, tried
feeding the plant on various substances. It responded to all
nitrogenous matters—flesh, cheese, etc. but was inert to pow-
dered chalk and the like. With cheese it indulged in an orgy
suffered righteously from dyspepsia, withered and died.
In the United States besides the round-leaved, we have
other species. In Rhode Island there are two, and there is no
sufficient reasons why anothev, the red-flowered D. filiformus
with long thread-like leaves tentacled throughout their length,
should not yet turn up in South Co. or in Little Compton. It
occurs on the Cape, so near us and under our own sort of en-
vironment, that one might fairly expect it.
Providence, R. I.
STUDYING THE WILD FLOWERS.
By ik Bo Purse.
Y own inherent love of flowers has led me on many a
long and weary tramp, in search of woodland beauties ;
and as far as my ability permitted, I have studied and analyzed
those flowers which are found in our neighboring fields and
woods When I first began the study of botany, I deemed it
necessary to press at least one specimen of every kind; but the
last few years I have learned a better way to preserve the
form and beauty of these fragile woodlings, and that is by
means of the camera, the brush and the pencil. The pressed
specimen is at best a poor representation of the grace and
beauty of the natural flower; it is merely the husk, out of which
the life and sweetness of spring have forever been crushed.
Another way, in which I enjoy the wild flowers, is by
transplanting them to my garden. There, without trouble or
inconvenience, I can watch the procession ofSpring. The place
where they thrive best is under an osage hedge, where the fall
winds cover them with leaves, making a warm blanket
which the thorny branches hold in place. This space, however,
is inadequate to meet the demands of my ambition, so I have
chosen a shady nook beneath some trees, and already have quite
a collection. The ground itself 1s sand, tho moist and rich, and
to this I have added a quantity of well-rotted wood, spading it
in as much as posible. The plants certainly respond well to this
treatment, rewarding me every spring with a mass of bloom.
When one has the space, this way, perhaps, yields the most
enjoyment, tho the pictures furnish us with the image long
after the flower itself has withered and died.
Avon, O.
69
NOTES ON THE ACADIAN FLORA.
By Mrs. Cora E. PEASE.
HILE on a recent trip to Evangeline Land, Nova Scotia,
I noted a very interesting flora having many species
of a more northern range than the familiar plants of eastern
Massachusetts; yet I came upon many things that I should ex-
pect to find farther south. For instance, the dainty creeping
snow-berry, or tea-berry, as my friends in Nova Scotia called
it, the rarely beautiful O-ralis acetosella, and the lovely twin-
flower, grows in bogs not far removed from dry Sandy plains
carpeted with the golden flowered heath-like Hudsonia
ericoides. The white and the purple fringed orchis, also the
Habenaria tridentata are very abundant, and less common is
the handsome yellow fringed orchis. Robinia viscosa flourishes
as an ornamental tree, and, in many instances, like the common
locust, had escaped from cultivation.
As in the forests of Maine, the woods in the valley of the
Cornwallis River have an abundant undergrowth of the
striped maple, or moosewood, and the Viburnum lantanoides,
in some localities also called moosewood on account of the
moose feeding upon the large leaves and tips of branches.
I do not recall but a few plants I had never seen before.
Among them are the American yew, or ground hemlock,
sparsely ornamented with its glistening red berries; the water-
starwort, Callitriche verna, of fascinating interest as it floated
in the shallow water of the river in company with the long
streamers of the white water crowfoot; and the least yellow
pond lily, Nuphar punulum, growing above the mill-dam in the
back water of the same river. The flowers were scarcely
larger than one’s finger nail. This seemed to be the common
Nuphar of the region for I never once saw there our every-
where present Advena.
Many species of ferns grow most prolifically, and I noticed
as common, what I never see about our own woods and pas-
70
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 71
tures, the beech ferns, Phegopteris polypodiodes and dryopteris
and Aspidium spinulosum and cristatum,—one species of the
latter with a forked frond.
It would take too much space to enumerate half the in-
teresting things I noticed particularly in the Acadian flora, but
I must not omit to mention a potted plant called the “Grand
Pre fern,” I was shown just as I was about to return to Bos-
ton. This specimen they told me, came from a greenhouse, but
I was assured by several persons that the same fern grows wild
about ten miles from Grand Pre in the Gaspereaux Valley.
The fern resembles Adiantum capillus-veneris, but varies much
from this species as I had seen it growing in greenhouses and
in the tropics. The fronds are longer, narrower, and more
tapering ; the rachis is larger and more sweeping; and the pin-
nules are smaller and thinner in texture; the whole plant sug-
gesting a fern less robust and more graceful than Capillus-
veneris.
I very much doubt that a fern of known tropical habitat
could be found, even in the most sheltered valleys, so far north
as Nova Scotia. I know that in “Our ferns in their Haunts’’ it
is reported as occuring in the Black Hills of South Dakota, but
the temperature of this locality is warmed by hot springs. Also
there is doubtful authority for its growing in New York and
Pennsylvania.
Is it possible that a form of the A. capillus-veneris grows
in the Gaspereaux Valley, as several witnesses testify? Or is
the “Grand Pre fern” our common A. pedatum, and have my
informants, not being particularly skilled in fern knowledge,
confused the two forms? My curiosity about this fern was so
great that, had circumstances permitted, I would have con-
tinued my journey into the Gaspereaux Valley, and searched
for the wonderful Grand Pre fern until I had found it and
established its identity beyond question.
Malden, Mass.
ARCEUTHOBIUM IN WISCONSIN.
By S C. Wapmonp.
FoO® years, the writer has had a speaking acquaintance with
the so-called “‘witches’ brooms” on Coniferous trees, but
had never felt much interested in them from the standpoint of
a student of phanerogams. Last year, however, (1907) we
spent a week in the vicinity of Gordon, Douglas Co., in the ex-
treme northwesterly corner of Wisconsin, in company with
Dr. J. J. Davis of Racine, who was making a special search for
the various species of fungal growths which cause these cur-
ious deformations.
One morning we had worked our way into a_ black
spruce swamp, the Doctor examining such witches’ brooms as
were at all accessible. One “broom” in particular hung tempt-
ingly on a small spruce, and it was an easy task to bend the
tree down sufficiently to examine the bunches of closely packed,
slender branches, quite resembling a broom made of twigs.
At first glance, and without the magnifier, it seemed to
be affected by the same fungus which Dr. Davis had observed
and collected on other witches’ brooms earlier in the week, and
he called the writer’s attention to what seemed to be a swelling
of the tissues, and the formation of a great number of little
vegetative bodies, magenta-red in color, and proliferous, on the
portion of the broom which showed living twigs. A closer ex-
amination, however, under the magnifier, made us quite certain
that we had in hand, not a parisitic fungus, but a parasitic
phanerogam, and if the latter, we knew it must be Arceutho-
bium which both of us knew from herbarium specimens, al-
though neither of us had ever seen it in the field. I was just
that certain of it that I took enough material to almost glut my
collecting case. We needed only to get back to our hotel and
consult our Illustrated Flora to know absolutely that we had
found the little mistletoe Arceuthobium pusillum, a noteworthy
find, not only because it added a new and extremely rare and
me
12
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
=}
we
local species to the known flora of Wisconsin, but because it
extended the range of the species westward almost a thousand
miles, its westerly limit being set in the Manuals at the Po-
ceno Mts. of Pennsylvania.
Before we left Douglas Co., I examined many another
witches’ broom for Arceuthobium, but in every case with nega-
tive results. [I am very thankful that I had a mycologist for a
companion that morning.
Delevan, Ws.
FOREIGNERS ON THE FARM.
HE wild blossoms of the old farms where we go to spend
our summer vacations are very different today from
those that beautified the land two hundred years ago when our
ancestors settled it. As their plows turned up the flowery sod
to make a loamy bed for their cultivated crops, the native plants
were driven every year further into the wilderness, until now
as we sit in our easy chairs and look out upon waving fields of
grain and grass we have small conception of that wild charm
of fragrant, blossoming glades and meadows that so delighted
the early explorers
Of the myriads of lilies, irises, wild peas, roses, painted
cups, violets, cranes-bills, anemones. meadow rues, polygalas,
gentians phloxes, asters, goldenrods, and orchids that nature
prodigally planted where the farms of our Atlantic seaboard
now are, not a thousandth part remains today, and these only
by sufferance along neglected fence-rows or in bits of long-
hoarded woodland.
In their stead, following in the wake of the devouring
plow, has come up a host of foreigners—plants from over the
sea, their seeds brought hither mingled with garden seeds or in
ship’s ballast, or clinging like the vegetable tramps they are to
the wrappings of merchandise
74 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
Among these is the common plantain, which the Indians
called “white man’s foot,’ because it followed so closely in
his track. Daisies, dandelions, and buttercups too, have all
come to our shores with the tide of human immigration from
the Old World, the last named being one and the same with
the king cups of the poet Spenser and Izaak Walton. Wild
carrot too, that ubiquitous weed of neglected fields, is from
abroad. There two or three centuries ago it was moving in
aristocratic circles, its fernlike foliage being popular with
ladies of kings’ courts as an adornment. The memory of that
high estate still lingers in another of the plant’s common names
—Queen Anne’s lace.
Another foreigner all too common in our fields is the
black-dotted, yellow-flowered St. John’s wort, which has come
to us clothed in Old World superstition. It is one of those
plants which in the Middle Ages were sacred to John the Bap-
tist, and in monkish Latin was called fuga daemonum—“‘de-
mon’s flight.” On every St. John’s Eve (June 23) it was cus-
tomary for the people to go to the hills and fields to gather it
and hang it in their windows to put evil spirits to flight and as
“a preservative against thunder.”
Bouncing Bet, also an immigrant, has found its way into
our fields by way of the garden. Our great-great-grand-
mothers cherished it as a garden flower, and its seeds doubtless
came over in the same neat packets that guarded seeds of the
larkspur and hollyhocks, the sweet-williams and pansies and
pinks that went to the making of those delightful old-fash-
ioned gardens that were to them a sweet and continuing re-
minder of their old home. Tired by and by of the restraint of
garden life, Bouncing Bet escaped to the fields and lanes, where
we now most frequently find it gay and sunny as ever.
Mulleins and butter-and-eggs and pussy’s favorite flower
the catnip, the mints of the tinkling meadow runnels and those
round, soft cushions of wild thyme that cover the hills where
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
~
ou
the sun lingers longest—these and a score of other familiar and
humble herbs scattered about the farm’s broad acres are of
foreign origin, and Americans only by adoption. Landing
generations ago on these shores of opportunity, friendless and
without other capital than their abounding inherent life, they
have liked the land and prospered, industriously following the
plow of the pioneer ever westward, until now some are found
at the Golden Gate itself.—C. F. Saunders in Young People.
ComposITIon OF Back VoLUMES.—Since this magazine
has changed from a monthly to a quarterly it will be useful to
have a summary of the volumes for use in making up sets for
binding. The American Botanist began publication in July
1901 issuing two half-yearly vclumes of six numbers each. In
1906 and the following years the numbers for July and August
were omitted and the half-yearly volumes consisted of five
numbers each having extra pages added to make good the
omissions. In February 1908 the magazine became a
quarterly. Volumes 1 to 10, therefore, consist of six numbers
each, volumes 11 to 13 of 5 numbers each, and vols. 14 and all
following of 4 numbers each. Beginning with volme 10, in-
dexes were issued and bound in the last number of each vol-
ume. The index of volume 10, however, was incorrectly
printed and a correct one was issued separately. Indexes for
volumes 1 to 4 inclusive, were also issued separately. None
have been issued for volumes 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 but it is expected
that these will appear soon. The first 13 volumes are for sale
at 50c a volume, but at present may be had in sets for less.
Volume 14 and following costs 75 cents. It is desired that
purchasers of sets or single volumes have perfect copies and
the publishers will gladly replace any numbers that are received
in a soiled or torn condition.
NOTE AND COMM ENT
Gs
WantTepD.—Short notes of interest to the general botanist
are always in demand for this department. Our readers are
invited to make this the place of publication for their shorter
botanical items. The magazine is issued as soon as possible
after the 10th of February, May, August and November.
Farry Rincs.—In addition to the plants which Dr. Glea-
son notes as forming fairy rings we may cite several species of
the fern-worts that do so. Accounts of some of these have ap-
peared in the Fern Bulletin. In volume 7 the rings of Lycopo-
dium inundatum are described. in volume 9 those of Osmunda,
and in volume 15 those of Lycopodium sabinaefolum. We
shall be glad to publish further notes on this subject if our
readers will send them in.
TRIMORPHIC FLOwWERS.—Even the novice in botany 1s fa-
miliar with the fact that some flowers are dimorphic, that is
some plants of a certain species produce flowers with long
styles and short stamens while others are just the reverse with
short styles and long stamens. Both sorts of flowers seem
equally productive of seeds, but the two usually require an ex-
change of pollen to be completely fertile. Examples of such
flowers will come to mind in the common bluet (Houstonia
coerulea) moss pink (Phlox subulata) golden bell (Forsythia
suspensa) English cowslip (Primula veris) and many others;
in fact, dimorphic flowers are found in more than seventy-five
genera of flowering plants, though any single genus may only
contain one cor two examples. So far as known all occur
among the dicotyledons and nearly half among the Rubiaceae.
76
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. iT
Trimorphic flowers, in which there are three lengths of sta-
mens and pistils are much rarer but several instances are
known. The most classic one, of course, is Lythrum salicaria,
with which Darwin experimented but instances are known in
Oxalis, the pickerel weed (Pontederia) and the water willow
(Decodon verticillata). To be fully fertile, each flower must
have pollen from the proper length of stamens in some other
flower, and the visiting bees soon get three bands of pollen
upon them, corresponding to the three different lengths of
stamens. In some cases, the pollen grains in the different
lengths of stamens, are of different sizes and appear to be
functional only upon pistils of the proper length.
CHANGE oF SEX IN Papaya.—lIt is pretty generally
known that some species of plants are dioecious, that is, some
individuals produce only staminate flowers, and others pro-
duce only pistillate ones. The tropical papaya (Carica papaya)
is one of these dioecious species, but it has recently been dis-
covered that under certain circumstances it can change its sex.
For instance, if one of the pistillate, and therefore unfruitful,
trees have its terminal bud removed it soon begins to produce
pistillate flowers and these later ripen good fruits. No reason
for such a change has yet been given but it will probably turn
out to be akin to that which causes most plants to fruit when
their vegetative existence is threatened in any way. The con-
tinuance of the species is the most important thing in the plant
world, and the plants seem to make greater efforts to accom-
plish it than to perform any of their other functions.
PLant Hatrrs aNp Mors1urE.—The petunia and various
other plants such as the tomato, tobacco and velvet-flower
(Salpiglossis sinuata) belonging to the nightshade family
(Solanaceae) are well-known to resist drouth most success-
fully though they are not especially deep-rooted. Their ability
78 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
to do this, it is now stated, is due to the clammy hairs with
which they are covered and by means of which they absorb
sufficient moisture for their needs from the nightly dew-fall.
This explains the adaptability of these plants to sunny places.
Some of them seem to actually do better with a minimum of
watering. The common garden geranium (Pelargonium).
one of the best of plants for a dry and sunny spot, is another
that secures a supply of moisture in this way. In this latter
plant there are two kinds of hairs, one of the ordinary shape
and the other glandular. The material in the glandular hair
has a great affinity for water, and this, when taken up passes
readily on into the leaf.
TucKAHoE.—That curious growth called tuckahoe or
Indian bread which is occasionally found by those digging in
the earth has long been a puzzle to scientists. It frequently
reaches the size of a cocoanut or larger and when fresh the in-
terior is white, soft and edible and has a sweetish taste. By
general consent it has been called a fungus, supposedly allied
to the truffles, and has even been given a name as Pachyma
cocos. It has recently been discovered, however, that the tuck-
ahoe is a sclerotium or resting stage of the mycelium of a
species of Polyporus or shelf-fungus by the finding of the
fruiting portion. Thus the guesses of the botanist as to its
position in the plant world have been verified, though its re-
lation to the truffles is not as close as it was thought to be be-
fore this latest discovery.
FLacs.—Several different plants are called flags and it is
necessary to get at the derivation of the word, flag, to under-
stand the reason for it. Upon investigation we find that our
word is found with scarcely any change in most of the Teu-
tonic languages where it meant to droop or hang loosely. All
the plants to which the name properly applies are characterized
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 79
by leaves that flag or droop. The word flag, therefore, can
not be held to belong to any one family. The irises, however,
usually go by this name, or some other word combined with it,
as blue flag, yellow flag, flag lily, etc. The cat-tails were more
often called flags in former days than at present. When they
were used between the staves of a barrel to make it water-
tight they were known as cooper’s flags. Sweet flag also
comes properly by its name and corn flag by which the
gladiolus is sometimes known is also appropriate. It may be
added, in passing, that our state and national flags have been
named from the same word and for the same reason that the
plants have been.
SPpATHES AND LEAvES.—The members of the Arum
family (Araceae) have been called “the composites of the
monocotyledons”’ and fairly deserve the implication for like
the true composites the “flower” consists of numerous true
flowers clustered along a main axis or spadix. Surrounding
these flowers there is usually a leaf-like organ or bract, which
in this group is called a spathe, that not only protects the
flowers, but by its color attracts insects to perform the work
of pollination. The spathe is frequently supposed to be a
corolla, similar to that of such plants as the morning-glory or
pumpkin, and where one hears a reference to calla-lily flowers
or Jack-in-the-pulpit flowers, it is usually the spathe and not
the real flowers that is meant. Morphologically both petals
and bracts are leaves, but the bract is much more leaf-like and
often makes this plain by various freaky performances. In
the April Guide to Nature is a photograph of some calla-lily
flower-clusters that through some error in treatment have be-
haved in this way. In these, the leaves, instead of becoming
green, were pure white and spathe-like, very similar to the
ordinary spathes surrounding the flower-cluster. Upon con-
sideration of the matter, it will be seen that this abnormal form
80 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
is not so far from the normal as at first appears. In this
type of plant, the flower-cluster terminates the main axis.
The first leaf below the cluster has been modified into a
spathe in the calla, but in the nearly related golden-club
(Oronticum aquaticum) the spathe is hardly perceptible while
in the sweet flag (Acorus calamus) it is wholly leaf-like. The
calla lily which developed two or more spathe-like organs car-
ried the production of spathes a trifle farther than usual, that is
all. In this way we can easily account for the double “flowers”’
of this plant, Jack-in-the-pulpit and the like. What causes the
occurrence, however, is still a mystery to botanists. All that is
known for certain is that any disturbance of the vegetative
processes of the plant is likely to favor it.
NuTATION OF Poppy.—The poppy is one of a large
number of plants that hang their flower-buds downward until
the blossoms are ready to open. In the poppy the young buds
form a conventional shepherd’s crook, but the flower becomes
erect at the time of expanding. Other plants such as the
arrow-arum (Peltandra virginica) go through movements just
the reverse of this, holding the flower-cluster erect until bloom-
ing, but after flowering turning it downward into the water
where the seeds are ripened. A writer in a recent number of
The Scientific American appears to have slightly mixed his
facts on this head, for he says of the poppy: “Once this [the
pollen] is received the changes ensuing result in sending off
a second signal to the motor zone of the stalk and the curva-
ture reforms the shepherd’s crook which holds the capsule
pendulous to drop the seeds when mature.” It is possible this
is the case in Arizona, but in more northern regions, the cap-
sule is held stiffly erect, chinks appear in it at the top, just
beneath the broad flat stigma, and through these openings
the seeds are scattered one by one as the breezes rock the cap-
sule on its stem.
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 81
Tue Water Hyacintu —One of the prettiest sights in
the tropics is a sluggish stream or sunny bayou filled with a
colony of water hyacinths (Piaropus crassipes) in full bloom.
Notwithstanding this the plant is frequently regarded as a
bad weed, for it multiplies so rapidly as to become a serious
menace to navigation on many streams. For some years the
national government has been trying to destroy these plants in
the St. John’s river in Florida but a post-card recently received
from that region shows a portion of the stream crowded from
bank to bank with the hyacinths with a small steamer blockaded
in their midst. While constant attacks upon the plant may
serve to keep the channel open in slow rivers, it 1s doubtless out
of the question to expect to exterminate it in regions where
the cold of winter is not sufficient to kill it. The plant is not
native to Florida but behaves in all ways as if it were.
FRUITING OF TRAILING ARBUTUS.—The trailing arbutus
(Epigaea repens) is one of the plants that seldom bear fruit,
but whether this lack is due to the close picking to which the
blossoms are subjected each season or whether there is a
deeper physiological reason does not seem to be generally
known. Certainly it is not due to other rapid ways of multi-
plying such as are possessed by the potato and artichoke. The
blossoms of the arbutus are commonly supposed to be dimor-
phic, but more than forty years ago, Thomas Meehan pointed
out that instead of the flowers being long and short styled, with
stamens to correspond, they are more properly classed as dioe-
cious, the flowers with perfect pistils having imperfect stamens
and vice-versa. In none of these flowers, however, are either
set of the essential organs entirely missing. It is to be noted
that there is a sort of dimorphism in the flowers, after all,
for in the pistillate form there are blossoms with long and
others with short styles, while the staminate flowers have
long and short stamens with perfect anthers. With flowers
82 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
of such structure it is impossible for some plants ever to pro-
duce seeds. Those who have reported this plant as fruiting
freely have evidently discovered pistillate plants, while those
who could find no fruit have probably examined the staminate
form.
EprsLe Liries.—The lily family is commonly valued for
the beauty of its flowers rather than for its edible qualities, but
several of the species are cultivated for the table and must not
be forgotten. The succulent asparagus, the odoriferous leek
and onion and several others belong to this family, not to
speak of squills (Scilla), Sarsaparilla and Aloes which, if not
strictly edible, occasionally find their way into the human sto-
mach. None of these, however, are true lilies though they do
belong to the lily family, but there are edible lilies, and the
demand for them seems to be on the increase. According to
a note in Horticulture, Japan, last year exported edible lily
bulbs to the-value of nearly $500,000. The species eaten are
chiefly Lilium speciosum and its variety magnificum.
Use oF Woop Putp.—lIt is hard to realize that this
country uses forty billion board feet of lumber each year. In
fact, we cannot realize it; the amount is too great. Yet this
is only one of the many drains upon our forests. Let us take
a smaller item in the demand for wood which is not included
in the above estimates. The yellow journals, and the rest of
us, use about four million cords of pulp-wood annually. This
amount is easily realized. A hasty calculation will show that
it would make a pile of cord wood four feet high extending
clear across the United States and back again. And _ this
amount is used every year. The great metropolitan dailies are
not the only enemies of our forests, but they are by no means
insignificant elements in the movement that is sweeping this
planet bare of trees.
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 83
MISNAMED SUNFLOWERS.—It is very commonly believed
that sunflowers are so named because they turn their flower-
heads to the sun in the morning and follow his course all day.
A little investigation, however, will show that this is only a
very pretty piece of fiction to account for the comon name.
There may be sunflowers that constantly turn toward the sun,
but our garden sunflower (Helianthus annuus) does not, nor
do the common species of the fields, such as H. grosse-serratus,
H. laetiflorus, H. giganteus, H. occidentalis, H. tuberosus, A.
strumosus and H. mollis. These plants are adjusted to bright
snulight and when growing in such a position that they are not
equally lighted from all sides may turn toward the direction
of greatest light, but that they do so when growing in the open
fields may be doubted. In this connection it may be noted that
the compass plants (Si/phium), whose leaves are very sensi-
tive to light, do not turn their flowers to the sun. Under these
circumstances it may be queried whether there are any plants
that do so. Observations of our readers are requested.
ForM versus Vartety.—If there is any botanist, living
or dead, who has made a clear distinction between the words
“form” and “variety” as applied to plants, we wish someone
would rise up and point him cut. So far as our own efforts
go, we fail to find much difference in the two except that the
word variety is the more general term and may mean anything
in plants less than a species. The use of the word forma, to
designate trivial forms of plants due to variations in the soil,
moisture, light, etc. in the plants’ habitat has but recently come
into general use, being first taken up extensively by the Fern
Bulletin. Previous to that time variations in the species were
usually known as varietiees. To change the name of a plant
from form to variety or the reverse, would seem a mere change
of terms not affecting the status of the plant form in any way.
This being the case, it is surprising that a prominent botanist
84 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
should sieze upon such a slight pretext to get his own name
into print. This, however, has been done in a prominent
eastern publication where Rhus glabra variety laciniata
Carr., has been changed to Rhus glabra FORMA laciniata
(Carr.) as a new combination in the full expectation, doubt-
less, that future generations will write the name of the afore-
said eminent botanist after the parenthesis. For ourselves, we
are disinclined to accord him so dubious an honor.
Notes oN UsreruL PLtants.—The following titles relat-
ing to useful plants have appeared in this magazine. The
numbers folowing the titles refer to volume and page, that be-
fore the colon being the volume. The sunflower as an econ-
omic plant 2:60, Uses of paper mulberry 2:54, Uses for white
birch timber 4:17, The Eucalyptus as a rival to coal 5:78,
Use of prickly lettuce 1:42, Plants used for flavoring 4:77,
Use for the blue gum 6:17, Bagasse as paper stock 6:53, New
use for sumac 7:75, Commercial use of deer-tongue 5:97,
Yellow pine cigars 1:29, The Hackberry for shade 10:15,
Novel use for milkweed pods 11:89, The osier or basket willow
11:68. Soapworts 9:56, Soap tree of Algeria 6:94, Another
soapwort 11:45, A saponaceous family 5:38, Chinese soap-
berries 10:74, Mosses used in millinery 3:36, 3:73, New use
for fern rhizomes 6:15, Use of the common woodfern 3:17,
Polypodium fibre 8:117, Materials for smoking 12:45, Willow
bark for smoking 5:16, 5:60, Chrysanthemum smoking 8 :115,
New use of white-wood 3:36, Orris root 2:90. Chemicals from
wood 7:52, Croton tinctorum 12:83, Death of old dyes 7:8, A
date-leaf boat of Arabia 4:27, Porto Rico palm houses 7 :106.
Any single volume may be had for 50 cents or for 40 cents
when ordered with a year’s subscription. The numbers are
not sold separately. Prices of complete sets will be found in
the advertising pages, and lists of different titles in previous
numbers.
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 85
ManoGany.—When we speak of a certain wood as ma-
hogany we doubtless have a very definite idea of what ma-
hogany is, but when we investigate the subject we find the
name applied to so many different woods that certainty gives
place to uncertainty. What lumbermen and foresters generally
call mahogany is known to botanists as Swictenia mahogoni.
It belongs to the Meliaceae of which the China-berry tree of
our southern States is also a member. The generic name was
given in honor of a Holland doctor named Swieten, and the
specific name is an adoption of the Indian name for the tree.
So much for the true mohagany. Of the others, according to
a writer in Forest and Irrigation, the African mahogany is
Khaya Senegalensis and the Indian mahogany is Soymida
febrifuga. The sweet gum (Liguidambar siyraciflua) is oc-
cassionally called mountain mahogany, the catalpa (Catalpa
speciosa) is known in the furniture trade as white mahogany,
one of the Australian gums (Eucalyptus resinifera) is called
red mahogany and the red bay (Persia borbonia) is the
Florida mahogany. The coffee tree (Gymnocladus cana-
densis) and the western sumac (this integrifolia) are also
called mahoganies and several other trees no better fitted than
they, possess this title.
JAPANESE NOMENCLATURE.—When it comes to a particu-
larly fine and complex job of naming things the inhabitants of
the land of cherry blossoms are not a bit behind their antipodes
in dexterity. In the Japanese Botanical Magazine for July, we
find the name of an early flowered form of their beloved
cherry tree given as follows: Prunus psendo-cerasus Lindl.
sub-species Jamasakura (Sieb.) Makino variety glabra Makino
forma praecox Makino; or, if we leave out the five “authori-
ties’ which have become entangled in the combination we have
as the name Prunus psendo-cerasus Jamaskura glabra praecox,
which is still plenty long enough for the designation of
86 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
a mere form and quite calculated to make the adherents
of the “American code” turn green with envy. In the
early days of botany, every plant was designated by
a string of latin words something like this, but Lin-
neaus and his contemporaries brought order out of chaos
by perfecting the binomial system by means of which each
plant was designated by two words and no more. It has re-
mained for the moderns to turn this back in to a semblance of
the nomenclature of the middle ages. It is not quite fair,
however, to class this example with those of pre-Linnaean
days for in the new scheme, the position of each word stands
for a certan degree of distinctness, and may be roughly likened
in this respect to the figures in the decimal system.
Tue PITCHER-PLANT’S PiTcHERS.—It has usually been
taken for granted that the pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea)
catches and digests insects for the nitrogen they contain, just
as the sundew, butter-wort and others are known to do.
Some experiments which have recently been carried on by Miss
Winifred J. Robinson seem to indicate that the chief function
of the pitchers is not that of catching insects, but of storing
water for the use of the plant. While the experiments ap-
parently prove that the pitchers have no fat-digesting or pro-
tein-dissolving powers, it has been shown that they are able
to reduce sucrose and starch to simple sugars. The author
says: “Sarracenia purpurea belongs to the class of plants,
which like the bromeliads of the tropics or our Northern catch-
fly, illustrates a mal-adaption between plant and animals, for
while they serve as traps for insects they are neither harmed
nor benefitted by them, unless the number be very great. In
the sphagnum bogs where Sarracenia grows, the concentration
of salts and nitrogenous matter about its roots is so great as to
place them practically under xerophytic conditions. This
would tend to render the root system inefficient as a means of
water absorption and make the possession of a water-storing
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 87
organ like the pitchered leaf of great advantage to the plant.”
The statement that nitrogen is abundant in the habitat of the
pitcher-plant is also unusual. Most botanical writers state that
the insectivorous plants catch insects because of the dearth of
of nitrogen in the soils they inhabit. It is evident that the last
word on this subject has not been said.
PoLLen.—Even in our ordinary garden flowers which are
fertilized by the bee or other insects, the pollen grains enor-
mously outnumber the possible seeds and every bee-keeper
knows that the bee appropriates a very liberal percentage in
return for the service rendered in carrying the balance from
bloom to bloom and thus involuntarily mating them. Many
trees and other plants, in addition to the grasses, trust entirely
to the wind to carry the pollen to the female flowers, which
are frequently borne on other trees or on smaller plants than
those which bear the pollen flowers. In these cases, nature,
in order to secure the continuance of the species, despite the
enormous waste involved by such a mode of distribution
fashions a far greater quantity. At the right period, the stroller
through pine forests may now and again see or be enveloped
in what appear to be clouds of mist or smoke when a passing
breeze shakes the foliage and liberates the pollen of the flowers
associated with it. Countless millions—numbers, indeed, are
mocked at in such connections—must miss their goal for every
one which attains it, and yet in every one the race potencies
are complete despite the minuteness of the chance afforded
them for development. The human workman who was em-
ployed to make, say, a million delicate machines, knowing that
only one would ever be used would, we fear, be tempted to
scamp a good many, but nature scamps nothing and perfection
is her maxim throughout.—/ndian Gardening.
mice
| Este by Dr. A. Gla, Urbane, [G———
FAIRY RINGS.
Rs all know what a fairy ring is, a mysterious circle of
mushrooms that springs up as if by magic in some
\
meadow or lawn, and excites the wonder or imagination of
many people who see it but cannot explain. One might make
a very interesting collection of the folk-lore which is connected
with them. A mushroom fairy ring persists for a long time.
It re-appears regularly in its due season, and gradually in-
creases in diameter until finally parts of the circle die, and the
few mushrooms remaining give one but little idea of the sym-
metry and regularity of the original ring.
The actual cause of the fairy ring is the growth of the
underground parts always away from the center and never to-
ward it. Just why the mushroom should behave in this manner
is not entirely clear. Two theories have received a good deal
of attention; one, that the food supply has been exhausted with-
in the circle, compelling the plants to move outward into fresh
earth, and another that the plant has excreted a poison into
the soil, which prevents it from growing again in the same
place.
The fairy ring of mushrooms is the best known because
of their large size and their sudden and mysterious appearance,
but it is by no means the only kind. ‘In general, any plant
which spreads regularly in all directions and dies out in the
middle may form rings, and one needs only keep a sharp look-
out to find many different kinds, produced by a large variety
of plants.
The smallest fairy rings which I have seen this summer
were made by an orange-brown lichen growing on limestone
88
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 89
rocks. The rings were sometimes no larger in diameter than
a led pencil and ranged in size up to two inches across. But in
every case they were quite symmetrical, bright orange-brown
at the edge, and dull brown in the center where the older parts
had died. When young these lichens form a small circular
spot. Growth can of course take place in all directions and as
long as the rate is uniform on all sides the circular form will
be maintained. The older, central parts soon die off, and the
result is a small, but perfectly formed, fairy ring.
A larger ring, but due to the combined influence of growth
and death in the same way, is exhibited by the moss-like Selag-
inella rupestris. The plant starts from a small circular mat
which lies flat on the ground and spreads uniformly in all di-
rections. Its center eventually dies away, leaving a_ bright
green ring of live plants which contrasts strongly with the
black, deadened portion within and soil without. These rings
vary from one to three feet in diameter, and the living zone at
the circumference is two or three inches wide. There is no
apparent reason why they should not exceed three feet in size,
but no larger perfect rings have been seen Parts of the ring
may die, or obstacles may be encountered, and in this way the
ring is broken or its symmetry destroyed. One may easily find
arcs of circles, which if complete would be four or five feet
across. The most peculiar feature of these fairy rings is that
a second may appear within the first, or that two of them may
overlap.
In Kerner’s “Natural History of Plants,’ which, by the
way, is a regular storehouse of information and suggestion for
the out-of-door botanist, one may read of the rings formed by
certain kinds of European grasses. In this country a low
sedge, Carex umbellata, and a common grass, Andropogon
scoparius, both produce very sharp and well marked rings.
They also are formed by radiating growth and the subsequent
death of the older, central parts. Both species produce large
90 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
dense tufts of basal leaves, and when the ring is small the leaves
from opposite sides generally meet across the middle, and one
must then part the leaves with the hands in order to reveal the
ring-like growth. But, as the size increases with the slow
spreading of the plants, the interior of the ring becomes ex-
posed. The maximum diameter of these rings is about three
feet, and it is very seldom that one finds the central portion oc-
cupied by any other plants.
Two of our largest prairie grasses, the blue-joint, Andro-
pogon furcatus, and the Indian grass, Sorghastrum avenaceum
are also ring-formers, but in a less conspicuous way. As the
diameter of the colony increases the central portions do not die
away completely, and the patch remains solid. But only the
outer, younger parts send up the flowering stems which con-
sequently appear as a ring around the margin. These species
are two of our largest grasses, sending up flowering stems four
to seven feet high, and forming rings four to six feet across.
For fear that some may not understand the purpose of
this department, let it be repeated that it is to awaken an in-
terest in the out-of-door, first-hand study of botany. The
editor stands ready to identify plants or answer questions on
any phase of field work. And at the same time your own
notes and experiences are desired for publication. If you have
had an interesting field experience, send it in; it will interest
others as well as yourself.
There is a rush, Juncus balticus, which is very common
along the sandy beaches of our Great Lakes, and which is strik-
ing for its growth, not in rings, but in straight lines. The plant
spreads by an under-ground stem, which grows perfectly
straight and sends up erect stems at regular intervals, about
an inch apart. These stems, therefore, appear along the sand
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 91
in straight lines or rows. Those nearest the parent plant are
of course the oldest and have the advantage in size, while the
younger are all successively smaller. This habit of growth in
lines is shown by many plants, but seldom so regularly or so
conspiculously as by this rush.
What boy or girl has not thrown maple seeds into the air.
and watched them whirl rapidly as they slowly fell to the
ground? Many other plants have fruits or seeds which be-
have in the same way, and some of them can be found almost
any time during the summer. Ash, linden, box elder, and
tree-of-heaven are some common examples. Why do they
whirl so? Try some of them, examine them carefully, and see
if you can find out. If you have studied physics, compare the
motion of the seeds with what you have learned about the in-
clined plane. As to the use of it, one can easily see that by
falling so slowly they can be carried farther by the wind be-
fore they reach the ground.
Sometimes our wild plants have difficulties in getting their
seeds properly planted. A curious incident of the accidental
planting of seeds was observed this summer on an area of bare
sand. Every year the wind blows thousands of seeds upon
this sand, but the next wind will blow many away, and those
that remain have no means of getting down beneath the surface
to a depth suitable for germination. A wagon had been driven
across this sand just at the right season. The heavy wheels
had crushed the seeds down two or three inches into the sand
so that in the spring they had a favorable opportunity to grow.
Asa result, the route of the wagon is markéd by rows of living
green plants, indicating the pos'tion of every wheel track, while
elsewhere the sand is almost bare. Many of the plants in these
rows are Partridge-pea, which has very showy yellow flowers,
so that the wheel tracks at this season are outlined in yellow
and visible from a long distance.
EDITORIAL _~~=—=
About this time of the year the spell-binders of the great
political parties are beginning to adjure the young voter not
to vote the opposition ticket just because his father and grand-
father did so, but the politician is not the only person who is
bothered by this phase of ancestor-worship. A regard for tra-
dition is so deeply ingrained in human nature that it acts as a
clog upon progress in all walks of life. In the schools ancient
history, the dead languages and others that ought to be dead,
still crowd more useful studies largely because these were the
studies of a thousand years or more ago. Time was when a
liberal education consisted of a knowledge of history, Latin
and mathematics. Then it was that people believed in fern-
seed that would make one invisible, in the philosopher’s stone
for the transmutation of metals, in the mandrake which emitted
blood curdling shrieks when pulled up, in the barnacle goose
which grew upon trees, in devil-fishes that could sink large
ships, in witches, demons, cockatrices, phoenixes, were-wolves,
unicorns and other equally attractive creations of a supersti-
tious age. It isa wonder that it never occurred to some Hodge
of that ancient day to start a course of nature-study with ‘The
Arabian Nights” and “Gulliver's Travels” as texts Times
have changed, but the established order of things has always
been a few laps behind. We still are too prone to consider a
knowledge of the classics to be the chief end of man. One by
one, however, the sciences have fought their way up to recog-
nition. Alchemy, fit subject for those benighted times be-
came our modern chemistry, natural philosophy, at first the
plaything of the curious became physics, while natural history
turned to biology with its two sister sciences zoology and bot-
any. But always these have had to fight to maintain their
places, and even today a large number of the pupils in the pub-
92
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 93
lic schools end their days of study with little or no knowledge
of the earth upon which they live, of the plants and animals
among which they must live, or of the natural forces which
make such living possible. Is it at all remarkable, then, that
the great public is still back in the middle ages so far as its
understanding of natural phenomena is concerned? Absolutely
ignorant of botany, it is not surprising that many people still
plant their seeds in “the sign of the moon,” believe in man-eat-
ing plants, dose their ailing shade trees with calomel and sul-
phur, and swallow with gusto the silly stories about plants
in the Sunday paper. With no idea of zoology, they may well
believe horse-hairs turn to snakes, that dragon flies will sew
up their ears, that a crow with its tongue split can talk, that a
snake’s tail always lives until the sun sets, that a snapping tur-
tle never lets go until it thunders and so on through the list.
A large number of the people in enlightened America still be-
lieve in ghosts, dreams, fortune-telling, divining rods, the evil
eye, luck, witches, charms, etc., but these are the people who
have never studied the sciences. At present educational circles
are wrought up over the question of whether we should teach
for vocation or for avocation but behind this is the more i1m-
portant question of shall we teach pupils of the past or fit them
for the future? If for the future, history, art, literature and
the languages, however valuable they may be in any form of
culture must give place in large measures to the sciences,
mathematics and a thorough drill in our mother tongue . It is
inconceivable that the world will much longer tolerate a system
of education that does not look toward a knowledge of the
earth, the animals and the plants for every pupil. Science and
superstition cannot dwell in harmony To foster the one, is to
eradicate the other.
* ok *
Occasionally we hear it said that the study of botany is a
fad that is bound to decline in popularity, but recent statistics
94 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
from the universities do not give the pessimists much en-
couragement. According to Science there were 184 doctorates
in science conferred in 1908 and when these are sorted out ac-
cording to subject, botany stands sixth in the _ list,
being exceded by chemistry, physics, zoology, psychology
and mathematics only. Other familiar sciences that fell
behind it are geology, physiology, astronomy, anthro-
pology and anatomy. It also shows up well in compari-
son with the languages for Latin can show but one more doc-
torate to its credit while Greek has 2, the romance languages
1, and the German languages 3 more. The highest number of
doctorates conferred in any one branch was thirty-two, history
and chemistry each claiming this number. Zoology, the second
highest science was only exceeded by English. Nearly one
hundred more doctorates were conferred in science than in all
the other branches combined.
oe ae
Another illustration of how easily the public can be fooled
about anything that pertains to science has been given by no
less a publication than the Technical World which published a
most astonishing and eroneous acount of “The Rootless Cac-
tus of Cklifornia”’ in the July number. A straightforward and
accurate article upon anything botanical has very little chance
of getting into print in competition with these wonderful
stories of things that exist only in the imagination
isle, oan
The Botanical Gazette recently advanced its subscription
price from $5.00 to $7.00 a year, giving as the reason the in-
creased cost of publication and, by implication the lack of sup-
port. At the $5.00 rate it is esserted the magazine ran about
$2,000 behind each year. Some _ investigations of the
price of European botanical publications indicate that they cost
their subscribers about one cent a page. At the new rate the
Botanical Gazette will cost about three-fourths of a cent a
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 95
page. It may be said in passing that the rate of The American
Botamist is the lowest of any, being about half a cent a page.
It is to be regretted that the constantly advancing prices of
such publications as The Botanical Gazette and the Torrey
Bulletin are drawing them away from the common people who
cannot, or who will not, pay such prices, thus leaving a gulf
between. the general public and the scientist which should not
be. It will be a bad day for botany when the leaders get
perched so high upon their pedestals that the rest of us cannot
find out what they are doing,
BOOKS AND WRITERS.
The American Inventor which many will remember will
regret as the successor to Popular Science has recently ceased
publication.
It does not take long to get a reputation for age among
botanical publications. One change after another serves to
put the well-known names of such publications into the limbo
of forgotten things. A few years ago, Meehans’ Monthly
was among the first of botanical magazines. At the death of
its editor it was merged with Floral Life. A little later and the
well-known Mayflower met the same fate. Now Floral Life
has lost its life and has been merged with The Household
Journal, a 14 page publication which began existence this year.
Surveying this great mortality the American Botanist begins
to feel quite aged.
With the September number, Forestry and Irrigation
published at Washington, D. C., changes its title to Conscrva-
tion. The journal, now in its 14th volume began life as a thin
monthly called The Forester. Later it joined forces with Irri-
gation with the title it has used up to the present. It is now a
96 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
representative magazine devoted to the conservation of our
woods, waters, soils and ores and is doing most valuable work
in awakening a sentiment for the protection of our natural re-
sources.
Miss Anne Wilson has recently issued a little book called
“Boggy Solitudes of Nantucket’ which is mainly a chronicle
of some of the plants and animals of the region mentioned. It
is somewhat after the manner of a local flora and somewhat
after—a long way after—Mrs. Danas “According to Season.”
Those who visit Nantucket will find it a good book to take
along though it does not give localities for the interesting
plants mentioned. It is published by the Neale Publishing Co.,
New York at $1.25.
Tree-books, good, bad and indifferent have appeared on
the market and all, even the bad ones, have done something to
advance the knowledge of our trees, but no single book that
the reviewer has seen contains so much that is useful and so
little that is bad, as “Our Trees; How to Know Them,” by
Arthur I. Emerson and Clarence M. Weed. Anyone with in-
telligence enough to recognize a given tree when he sees it a
second time cannot go astray with this book. Each tree is
illustrated by a good plate, or rather a composite plate, which
gives a view of the tree as a whole, with usually life sized
photographs of the leaves, flowers and fruits and one has but
to turn the pages until he comes to an exact representation of
the tree he wishes to name. On the page facing each plate
is a popular account of the tree, including its range, folk-lore,
poetry, etc. The book is a large and well printed octavo of
nearly 300 pages and is published by the J. B. Lippincott Co.,
Philadelphia at $3.00 net.
The Best Botanical Works
The American Botanist may be clubbed with any book below for 50 cents
additional. All books are sent postpaid. Starred titles have been reviewed in
American Botanist.
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CONTENTS
THE EVOLUTION OF A TUBER - 97
By Willard N. Clute.
CHLOROGALUM POMERIDANUM =. 103
By Mrs. Emma Buszek.
THE PINE BARRENS OF LAKE-
Boe 2A Snares Sen eR ORRIN
By Pauline Kaufman.
A VEGETABLE WONDER -
By Dr. W. W. Bailey.
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ROSETTES OF HELIANTHUS OCCIDENTALIS.
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
VOL. XIV JOLIET, ILL., NOVEMBER, 1908 No. 4
“These naked shoots,
Barren as lances, among which the wind
Makes wintry music, sighing as it goes,
Shall put their graceful foliage on again
And more aspiring, and with ampler spread,
Shall boast new charms, and more than they have lost.”
—Cowper.
THE EVOLUTION OF A TUBER.
BY WILLARD N. CLUTE.
HE true sunflowers, members of the genus Helianthus are
supposed to include both annual and perennial species,
but a very slight investigation is sufficient to show that there
are very few of the latter among them. It is true that many
species, once planted, will continue to come up for years in-
stead of dying at the end of the season as the common sun-
flower of the gardens (Helianthus annuus) does, but the fact
remains that the plants which come up are no more the plant
originally planted than are the seedlings of the garden sun-
flower which may spring up in subsequent seasons. To be
considered a true perennial the same plant must live for several
successive seasons. The Solomon’s seal, blod-root and tril-
lium are real perennials; the sunflowers only appear to be
such because many of them have evolved special means for
carrying the life of the species over seasons unfavorable to
growth. The garden sunflower has but one way of surviving
the winter namely, by means of seeds in each of which is
snugly packed a miniature plant, while the parent plant dies
end is therefore an annual.
98 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
It may be said here that annual plants are annuals, not so
much because they cannot survive the rigors of winter, as be-
cause they die of exhaustion due to seed-bearing ; indeed, many
plants that survive the cold and storms of winter as mere seed-
HELIANTHUS SCABERRIMUS
lings, die in the midst of summer’s plenty having used all their
strength in the production of flowers and fruits. Many an
annual which ordinarily completes its life-cycle in a few weeks
or months in the milder part of the year will, when planted
late in autumn, thus survive the winter as a “‘winter annual.”
The century plant (Agave) is typical of still another phase
of plant life. In this, the plant gathers strength for several
years and then finally blooms, fruits and dies but not before it
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 99
has produced several off-shoots from the base, each of which
may develop into a new plant and repeat the process.
Returning to our sunflowers, we see that if our species of
the garden should be able to put out basal shoots after the
manner of the century plant, it would be as much of a perennial
as many of its relatives regarded as such, though the original
plant would no longer be in existence. This is exactly what
happens in the case of the western sunflower (Helianthus
occidentalis) a species of the western plains which, after
flowering, sends out basal branches that travel for some dis-
tance just beneath the surface of the earth and finally reappear
forming handsome rosettes of sturdy green leaves that become
well established plants before the advent of winter. Here and
there along their course underground, the branches put forth
roots and these act as gatherers of food for the new plant until
it is entirely independent.
There is, however, many dangers threatening any
plant whose leaves are above ground all winter. It would be
much better, apparently, to have the permanent parts below the
HELIANTHUS GROSSE-SERRATUS
surface. This latter method has been adopted by the rough
sunflower (H. scaberrimus) which sends out shorter branches
or runners which stop just at the surface of the earth and
there produce a bud-like tip and numerous roots but with no
leaves above ground. The hairy sunflower (H. mollis) and the
large-toothed sunflower (H. grosse-serratus) have improved
upon this method, somewhat, by sending their subterranean
branches deeper into the soil where they are safe from evapora-
100 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
tion, mechanical injury and sudden changes of temperature.
Not until a new spring do their bud-like tips start upward.
All these subterranean parts are true branches and in the
large-toothed sunflower, at least, plainly indicate their rela-
tionships by often springing from the stem at some distance
YOUNG HELIANTHUS GROSSE-SERRATUS
from the ground and making a decided downward curve in
order to enter the soil. A section of the lower part of the stem
of this species will afford an excellent study in plant adaptation.
Nearest the roots are branches that are plainly destined to be-
come subterranean and to produce new plants vegetatively, at
the other extreme are aerial branches intent on the production
of flowers and seeds, while between them are dwarfed branches,
some of them little more than buds that seem to have been in
some doubt which way to grow and so have grown little in any
direction. This, too, is a good illustration of the old saw
that “he who hesitates is lost’’ for these examples of inde-
cision fall with the dead stem and so come to naught.
In the large-toothed sunflower is also seen an effort to
store an unusual amount of food. Large plants have two or
three stout straight roots projecting downward at an angle not
unlike dahlia “tubers” as the roots of that plant are often mis-
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 101
called. The dominant instinct is seen even in the seedlings
which, whether they flower the first season or not, are sure to
lay up a store of food in the tap-root which becomes thickened
and rounded in the process. If the main stem of such a plant
continues to send up new stems for several successive seasons.
it is of course, a real perennial, and the species under discus-
sion is near to becoming one, but even in the seedling there is
manifested a disposition to send out underground stems like
the others mentioned and to become not a perennial plant but
a perennial succession of plant parts.
The showy sunflower (H. laetiflorus) wastes no time in
storing food in its roots. It is wholly committed to storing
its food where the new plants can use it most readily. Its
branches dip down from the base of the stem as in other spe-
cies but the food-store is now localized near the tip of the
underground part instead of more or less throughout its
length. Enlargements of the branch, here and there, however,
indicate that the storing of the food in the tips is a character
as yet none too firmly fixed. The roots springing from the
food-bearing part are now less numerous; in fact,
|; we here have a real tuber though rather longer for
| the diameter than we are accustomed to fancy such
| things. It is, however so well stocked with inulin, the
; material allied to starch so commonly stored by
Composites, that it is crisp, tender and quite edible.
Last in the series comes the artichoke (H.
|; tuberosus). Its tuber-bearing branches no longer
spring from above ground but are given off below
‘HELIANTHUS LAETIFLORUS
102 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
the surface like those of our common potato. Like that spe-
cies, too, the tip is the part reserved for storage and is rounded
out into a shape approaching spherical. It produces no roots
and the stem along which the food is brought for storage is
slender and apparently intended merely to transport the food.
The tuber still bears scales that are manifestly homologous
with the leaves on the aerial stems and they subtend the buds
that will give rise to new aerial stems next year. These leaf-
like parts are not so clearly discerned on the potato, which is
the tuber par excellence, but they may be found forming part
of the “eyes,” as the transformed nodes of the stem are called.
The sunflower tubers lack the corky outer layers of cells that
keep the potato from shrivelling when exposed to the air and
so are more dependent upon the earth for protection, but they
are tubers none the less; the last step in the evolution of an un-
derground method of vegetative reproduction.
HELIANTHUS TUBEROSUS
CHLOROGALUM POMERIDANUM.
BY MRS. EMMA BUZEK.
MONG the first plants to show signs of renewed activity
after the winter rains in California are over is the soap
root (Chlorogalum pomeridanum). Last year early in March,
while climbing the hills I saw clusters of leaves with blades of
bright green, rippled along a midrib from two to three feet
long. They were beautiful, and I anticipated something rare
when the plant should blossom. A few weeks later, thinking it
about time for the flowers to appear, I went to see them, but
found all signs of life gone; a few dry, brown leaves were all
that remained to indicate where the plant had been. I was
much disappointed, and promised myself I would watch more
closely another year.
The following July I was walking in the same region,
and came upon a slender stalk growing from the spot where I
had seen the clustered leaves; this stalk grew rapidly to the
height of five or six feet, with widespreading branches, so that it
looked like a small tree. Every afternoon at about four o’clock
the branches were covered with the dantiest little flowers of
lily shape, giving promise of seeds in abundance for my col-
lection.
After the seeds matured I decided to examine the roots of
this wonderful plant which could produce such a luxuriant
growth of leaves, such beautiful flowers, and such quantities of
seeds on a dry hill side where everything else had given up
the struggle long ago. So with knife and trowel I proceeded
to dig it up, finding it more of a task than I had supposed. I
dug until I had a hole about eighteen inches deep, dry and hard
to the bottom; I was fast becominng discouraged when my
trowel went into a cavity, and the hard work was over.
This cavity was eight inches in diameter, and exactly the
shape of the bulb which had shrunk to half that size; a thick
coat of ragged brown fibres surrounded the bulb, many of
103
104 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
them penetrating the ground around it, thus aiding the leaves
in the short season durinng which they could work to lay up
material for the flowers and fruit which come like a miracle
on the brown and sear hills of summer time in Southern Cali-
fornia.
The Spanish Californians use this bulb for soap, and as
a hair tonic. It is also said to be an excellent remedy for
poison oak, but aside from these useful properties the soap root
cannot fail to be of greatest interest to every plant lover be-
cause of its delicate blossoms and strange, rapid growth.
Orange, Cal.
THE PINE BARRENS OF LAKEHURST, N. J.
BY PAULINE KAUFMAN.
trip to Lakehurst, N. J., took us, my sister and self, from
North Ashbury Park to Redbank, where after a long
delay, we were able to get another train, going over practically
the same ground, though further back in the country, to reach
our goal. The name Lakehurst, is more than usually justified for
there are small lakes all over, and the pine woods are also there.
Arrived at the station, we were met by our guide, and followed
the railroad track some distance, keeping parallel with a little
channel alongside, when the joy of finding the first white Sab-
batia, repaid us amply for the trials and tribulations of the
road. ‘These plants, two feet high, have opposite branches, the
upper ones forming a flat top. The deeply cleft flowers are
pure white, throughout, there being no trace of the center
coloring found in our ordinary pink Sabbatias. All summer
I had planned to go to Tom’s River, where I had been told,
this Sabbatia paniculata could be found, and here there was
quite a good deal of it. Of Lophiola aurea, the gray wooly
cymes were left, and just one flower showed us the pretty
orange color. The perianth is six-cleft, and the whole plant is
soft and wooley. Lacnanthes tinctoria so new to me that I
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 105
had never even seen an illustration of it, we found near the
Lophiola, which it resembles enough to be a first cousin. The
roots are fibrous and red, giving it the common name of red
root. The sword-shaped leaves are clustered at the base, and
scattered on the stem. The perianth is gray wooley on the out-
side, and the flowers are yellow fringes just like the witch
hazel. A very small Xyris was also seen, as were many bushes
of sand myrtle, gay with the flame colored fruit and glossy
evergreen leaves. This little plant rejoices in the name
Leiophyllum buxifolium, which perfectly describes its leaves.
All that was left of the turkey beard were the tall wands,
clothed with long white hairs, and bearing the seed pods.
Better known were the plants of the shrubby St. John’s wort,
(Hypericum prolificum and nudicaule) and Woodwardia vir-
ginica. Along a sandy road, walking in a different direction,
we found a carpet of glossy leaves and scarlet berries, éntirely
unfamiliar. These were Arctostaphylos uva-ursa, the bear-
berry. This part of Lakehurst would be invaluable to the
student of oak trees. Any number and variety are there. Our
luncheon was eaten in the company of pitcher plants, three
sundews, Rhexia, Lobelia, cotton grass and various other
denizens of the bog, with Apocynum Millerii not far dis-
tant.
It was now time to turn homeward and our good guide
selected a different route, which in a short time brought us to so
lovely a place, that there was 2 universal shout of admiration.
It was a typical scene in Japan. We stood upon a small rustic
bridge, with open spaces on the sides, which made frames for
the loveliest pictures. The water on one side of the bridge,
was covered with white water lilies, while on the other the
yellow pond lilies floated. The lakelet was dotted with small
islands and peninsulas, from one of which almost hidden from
view, a flock of white heron slowly winged their flight. A
short walk around, proved us to be “disturbers of traffic’? for
106 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
we unconsciously startled a great number of butterflies of
various denominations from a small space of ground, nor could
we discover the cause of the large gathering. About a quarter
of an hour before train time we passed a house, with a tall pine
hedge around it. Here, Miss Knox told us, lived the neice or
grand-neice of John Torrey, and here he had spent some time,
when Lakehurst was still Manchester. Many of the trees he
had planted were still alive, among them a redwood; alas, that
we knew not this, when first we started, for we had to pass on.
It will be the object of a spring trip to Lakehurst, however. In
the three hours spent there, we did not meet a single person,
until we came to the town pump. It is from spring until
winter a deserted village.
New York City.
A VEGETABLE WONDER.
BY DR. Wi.) W.. BATE Y.
N old army friend of the writer, famous for his quaint and
naive remarks as well as striking anecdotes, used to say
that when, during the Mexican war, he first saw the giant
cactus or Cereus, he “sat down on a rock and haw-hawed.”’
Quainter and more bizarre than any cactus, absurd as many
of them appear is the Welwitschia mirabilis of western Africa.
It was at one time called Tumboa, perhaps the native name,
though the word appears among the tribes to be generic for
any short-stemmed woody plant. The famous Dr. Hooker of
Kew Gardens, who made a thorough study of the plant gave
it also its present name after the discoverer, Dr. Welwitsch.
We could well wish that his title had been more euphonious,
but “what’s in a name’’—or in a pun?
It belongs to the family Gnetaceae, relatives of Coniferae,
and among which, on our far western plains, is found the cur-
ious Ephedra. Our African plant, the subject of this article,
appears as a very short, inverted woody cone, presenting in
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 107
its germinating condition two seed-leaves. These are of a
leathery consistence, but finally by action of the winds, separate
into shreds many feet in length. It was, then, once considered
that these cotyledons are the only foliage that the plant ever
possesses. The fructification is by means of cones appearing
on the periphery of the stocky stem at the bases of the opposite
leaves. Some of the flowers are pistillate and some are per-
fect.
These “trees,” if we can so call them, have been aptly
termed ‘‘anvil-like’’ and the sandy country is studded with
them. The discoverer found them deeply imbedded in the soil
and resembling a cracked and dried up Polyporus. They have
a decidedly antediluvian suggestion and, in some respects,
seem to connect Angiosperms with Gymnosperms, or plants
with closed ovary with those of naked ovules.
While, as above stated, the leaves were once considered
persistent cotyledons, more recent investigations at Kew led
rather to the supposition that they represented the plumule and
that the seed-leaves were deciduous. This matter was
brought out in 1880, in Nature, Vol. 22, page 590. The plant
lives for more than a century. Good pictures and analyses are
given in Dr. Hooker’s translation of LeMaout and DeCaisne’s
Botany. Hooker also issued a fine monograph of the genus.
Brown University, Providence, R. I.
AN Unusuat USE oF PoLLen.—In a recent number of
the Philippine Journal of Science Count Ugolino Martelli
states that in parts of the Philippines a screw-palm (Pandanus
tectorius var. laevis) is cultivated for its pollen which is used
as a hair powder.
NOTE. AND COMMENT.
G 1) Co =
Wantin, Short notes of interest to the general botanist
ave alwaye in demand for this department, Our readers are
Wivited to make this the place of publication for their shorter
hotanical ems, The magazine is issued as soon as possible
after the 10th of Mebruary, May, August and November,
MAHOGANY, Supplementing your note on this subject: in
the American Botanist for August, | might mention that cer-
lain species Of Cercocarpus—trequent shrubs or small trees
of the Pacihe Coust--are popularly known as mahogany or
mount Mahogany, Che wood is exceedingly hard and has
been found by the “Digger” Indians very serviceable for the
Hianitaetive of (hei potato stieks, as the sharp pointed imple.
ents ave called whieh are used for prubbing up the wild
bulba that are so characteristic a feature of the diet of these
aborigines—C, [fy Saunders, Pasadena, California,
RUMaLe nee AND Crosrep Genttan.—The other day I
eame upon a pateh of Gentana andrecstii at Monache, New
Jersey, Upon investigation E found a number of them rather
open at the top, Can this be G. saponaria, LT thought, Just
then a large bumbleshee came noisily along and solved the
question for me lor he alighted on one of the closed blos-
ota, and proceeded at once with great energy to enter it ina
rather bueglarious manner Gaining a firm hold with his four
hind legs, he grabbed the petals with his two front legs, tear
jag the lowers violently open, THe then thrust in his head, fol-
lowing it up with the throat and most of the rest of his body,
Llaving extracted the netar, he subjected about a dogen other
10M
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 109
blossoms to the same rough treatment, leaving them all gaping
open at the top. Of course the gentian has got to be cross-
fertilized in some way, but to be witness to the proceeding, is
certainly interesting. The bee accomplished all this in a sur-
prisingly short time, and somehow it looked funny. I believe,
the bumble-bees are real burglars in their quest of honey.
When they find a flower so constructed, that it is difficult to
get at the nectar, they break in. The torn labellum of the Cy-
pripediums, that one sometimes meets with, and damages done
to other flowers of complicated construction, I am inclined, to
lay at their door—J. C. Buchheister, New York. [Mr.
Buchheister is correct in his estimate of the bumble-bee’s
actions. More than a hundred different species of flowers
are known that are systematically robbed by the bees. Most of
these produce their nectar in parts too remote to be easily
reached by the bee in the conventional manner so he bites
through from the exterior. Not the least remarkable feature
of this operation is the fact that the bee knows enough to go
direct to the nectar bearing spots from the outside. Apparently
it requires considerable reasoning for this.—Ed. ]
LONG-LIVED SEEDS.—Recent experiments seem to show
that some seeds can retain their vitality for nearly 250 years.
The greatest number of long-lived seeds are found among the
Leguminosae the family that includes the familiar beans, peas,
clovers and lupines of our gardens and fields.
CHANGES IN VrioLetT LEAvEs.—This season I observed
the peculiar action of a specimen of Viola ovata. It was ovata
sure enough, when I saw it first. Then it had more flowers
than leaves, and these latter were of the usual egg shaped
form and densely pubescent. It was a fine plant, so I took it
up and home, planted it in a pot and left it on the windowsill.
It did all right, and when it had passed flowering, the leaves
110 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
°
came up, large and plentiful, as it is the custom with violets.
But to my surprise the leaves underwent a gradual change.
First, they became cut-lobed at their lower ends, then the cuts
and lobes increased in size, gradually, till the leaves assumed
the shape of those of viola palmata. Also they became smooth.
If I did not know that the plant was originally ovata, I woulld
have collected it now as V. palmata, if I had found it wild.—
J. C. Buchheister, New York.
FRUITING OF TRAILING ArRBUTUS.—Further evidence re-
garding the fruiting of Epigae repens is furnished by Miss
Mary E. Hatch, Cambridge, Mass., who writes:
“T have examined three patches of Epigaea repens and
find that in one, and the smaller patch too, the plants had
formed fruit copiously. This patch I feel sure is known to
no one else. The other two were both in a scrub-pine grove
and may have been disturbed. One of these had no fruit and
the other only a few.” It would be interesting to examine
the flowers in these colonies next spring and see if those in
which fruit is scarce are really incapable of producing seed.
CLEISTOGAMOUS FLOwERsS.—Nearly 650 species belonging
to 62 families of flowering plants are now known to produce
cleistogamous flowers.
Tue Loco-wEEep.—For at least sixty years, owners of live
stock in the western half of the United States have annually
suffered considerable loss from a disease called “loco.” The
cause of the disease has been attributed to various plants, us-
ually species of Aragallus and Astragalus but all efforts to
isolate a poisonous substance from these have ended in failure.
It was found however, that at least some of the plants were
capable of causing the loco disease, and for some time past A.
C. Crawford of the U. S. Department of Agriculture has been
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 111
conducting numerous experiments to discover the cause of the
trouble if possible. A clue was obtained when it was discovered
that even the ash of some of the plants was poisonous. A little
further search revealed the fact that the substance that pro-
duces the disease is barium. This is taken up by the plants in
the soil water, and is present in sufficient amount in many speci-
mens to cause “loco.’’ Other plants grown in different regions
may not contain the poisonous substance. It is quite likely
that the obscure cause of “milk-sickness’’ may be discovered by
means similar to those which have identified the cause of
“loco.”
NUMBER OF AMERICAN FERNS.—The number of fern
species in North America north of Mexico is pretty well-
known. At present it is set down at 218. ‘There are also 86
species of Lycopodiums, Equisetums, etc., which brings the
total number of fernworts in the region up to 300 or more.
This by no means represents the entire number of distinct
forms, however. The study of these latter has practically only
begun but already there is a list which numbers more than 200
and is steadily growing. These added to the true species make
considerably more than 500 species and forms in our region.
These have recently been listed with their geographical range
and abundance given in: The Fern Bulltin.
THe TuBers OF NEPHROLEPSIS——Any one who has
grown the sword fern (Nephrolepis cordifolia) for any length
of time must have noticed the potato-like objects to be found
on the underground parts of the plant. According to Prof. J.
W. Harshberger, these outgrowths are borne on underground
branches and are properly tubers. Most, if not all, the tubers
with which we are familiar are storehouses of food, but the
tubers of Nephrolepis are composed of thin-walled cells filled
with water-and are therefore more in the nature of cisterns
112 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
than storehouses. Water, however, is as much a plant food as
is starch, so these tubers, after all, act as food storage organs.
The reason they contain water instead of starch is probably
due to the fact that N. Cordifolia is an epiphyte and therefore
more subject to drouth than many other plants. The habit
of producing these tubers is common to several species of the
genus, notably N. tuberosa, N. Philippinensis, N. pluma, N.
undulata and N. Bausii. Our common N., exalta does not pro-
duce them.—Fern Bulletin.
A PLANT SENSE OrGAN.—The unsentimental botanist is
likely to set himself pretty solidly against any suggestion that
plants have feelings or nerves, and yet these organisms often
behave in ways that are wonderfully like the actions of ani-
mals under similar circumstances. The growth of roots toward
moisture, for instance, seems dictated by reasoning faculties
in the plant, and the circumnutation of plants, by means of
which a climbing vine reaches about until it finds something
to climb upon is another illustration of allied phenomena. In
most cases, however, it is comparatively easy to show that
these apparent responses to conscious cerebration are brought
about by purely physical processes. One of the more recent
discoveries in this line is in connection with the response of
roots to gravity. It is well known that the first root goes
downward in response to this force and the inference is often
made that gravity pulls it down, quite forgetful of the fact
that other roots do not grow downward, and that the main
root does not do so under certain circumstances. It is found
that the root distinguishes gravity by means of certain free
starch grains in the cells of the root-tip. No matter in what
position the root may be these starch grains fall to the bottom
of the cell and in this way indicate the downward direction.
This, however, comes exceedingly close to being a sense-organ
such as animals possess.
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 113
Uses oF GrApEs.—The most important use of grapes,
from a commercial standpoint at least, is in making wine and
brandy. Vinegar was also originally made from grapes as its
name in the French, “vinaigre” meaning sour wine, indicates.
Of course all our raisins are made from grapes, but it is in the
by-products made from the waste in wine-making that the re-
markable uses are found. The pomace yields acetic acid, and
the seeds are fed to cattle and poultry and have even been used
as a substitute for coffee. From the seeds, also, a clear yellow
oil, similar to olive oil is obtained. The lees of wine, that is,
the sediment that settles in the casks of new wine, is rich in
cream of tartar and tartaric acid. The tartaric acid of com-
merce is obtained from this source. Some idea of the im-
portance of this single by-product may be gained from the fact
that we import annually from France and Germany two or
three million dollars worth.
Fruit SUGAR FROM Dau.ias.—We hear frequently of
grape sugar, fruit sugar and cane sugar, but the latter is the
only one with which the average individual is much acquainted,
though he may remember grape sugar as the whitish particles
on the outside of dried prunes, raisins and the like. Fruit
sugar or levulose is still rarer, the price at the present time be-
ing nearly a dollar a pound. Chemically, levulose is similar to
the other sugars, containing the same elements, but is sweeter
than ordinary sugar. Its great value, however, is in the multi-
tude of uses to which it may be put. It is much more easily
digested than cane sugar, in fact is practically in a state to be
assimilated by the body, and is suggested as being an excellent
food for consumptives and diabetics. It may be used in place
of still another sugar—milk sugar—in the preparation of in-
fant foods and used in making jelly, etc., will not crystalize.
It is the principal ingredient in honey and a very fair honey
can be made from it without the aid of the bee. The great
114 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
drawback to its use heretofore has been the cost of producing
it, but according to The Scientific American a way has recently
been found to produce it from the tubers of the dahlia. The
thick fleshy roots of this plant contain much stored food not,
however, in the form of the familiar starch, but in the form of
a closely allied substance known as inulin. This latter sub-
stance is similar in composition to levulose and appears to be
easily turned over into levulose by the use of weak acids. The
process is said to be inexpensive, and since the dahlia can be
grown as cheaply as the potato it seems possible that fruit
sugar may in time vie with cane sugar for a place on our tables,
and since it is more easily digested we are certain to profit
by the exchange.
Forests AND Forestry.—‘“In the last ten years,” says
the Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture for 1907, for-
estry has advanced in this country from an almost unknown
science to a useful, growing profession. In that time the num-
ber of technically trained foresters has increased from less than
a dozen to over 400. Ten years ago there was not a single
forest school in the country. Now there are several profes-
sional forest schools which rank with those of Europe, and a
score more with courses in elementary forestry whose useful-
ness is steadily growing. Forest lands under management
have grown from one or two tracts to many, aggregating
7,503,000 acres, scattered through 39 States. The National
Forests have increased from 39,000,000 acres, practically un-
used and unprotected, to 165,000,000 acres, used, guarded,
and improved both in productiveness and accessibility. The
number of States which have State forests has increased from
1 to 10; and of those which employ trained foresters from
none to 11. The membership of forest associations has in-
creased from 3,600 to 15,800. Ten years ago, except for a
few of the foremost botanists, European foresters knew more
about American forests than did the people of this country.
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 115
Tue NaAMEs oF Funci.—The harm that may come to a
science through ill-advised changes in the rules of nomencla-
ture, or in following some silly rule designed primarily to
cater to the vanity of the individual, is well illustrated in a
paper on Polyporus put out a short time ago by a New York
botanizer. By breaking up the large genera into many smaller
ones and giving them new names, the author has been able to
add his own name to 332 species out of a total of 409 con-
sidered. Most of these plants had been known and described
long before he was born, but by a little tinkering with the
names, though adding practically nothing to our knowledge
of the plants, he now has his name attached to the species for-
ever. C. G. Lloyd naively suggests in Mycological Notes that
such name-tinkering comes under the head of economic botany
since it is by such means that the author secures his salary.
WoopEN FLowers.—Nature-faking is not confined en-
tirely to the yellow journals. Just listen to this from a recent
number of that model of propriety, the Ladies’ Home Journal:
“They were discovered in Central America some years ago
growing in crevasses on the sides of Mount Agua and around
the edges of the huge volcano of Fuego in Guatemala. The
flower is thus described by one who has seen it: This unique
blossom is rough, but beautiful and odd and wonderful in many
respects. It is composed of four distinct petals, concave in
form, and arranged much like the petals of a half-blown rose.
The outside of these petals or divisions is covered with thick
bark like an ordinary tree; inside the hard surface is indented
with lines that follow each other in the most delicate tracery,
like the veins in the petals of some flowers. The flower meas-
ures almost twelve inches across and is borne on a light, strong
stem of solid wood about a foot long, covered with heavy bark.
Stem and flower are dark brown in color and grow on trees of
large size.” We are quite willing to admit that this flower is
116 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
“odd and wonderful in many respects” but it cannot be half
as odd and wonderful as the intellect of anyone who will swal-
low such a silly tale. The story also lacks completeness. It
should add that the fruit that follows this flower is a miniature
log cabin. Slips of the plant have been sent to Burbank in the
hope that he can breed it into a six-room flat with all the
modern improvements.
GOVERNMENT AND NATiONAL HEALTH.—The Depart-
ment of Agriculture spends seven million dollars on plant
health and animal health every year, but, with the exception of
the splendid work done by Doctors Wiley, Atwater and Bene-
dict, Congress does not directly appropriate one cent for pro-
moting the physical well-being of babies. Thousands have
been expended in stamping out cholera among swine, but not
one dollar was ever voted for eradicating pneumonia among
human beings. Hundreds of thousands are consumed in sav-
ing the lives of elm trees from the attacks of beetles; in warn-
ing farmers against blights affecting potato plants; in import-
ing Sicilian bugs to fertilize fig blossoms in California; in
ostracizing various species of weeds from the ranks of useful
plants, and in exterminating parasitic growths that prey
on fruit trees. In fact, the Department of Agriculture has
expended during the last ten years over forty-six million of
dollars. But not a wheel of the official machinery at Wash-
ington was ever set in motion for the alleviation or cure of
diseases of the heart or kidneys, which will carry off over six
millions of our entire population. Eight millions will perish
with pneumonia, and the entire event is accepted by the Ameri-
can people with a resignation equal to that of the Hindoo, who,
in the midst of indescribable filth, calmly awaits the day of the
cholera.—From Circular of Committee on National Health.
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 117
CoLor CHANGES OF FLOWERS.—The fact is well known,
at present, that a large number of flowers change color as the
blooming season progresses, but the list of flowers that do this
is by no means complete and it is desirable that any new in-
stances be put on record. We therefore add the silver berry
(Elaeagnus argentea) whose four-parted bell-shaped calyces
open white but soon turn to a pale yellow. Not only do the
flowers turn color as a probable aid to the bees, but they are
also very strongly fragrant as might be prophesied of a plant
that is nearly related to the sassafras, spice-wood and daphne
though not in the same plant family. The silver berry is a
plant of our own Northwest and not very well-known to
botanists in general but the flowers of the leather-wood (Dirca
palustris) a species also closely related to this plant, will give
a faint idea of their shape. The silver berry is a medium
sized shrub and gets its common name from the silvery scales
which cover the fruit and under surface of the leaves. Even
the young branches are covered with scales that under the mi-
croscope are objects of rare beauty.
Fires AS Spore Distributors.—The flowering plants
have evolved many ingenious schemes for getting their seeds
distributed by the wind, water, birds, mammals and even man,
himself, but little use has been made of the insects for this
purpose, probably because there are so few species of insects
that are large enough to transport seeds. When it comes to
a transference of spores, however, most of the other agencies
except the wind are abandoned and the insects almost exclus-
ively employed. Pollen grains are really spores and these are
the spores that insects are usually engaged in carrying, but
there are spores still more minute—the spores of plant and
animal diseases and these are also transported by insects,
mostly flies. Dr. Cobb recently told the Botanical Society of
Washington that after some study of the subject he found the
ordinary fly-specks to contain the spores of fifty or sixty dif-
118 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
ferent kinds of fungi, many of them disease germs that had
been taken into the alimentary canal with the fly’s food and
had not been injured by the digestive process. Flies are well-
known to carry numerous germs on their feet and bodies, but
now the very fly-specks are shown to be dangerous. ‘There
are few wild beasts that are as dangerous as flies.
Tue Home or Linnageus.—Although Carl von Linne
(Linnaeus) died more than a hundred years ago, his country
residence still stands just as he left it with the same furniture,
the same pictures on the walls and even the clothing he wore
hanging in the closet. It is five or six miles from Upsala and
is open to the public. Mycological Notes for August publishes
a picture of the place reproduced from a souvenir post-card.
The house is a long two-story structure of no particular archi-
tectural beauty fronting a park-like garden of some extent.
Back of the house is a small woodland in which Linnaeus
built his museum. This was a building about 12 feet square
and at present contains his library, herbarium case and cases
for other specimens. The specimens, however, are in the
rooms of the Linnaean Society of London.
l FIELD BOTANY iy
Edited by Dr. H. A. Gleason, Urbana, Ill.
Some people labor under the delusion that field work in
botany begins in the spring and ends in autumn. Such per-
sons probably go into a sort of botanical hibernation about this
time of year and never wake up until the April sun tells them
that a new season has begun. Others do no botanical work
except read what others have done, and get some second-hand
interest and information in that way. But why should we
stop our field work just because the leaves are gone? The
field is still there, the plants are still there, and it is safe to say
that the majority of us know for less about their winter condi-
tion than we might easily find out. Let me suggest a few sub-
jects that might be taken up during the winter months, and
which will give us a beter idea of the plants about us.
At this season of the year there are a great many dead
stems standing, frequently with the remains of the flowers or
fruit still attached. How many of them can you recognize. Take
some of them home with you from your walks, and, if you
can not find out what they are from your manual, press them
and visit the same place next summer when they are again in
bloom.
Everyone has seen the small rosette-like clusters of green
leaves close to the ground, by means of which some plants pass
through the winter. Do you know what they are? Why not
find as many kinds of rosettes as possible, put a stake by one
of each kind, and watch them also next summer? If there are
plenty of them, a pressed specimen of each species of rosette
would be a good addition to the herbarium.
One last suggestion—why not learn to recognize the dif-
ferent species of trees by their buds, twigs, and bark? You
119
120 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
will be surprised to learn how clearly most trees can be distin-
guished in this way. If you do not know the tree in the first
place, you can get help from most of the many popular tree
books, or, better yet, you can watch the trees next season after
the leaves appear.
If all towns were like Nauvoo, Illinois, botanizing would
be a very easy matter. Last summer Mr. H. N. Patterson and
the editor spent about three hours wandering about the sleepy
old place, and in that time recognized 116 species of plants
growing without cultivation. More that that might be easily
found in a three-hour walk across the country, over a variety
of situations, but that is a pretty good number to be growing
along the town streets. Of the number, 59, or one more than
half, were introduced species.
In this department scientific names will hereafter follow
the usage of the Vienna Code of nomenclature, as exemplified
in the new seventh edition of Gray’s Manual. The editor can
not personally agree with every principle of that code, but it
seems apparent that the best way out of our nomenclatorial
difficulties is the adoption of some such general system.
SoME LATE FLowers, 1908.—The thirty-first of October
found me among the dunes north of Waukegan, Illinois. The
part south of the pest-house road was a desolate waste, burned
over during the early part of the month. The only plants that
withstood the burning were the dwarf cedar (Juniperus hori-
zontalis) and the bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) both of
which are plants which form dense mats at the surface of the
ground. Further north in the unburnt land on the ridges were
the tall gaunt stalks of the blazing stars (Liatris scariosa and
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 121
spicata). In the swales the Cladium association was separated
from those bordering it even more plainly than in summer.
As I went along the Cladium border, there began to appear
here and there little star-like specks of blue, just outside of the
Cladium and extending into the neighboringn association of
grasses and rushes. They proved to be the flowers of Gentiana
procera—single flowers at the tops of tiny plants. These plants
were dwarfs about three inches high, with three pairs of very
small leaves, which were closely appressed to the stem. The
only other flowers that I could find in the sand flats were a few
of the yellow flowers of the goldenrod, (Solidago nemoralis),
which were still to be found on dwarf plants in a few places.
The morning had been cloudy, but just after I reached the
bluff at Beach the sky cleared and the sun shone brightly. In
about ten to fifteen minutes, close to the open ground, there
flashed out spots of yellow. These were of course the om-
nipresent dandelion, (Taraxacum erythrospermum). Deep in
the woods along the bluff a few flowers were found on plants
of Aster drummondt and on one plant of Aster Tradescantti.
While going under a barb-wire fence I noticed a plantain,
(Plantago Rugelit), with three blooms among four nearly ripe
capsules. Above it on the bluff is an opening in the oak-hickory
woods was a clump of willows, the most conspicuous of which
was Salix serissima with its yellowish-green, nearly ripe cap-
sules, and a few lanceolate shining leaves.
On the way back, I could see from the car window the yel-
low flowers of witch-hazel, (Hamamelis Virginiana), in the
woods near Highwood and Glencoe. To complete the list, in
my yard at home chickweed, (Stellaria media), and speargrass,
(Poa annua), were also in bloom, making nine flowers in all.
—F. C. Gates, Chicago, Ill.
EDITORIAL _~~=——=
The present number of this magazine completes its four-
teenth volume, a volume which, we are glad to say, has gone
to more subscribers than any before it. For the fifteenth vol-
ume we bespeak not only the patronage of our present sub-
scribers, but their good will as well which we hope they will
manifest by mentioning the magazine to their friends and ac-
quaintances. The new volume will be a good deal like the old
one. We shall try to select such matter as will please anyone
with a sane interest in plants. Dr. Gleason will continue his
department of Field Botany and we expect to add a series of
articles on the teaching of botany, but shall not dignify this by
giving it a separate department. All in all, we feel confident
that we shall put out a volume worth 75 cents to any botanist
and we trust our subscribers will agree with us. In this issue
we also send bills for the new volume and for any arrears that
may be due us. Those who do not find a bill facing the frontis-
piece may know that their subscriptions are paid up beyond the
first of the year.
Ser ae
During the past year this office received numerous com-
plaints of loss of money sent us in the mails. Usually the miss-
ing money was in the shape of bills and coin, but not a few
money orders and checks also failed to arrive. It now trans-
pires that our mail was being systematically robbed by the
carrier on our city route. This gentleman is now “doing time”
for his misdeeds but this will not bring back the lost coin. The
cheapest and safest way of sending money through the mails
is by bank draft. Anyone having an account at a bank can
usually get drafts on New York or Chicago free. Express
money orders and postal money orders are also safe but bills
122
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 123
should not be sent in a letter unless it is registered. Postage
stamps usually come safely but are liable to disappear in the
mails.
* * Xx
A few weeks ago we received a call from Mr. W. H.
Blanchard, the man who undoubtedly holds the world’s record
for a black-berrying trip. His trip has little in common with
those excursions which many of us have enjoyed to the nearest
side-hill pasture for a few hours berry-picking on a summer
afternoon. It began in early summer in Florida and continued
northward as the flowers opened until the turning point was
reached somewhere in British America. Then back went the
collector to Oklahoma and followed the zone of ripening
berries northward. It is safe to say that if Mr. Blanchard was
simply after fruit, he could have got more by staying at home,
working for fifty cents a day, and buying what berries he
wanted; but he was out for quite another purpose. Having
become interested in distinguishing the different forms of
blackberries, he started out to see them growing. For several
years he studied them in New England and for some distance
southward, another season he spent in the province of Quebec,
and now he has covered more territory in quest of his speci-
mens than anyone ever did before or will do again. But he
knows blackberries, now, far better than he ever could by
turning over dried brambles in a musty herbarium. What he
says about blackberries hereafter will have to be relied upon.
Alexander Wilson once made such a journey as this in search
of birds, traveling from Maine to the Carolinas mostly on
foot, and Pursh, Goldie and many of the older naturalists were
accustomed to similar trips. The judgments formed by a man
on such expeditions are not likely to go wide of the mark.
Nee:
The new “Gray’s Manual” has appeared and there is con-
sequently great rejoicing among those who realized that the
124 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
6th edition was out of date but who hesitated about using the
local nomenclature that more recent works affected. We can-
not say that we are entirely pleased with everything in the new
book, but it is so much better than anything else, that we pur-
pose making it the standard for this magazine hereafter. The
authorities certainly gained a point over other systems when
they adopted a nomenclature in harmony with the rules of the
Vienna Congress. This also saves us the names of a vast
number of species that otherwise would have been changed and
as a result the nomenclature of the book has not the unfamil-
iar look we feared it would have. Nevertheless, there are quite
enough changes to make a conservative uncomfortable.. In
the matter of keys to genera and species, however, the book is
a great disappointment. There is no longer excuse for string-
ing a key along through several pages of text. The people in
New York could have given the authors a great deal of in-
formation on the making of business-like keys. A proper key
should enable one to practically identify his specimens from the
keys alone. The treatment of forms and varieties, too, is ex-
tremely uneven. Not only are many mere ecological forms
treated with all the pomp and circumstance of varieties (as
this book regards varieties) but other and more distinct forms,
though called varieties are dismissed with a word or two in the
text. It is fairly impossible to discover from the book what
conception the authors have of the term. To the credit of the
book may be said that the families and orders have been re-
arranged to harmonize with the latest ideas and more than a
thousand illustrations have been introduced as an added help
in identifying. These illustrations are not scattered uniformly
through the book, but are confined to difficult families such as
the cresses, grasses, umbellifers, sedges, etc. We note with
approval, too, the retention of italicised words to designate
important characters in the descriptions of species, a feature
that some recent books have eliminated, partly, we feel sure,
because there are some descriptions of “new species’ that
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 125
would puzzle anybody to italicise properly. Although there
has been a considerable increase in the number of species in-
cluded, and the number of pages has also been increased, the
new book actually weighs less than the old one, due to the use
of thinner paper. The price has been increased to $2.50, but
in our opinion the book is worth it.
Sg ee
The daughter of the late Mrs. James McManes has given
to Torreya the sum of two hundred dollars to be used for il-
lustrations for that magazine as a memorial to her mother.
No more practical way of advancing popular botany could be
devised and Torreya is to be congratulated upon its good
fortune. We have always been of the opinion that a magazine
needing a subsidy to exist has little excuse for being, but given
a magazine that can exist without aid, there seems to be no
reason why some well-disposed person of means should not
adopt the method mentioned above to advance some phase of
science in which he may happen to be interested. It will be
a great day for science if our millionaires ever exchange their
present fads for botany, entomology, ornithology and the like.
The editor of this magazine can imagine what fun he would
have in making a real botanical journal if backed by about a
million dollars to be spent in improvements.
* *K
The new “Gray’s Manual” represents a rather conserva-
tive treatment of our flora brought up to date. It can hardly
claim to be without errors, and anyone who discovers an inac-
curacy will do a favor to science by pointing it out. Similarly,
if one now finds a plant that is not accurately described in the
new work, he is warranted in assuming that he has a species or
variety new to our region. Botanizing will now have an added
zest. If your new finds do not absolutely correspond to
the descriptions it is time to find out why. It is not to be
126 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
expected that many more new species will be found by any ex-
cept the hair-splitters in the region covered by the book, but
one may always expect new forms and varieties and should
be on the watch for them.
BOOKS AND WRITERS.
Although Dr. Edward F. Bigelow’s “Walking as a Fine
Art” was issued a year ago, it is not too late to call attention
to this excellent little volume which has been compiled from
the writings of poets and naturalists in many lands together
with original contributions from many well-known writers of
the present. The compiler is himself a walker of distinction
and has exercised commendable taste in his selections. Sev-
eral excellent illustrations from photographs add attractive-
ness to the work.
The second volume of Knuth’s “Hand-book of Flower
Pollination” has appeared. Some idea of this truly monu-
mental work may be gained from the fact that this second
volume contains more than 700 pages, and that two more vol-
umes will be issued before the work is completed. A more
extended notice will be given later. The work is being is-
sued by the Clarendon Press at a cost of about $5.00 a volume.
“Nature Study; a manual for Teachers and Students’’ is
the title of a recent book of more than 500 pages by Prof.
Frederick L Holtz. As a manual for teachers we can find
nothing but commendation for it, but if these teachers, having
acquired even half the information that the book contains, at-
tempt to hand out this knowledge to the pupils in their charge,
they deserve to lose their positions. As the reviewer sees the
matter it is not nature-study but science that Prof. Holtz offers.
We do not believe that pupils in the fourth grade can study
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 127
pollination understandingly, or that fifth grade pupils should
study the flowers of grasses. Nor has the sixth grade any
business in the culture of bacteria or the formation of starch in
leaves. Other topics which the pupil is supposed to taste be-
fore leaving the grades are respiration, digestion, photosyn-
thesis, root hairs and osmosis, stomata, chloroplasts, rusts,
smuts, etc., many of them studied with the compound mi-
croscope. All these we maintain, belong to the domain of
botany rather than nature study. Other topics. snevested
more in line with what we conceive to be real nature study, are
seed despersal, devices for plant protection, window garden-
ing, study of trees and fruits, the names of plants, etc. The
author has intentionally suggested more work than he expects
will be performed by any one school, with the idea of giving
teachers a choice of subjects, but that many of these subjects
are not susceptible of treatment by nature-study methods can-
not be too strongly emphasized. The book is equally exhaust-
ive in suggestions for work in zoology, geology and physio-
logy and outlines a year’s work in the eight grades for each.
Other chapters discuss the motives and educational value of
“nature-study with suggestions for teaching the different sub-
jects. It is a book that the up-to-date teacher must have and
in the hands of a sensible teacher will do much to put this
study on a rational basis. It is published by Charles Scribners
Sons, New York.
A most interesting little volume designed for making bo-
tany attractive to pupils in the grade schools is Dennis’ ‘Nature
Study,’’ issued by the Teachers’ Journal Co., Marion, Ohio.
Prof. Dennis takes as his sub-title “(One Hundred Lessons
About Plants’? and approaches his subject from the
natural history point of view. The subjects discussed
are adaptations to light, pollination, seed dispersal,
adaptation to climate, plant societies, etc., as well as
more technical matters such as the structure of stems,
128 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
protoplasm, photosynthesis, etc. Numerous suggestive
exercises and questions are scattered through the lessons which
are further illuminated by more than 150 illustrations. Even
adults who would like some knowledge of plant life not com-
prised in the botanical manuals will find this a useful book to
have. The price is one dollar.
“Nature-Study Made Easy” is, as its name indicates, an
attempt to simplify one branch of nature—botany—for the
lower grades of schools. Much of the text is in story form in
which the plants not infrequently hold conversations or express
opinions but this is possibly permissible in teaching younger
children. There are also a considerable number of poems
about plants and numerous illustrations. Like all books of this
nature it is likely to add its share toward making the subject
of botany interesting. The authors are E. B. Shallon and W.
A. Cullen. It is published by the Macmillan Co. at 40 cents
net.
Some years ago Miss Ida D. Bennett gave us an interest-
ing volume entitled “The Flower Garden” and she has now is-
sued a companion to this in “The Vegetable Garden.” Be-
ginning with chapters on the location and plan of the garden
we next have the construction and care of hot-beds and cold-
frames, seed sowing, transplanting and garden tools. Then
follows several chapters on growing staple vegetables, and—
somewhat unlooked for in gardening books—directions for
preparing these vegetables for the table. The information in
this book is such as may be relied upon, and it will no doubt
be a most useful book to the average gardener. We cannot
help regretting however, that the author did not include in the
book, the rarer vegetables, since these are the very ones, the
gardener or housewife has most need to look up in the books.
Perhaps the author may give us another volume of this na-
ture. There is certainly room for it among gardening books.
“The Vegetable Garden” is published by the McClure Co.,
New York.
The Best Botanical Works
The American Botanist may be clubbed with any book below for 50 cents
additional. All books are sent postpaid. Starred titles have been reviewed in
‘American Botanist.
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CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES
Adder’s-tongue, The Fetid...... Walter Albion Squires 65
Apios Tuberosa, Reproduction in....... EE Balawm, (0
SI 8 FS AR ae A ok reo va Walter Albion Squires, 97
Camptosorus, A Colony Of. 2.002. 5..\: Rev. John Davis 1
PBEORISES eS aes rake ride si eye a ike Dr. W. W. Bailey, 3
Beounmnosae; Che Bruit: of.) !..) 13: Willard N. Clute, 45
Mosses, Some Midwinter........... H. S. Hammond, 12
tants ort Hilla. e. 5 aed ae Catherine Harrison, 9
Proserpina; Studies of Wayside Flowers,............
A RINE TRIE A AL Rev. John Davis, 38
Saxifrages, The Story of the .. Walter Albion Squires, 38
Breeds bhe Study Of 262.34 siec't 3 Willard N. Clute, 5
Seeds and Seedlings, Experiments with, Willard N. Clute, 35
See POMMES VVCOEE: cece. dee (eee orem & Dr.W. W. Bailey 68
“SUSE ENS C8 ol Ba tare tao aa ee RO re Frank Dobbin, 66
Turtle Head, The Lost Stamen in .... S.C. Wadmond, 71
Wild Fruits of Alberta, Canada ...... W.M. Buswell, 99
Woods, The November ........... Dr. W. W. Bailey, 103
REPRINTED ARTICLES
TD TBHEGIC0 Sih a pats gS ec ne einer rs Pte een eC eR eee Re Cl
lowersnesr the, Salt. Wea OWS <2 aces sia cea cv Bie Saag Ne T2
Plame LHe ela bOmG MpScOia:s 2. AM ie a 52 arse (ok eee cS nace 43
eplecmmone Whe yanks. aes. ee at cies wis ace oe os wes 74
“VPI STS43 7854 0 Md 2 0 5 ea ei ay) A 43
Witellets (GletStOO ail ye MENS phate ies iso) x ws wos. %0) aes Macey ote 105
WitlcE nlite kx Oblance Ob fle! 5 lod. at. Sine w Me hie Oia ee ahs 105
RICE ES SW NAIICLAL cnt Ue enamine Pek Oe ae ig 14
rete BO tcitye Ween ct pat ase he tele s ovat wert ss 24, 47, 86
LENT 507 git) aoe ea ane ce ee ee tee Pe ee oa 28, 58, 90, 122
BGekscands VWinitenSise .eiaisn 6 shel e ic acta s ac 31, 62, 92, 124
NOTE AND COMMENT
“Wir Plants, Japanese... 32. 113
Antarctics, Plants in the... 114
Arctium minus laciniatum.. 112
Arrow-head, Forms of the.. 18
Bitterroot; “Whe 2.233: 49
Botany Under a Tree...... 87
Burdock, A New Form of.. 83
Cactus Plant Ribs, Use of.. 119
Carrats and Colors; 25022° 115
Cereus Giganteus.......... 19
Christmas ‘Trees 22. 225-3: 120
Cold=Plantstand: 2s -ece 142
Common Names .......... 121
Corn, Effects of Selectionon 83
Crossing, Species Produced
Byatt cca eee 116
Dandelion, a Freak ....... 27
Bicksonta.,-clairs .Of 2.5.25 55
Dodder, Perennial ........ 56
Elementary Species of Lin-
TWACAY ois is cia.si ais) ee ldlemiste < S 107
England’s Earliest Flower. 85
IRanilyNAmMeS, sic 119
Bern Mycorhizas>....2 2 22
Fern Spores, Color of...... AT
Flower Pigments ......... 51
Flowers of the ‘Tropical
IPFOLESE Noes eee eee 52
Flowers, Wooden ......... 22
Foreign Plants, Habits of.. 87
Fruits Ripened by Chemi-
cals 110
Fungus, The parasite of a.. 107
Generic Names, Personal... 80
Gray, Death of Mrs. Asa... 85
Growth-ring, Another ..... 88
Habenaria Leucophaea .... 78
Hairs of Dicksonia ....... 55
Holly Berries, Yellow .... 23
Impatiens pallida alba..... 79
Ivy Poisoning, Remedy for 120
heat Gheots) -tcxeticcee cues 20
Lilies, Cultivating the .... 20
Lily Pistils, Structure of.. 106
Linnaea, Elementary Species
ray kph te Shoe ree eee 107
Linnaeus asa Name Tinker
Living and Dead Matter ..
Migration, Another inter-
CSHBE 325 aoe eee
Mistletoe, American
Micorhizas, Fern
Nut Pine, ‘The 2s. -e2. se
Nectar: Statsslies, (2c csscene
Nomenclature, Zoological..
Ophioglossum, The Fertile
Spike of
Peat Bogs "2 55 ose
Pigments, Flower ..
Pie; The “Neat... cose
Pitcher Plants for Schools
Plant Hairs, Multicellular..
Plant Spores, Coal From..
Plants'and:Coldia7) see
Plants and Nitrogen.......
Plants; (Colorless) 4.62. ae
Plants in Strange Places,
Other Sou: 255s e eee
Plants in the Antarctics ...
Plants, New Method of
BOLCine > eee ee
Plants, The Names of
Pollen; Valuable... 23:25. =
Psppy Note, A California..
Red Berries, Yellow Va-
riefiessot = ioe eure
Rudbeckia, A Mutating .
Rust, The White Pine....
Sago
Saprophytes and Parasites..
Seeds, Storage of Water by
Seeds, The Study of
Shamrock, The True .....
Species Produced by Cross-
Oe Pe et
see eee
Tomatoes, Poisonous ......
Tree Study, Government...
Trees for Street Planting...
Trees, Growth of
Tropical Forest, Flowers of
the 422<405n. Saas
Volume, A Rare
Weeds Killed by Chemicals
Wildflowers, Improving the
Wood Production
Woodbine, The Versatile...
ee
se ee ee wee
79
52
89
81
22
54
115
114
108
110
112
55
109
VOLUME 15, NUMBER 1! WHOLE NUMBER 80
FEBRUARY, 1909
THE AMERICAN
BOTANIST
CONTENTS
A COLONY OF CAMPTOSORUS - - - 1
Rev. John Davis.
CROCUSES mre Sip elegy jmmy cj ws fami al al 3
Dr. W. W. Bailey.
THE: STUDY: OF SEEDS?) 2) oe) a) four oe 5
Willard N. Clute.
THE PLANTS OF OUR HILL - - = = 9
Catherine Harrison.
SOME MIDWINTER MOSSES - - -12
H. S. Hammond.
WiLL: VICES. 228 Sn Steet 14
NOTE AND COMMENT - - - - - 16
BRIEELD: BOTA: 2h atcn ah ee aie 24
EDITORIAL - - - =- = +--+ -=-- 28
BOOKS AND WRITERS - - - - - -
WILLARD N. CLUTE & CO.
JOLIET, ILLINOIS
Ghe American Botanist
A QUARTERLY DEVOTED TO ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC BOTANY
WILLARD N. CLUTE 33 3 EDITOR
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Pa
: ae
i, wh 4 ee
?: ‘ ’
ophyllus.
«
THE WALKING FERN.— Camptosorus rhig
MAR 29 1909
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
VOL. XV JOLIET, IEE.; PEBRUARY, 1909 No. 1
If thou art worn ano hard beset
With sorrows, that thou wouldst forget,
If thou wouldst read a lesson, that will keep
Shy heart from fainting and thy soul from sleep
Go to the woods ano hills. No tears
Dim the sweet look that Nature wears.
— Longfellow.
A COLONY OF CAMPTOSORUS.
By Rev. Joun Davis.
T the close of a fierce mid-summer day, after a weary
tramp along the Mississippi bluffs,an eager quest of more
than two year’s standing was suddenly and happily realized.
True, the authorities had said it was by no means an uncom-
mon plant, even if of unequal distribution. Only a few years
previous the accomplished editor of The American Botanist
had written; “Fortunately this fern (C. rhizophyllus) is not
so rare as the books would have it. Go to the nearest deep,
shady woodland; search the moist, but not wet rocks, and
when you find a plant with dark-green leaves, and tapering
gradually to a slender apex, rejoice.”
Admirable advice. There is no trouble about reaching
the nearest woodland; none whatever over the rejoicing. But
the finding the “plant with the dark green leaves.”’ There lies
the rub. Anyway it had escaped my vigilance all this while;
and even as it lay before me, resembled rather some common
lichen of the rocks to the casual eye, than a coy and rare fern.
And all this in the face of the same high authority, who adds:
2 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
“There is nothing else, so far as I know, that looks much like
it.”
Chief of the confusion lies in the published descriptions.
From these you would infer that Camptosorus was not a walk-
ing but a leaping fern; one actually given to botanical stunts.
On the contrary, here were spread out on the limestone ledge
a mass of rich green fronds, hugging the mossy sward. In-
stead of leaping or even walking, they were modestly creeping,
striking their acuminate points into the loose, scant soil, to
become the nucleus of another, and another, and still another
growth. Its specific name is a most happy one; a “‘root-leaf-
ing’ plant. And equally so its generic title; a “curved-sori”
plant.
The colony lay at the base of an exposed cliff of Burling-
ton limestone, about twenty feet from the summit. Naturally
hopes were awakened of finding others along the same forma-
tion. But in this I was disappointed. Here and there a few
neighboring stragglers were espied; but that was all. And
subsequent search along the same bluff for miles above and be-
low, as well as along ravines and exposures in the interior,
has likewise been in vain. Tracy in his “Flora of Missouri”
says that this species is “common everywhere.” Such wild
conjecture leaves the conviction that there remains much to
done in plant life study in the Northeast portion of this State.
This colony covered about three by four feet of area, with
an almost solid surface of fronds. Generally the sori are such
as are figured in the manuals. But they also appear in large
round nodes similar to those of Dryopteris or Woodsia,
heavily coated with a red-brown fuzz. Gray mentions some
thing corresponding with this found at Mt. Joy, Penn. Pos-
sibly this is the C. rhizophillus intermedius, described as a new
species in the Botanical Gazette (VIII :200. 1883), discovered
in Iowa. The books further tell us of a species indigenous to
Northern Asia, and one among the Brazilian forests. What
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 3
a wide and isolated distribution ; the little creeper being a deni-
zen in turn of the arctic, the temperature and the tropic zones!
Some days later I returned to take a negative of my prized
discovery. The firmly set fronds offered no resistance to a
good exposure, even in a stiff autumn breeze. But it was
another matter with the more delicately poised Dicksonia and
Cystopteris, which were disputing possession with Rhizophil-
lus for the shade and nurture of the limestone slope.
Hannibal, Mo.
CROCUSES.
By Dr. W. W. BatrLey.
ERE in Providence crocuses usually put in an appearance
simultaneously with the silver-leaf maple blossoms, but
both are very variable in their time of showing. Snow-drops
may come a little earlier. We have in certain years, seen all
three by Valentine’s Day, which everyone knows is February
14th.
No garden flowers surely, and few wild ones, excel these
enforced immigrants in vernal charm. We watch for them as
a promise of other, though not better, things. Their tender-
ness appeals to us, while their endurance cheers and enobles.
How do they open their satin delicacies to the piercing minds
of our spring?
The power of certain plants to resist cold is indeed ex-
traordinary and appears to have little to do with their apparent
texture or constitution. One would expect their juices to be
congealed at the temperature at which they blossom and per-
fect their fruit. Take, for instance the delicate seeming chick-
weed, which the coldest weather does not seem to especially
disturb. It will germinate at about the freezing point, and can
be found in flower at any time when there is no snow to hide
4 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
it. So, too, of the myrial alpine plants that make gay the high
places of our earth.
Crocuses are near relatives of the Iris or fleur-de-lis, hav-
ing a funnel-shaped perianth, with very long tube and a six-
parted border. Included within and attached to the floral
envelope, are three stamens. The fringed stigma looks almost
like a second flower, with its wedge-shaped lobes. The ovary
is usually far under ground. We have sometimes dug several
inches without finding it. The linear leaves with revolute
margins are not quite simultaneous with the flowers.
We associate crocuses with the spring, but there are cer-
tain species that are autumnal bloomers. One of these,
Crocus sativa, yields the saffron of commerce. This consists
of the carefully dried stigmas, which are of a deep orange
yellow. This substance is used in a variety of ways in paint-
ing and dyeing. Formerly it was employed to some extent in
medicine and perhaps may be still in the pharmacopeia. In
small quantities it is stimulating, and in larger narcotic, a by
no means unusual or even novel action. It has been known of
many substances since medicine had a name. Hence we con-
fess to impatience when it is trumpeted as a recent discovery.
The true crocus region. the part of the world where it
reaches its fullest development is the Mediterranean Zone.
The centre of its distribution includes Greece and Asia Minor.
We love to think that the Greeks knew these lovely flowers
and that may have been in the nose-gay of poor Persephone.
In cultivation they easily spread from the garden to the lawn.
For ourselves, we would leave them there to set their bright
stars in the green firmament.
According to the species we find quite a variety of colors,
white, yellow, orange, purple and violet. No really red one is
known. As soon as they bloom the bees discover them. Then
our cat observes the bees, and following a concatention of cir-
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 5
cumstances accordingly, produces a laughable denouncement.
Final scene; pussy disappearing over a fence; a bee flying
heavenward.
Brown University, Providence, R. I.
THE,.2 FUDY- OF SEEDS.
By WItiarp N. CLuTE.
EDUCED to its lowest terms, the study of seeds in the
average high school course in botany resolves itself into
an inquiry as to what constitutes a seed, how seeds vary in
structure, of what use the various parts are, why plants pro-
duce seeds and what conditions are necessary in order that
the seed may germinate. There are a great many experi-
ments that may be performed with seeds; indeed one could
spend the time allotted to botany for a half year in investigat-
ing various points about them, and the temptation is always
great to linger in their study, but in any course that aims to
give a survey of all the plant parts, such lingering is an error.
It is an error, however, into which the new teacher is likely to
fall and even the books are not entirely free from the fault
commonly giving more attention to seeds than the importance
of the subject warrants. In the high school, conditions make
it imperative that only the essentials be studied. It is well to
eliminate everything, therefore, that has not a direct and im-
portant bearing upon the subject in hand.
The seeds of flowering plants, exclusive of the gym-
nosperms fall into two great groups depending upon the num-
ber of their cotyledons. In the monocotyledons there is but
a single cotyledon, in the dicotyledons there are two. Since
the parts of the dicot seed are somewhat easier to make out,
it is best to begin the study with a seed of this type and one
without endosperm such as the bean should be selected. But
there are beans and beans. The lima bean, which may be
bought at the grocers, is as good as any, but the seed of the
t THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
scarlet runner (Phaseolus multiflorus) has several points of
interest, chief of which is the fact that its cotyledons do not
come out of the soil in germination. They may be planted
at the very surface of the soil and will afford excellent objects
for comparison with other kinds of beans. Horse beans
(Vicia faba equina) do not seem to be of any greater value
and are not always easy to obtain. Although we have cau-
tioned the teacher against wasting time on seeds, the introduc-
tion at this point of a different seed exactly like the first in
structure cannot be considered time lost. The beginner learns
slowly and needs to get the structure firmly in mind. When
he understands the make-up of the bean embryo he may be
given a dicot seed with endosperm, such as the castor-bean.
This may be boiled a few minutes to soften the parts. In all
beginning work it is difficult to get seeds that are large enough
to meet the requirements of the clumsy novice. It is there-
fore suggested that in ordering costor beans the variety
sanzibarensis be specified. If a second example of a dicot
seed with endosperm is wanted the four-o’clock seed may be
used. The morning-glory seed often recommended is rather
too small for good work with high school pupils. The castor-
bean and four o’clock have one drawback—they lack a
plumule. A seed which will show all parts of the embroyo in
addition to the endosperm is that of the honey locust (Gledit-
schia triacanthos). It is also large enough to enable the be-
ginner to see all parts clearly. A seed of this type should cer-
tainly be used. They may be purchased from J. M. Thorburn
& Co., New York, or collected from the trees themselves.
They are to be found in most localities. Boil for a few minutes
before using.
A grain of corn is the time-honored illustration of the
monocot seed; in fact it would be difficult to get another half
so good, size and clearness of structure considered. It pre-
sents no special difficulties except to the few sticklers for exact-
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 7
ness who are careful to insist that this and the four-o’clock
“seed” are really fruits. Of course they are, but there is no
use bothering the beginner with the information. He has
enough to do in keeping his ideas of essential structure
properly classified. For the same reason, it does not seem de-
sirable to introduce the polycotyledonous seed of the pine.
This is frequently recommended in the books, but it only
serves to confuse the pupil. In college study where the stu-
dents are older it may well be introduced. The pines are a
small part of a small division of the plant world known as
Gymnosperms. They are not true flowering plants as the
world regards flowering plants and the general study of seeds
no more calls for their study than the study of leaves calls for
a study of fern-leaves and the study of flowers calls for a
study of the sporophylls of Selaginella. If one must have
pine seeds however, several kinds may be obtained of Thor-
burn. The largest—and hardest—are those of Pinus pinea.
In the large cities one may often obtain the seeds of Pinus
monophylla at the fruit stores.
To the writer it seems a waste of time to bother the pupil
with anything about the raphe and chalaza until he has a
natural understanding of these parts. The same cannot be
said of the micropyle, hilum and possibly the seed-stalk or
funiculus. Some seeds have a second seed coat, the tegmen,
but no attention need be called to the fact, unless the pupil
happens to discover it. If one wants to see how important
the tegmen is considered, he may spend a little time trying to
find a mention of it in the indices and glossaries of scientific
texts. There is a good reason for calling the stem-like part of
the embryo the caulicle (little stem) instead of the hypocotyl,
and equally good reason for naming the food-store outside
the embryo the endosperm instead of the albumen. If pupils
are required to color similar parts of each drawing alike—say,
white for the canlicle, green for the plumule, blue for the
8 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
cotyledous and yellow for the endosperm—it will serve to
bring out those structures more clearly. The colors suggested
are those that the plantlet usually wears in these parts or the
colors they usually assume when tested for foods.
The foods stored in seeds may consist of starch, sugar,
oils, cellulose and proteids. The well-known iodine test is
best for starches. Pupils may scrape a few cells from the
cotyledon of the bean and by treating with iodine solution see
with the microscope the starch grains in the cells for them-
selves. Proteids will reveal themselves if treated with a drop
of nitric acid followed in a few minutes with a drop or two of
ammonia. They will also turn a rose, or dull red if moistened
with Millon’s reagent and heated. The acid test is probably
as good as any. Oils will leave a permanent spot on clean
white paper when parts containing them are pressed upon it.
The seeds may also be ground up, the oils dissolved out with
ether or chloroform and obtained by evaporating the solvent.
Oils also turn black if treated with osmic acid, and red if
tested with an alcoholic solution of alkamin. Sugar and cellu-
lose in seeds may be disregarded. The reserve food in the
date is cellulose, but it is not essential that it be tested. Cel-
lulose turns blue if moistened with iodine solution and then
with strong sulphuric acid diluted with half its bulk of water.
In investigating the question of what seeds need in order
to germinate, it does not seem worth while to perform experi-
ments to see if plants need warmth. Every pupil with enough
brains to understand botany knows that plants will not grow
in the cold. If it is desired to know at what temperature seeds
will germinate, it will need a long series of experiments be-
fore we can generalize, for seeds are not alike in these
requirements. Maple seeds are reported to be able to grow on
a cake of ice; peas will grow with a very small increase in tem-
perature above the freezing point, but corn and tomato will
not. The fact that seeds need warmth is familiar to all. That
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 9
seeds need moisture for growth is also familiar from every-
day experience. Certainly it is a waste of time to perform
experiments in this line with high school pupils. As to seeds
requiring air for growth, the case is different. Few people
have any very exact ideas on this subject. To show that seeds
make use of the air some germinating seeds may be corked up
in a bottle and after 24 hours the air in the bottle may be
tested with a lighted splinter. If it goes out, we may assume
that the oxygen has been replaced by carbon dioxide. That
this is so can be proved by pouring lime or baryta-water in the
bottle and shaking. It will become milky. A bottle with seeds
of the same kind but not germinating should be set up and
treated like the other as a control. This does not prove that
seeds require air, but it may be assumed. An experiment to
show that the seeds will not grow without air may be set up
by teachers who have an inclination to push the inquiry to
the end. A few seeds germinate slowly or not at all in the
light. The larkspur and poppy are reported to be in this
class. On the other hand some mistletoes and other epiphytes
will not germinate well in darkness. The fact that most
seeds are planted too deep in the soil to receive light, should
dispose of this question as a general proposition without an
experiment.
THE PLANTS. OF OUR: HILL.
By CATHERINE HARRISON.
**t STOOD tiptoe upon a little hill” and saw—thorns and
mulleins and cows. Oh, yes! I saw the polygala, too.
Think of it! I had lived at the foot of the hill for more than
a dozen years, and had climbed to the top more than a dozen
times each year, and had never before found anything worth
mentioning—except cows.
It was the polygala that opened my eyes. For the hill
was not really so commonplace as it seemed, of course not. It
10 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
was just my obstinate way of looking at the thorns and mul-
leins that kept me from seeing the really beautiful and rare
things. However, that bed of fringed polygala simply insisted
on being seen and so I had to look. The little pink-purple
blossoms were everywhere. They fairly elbowed each other out
of the bit of woods where they properly belonged and held up
their impudent little faces in the open pasture beyond, along
with the cows and mulleins. I followed them as far as they
had dared to go and picked with discrimination and modera-
tion with determination against extermination.
While I was gathering them I stopped to pick a few vio-
lets. What a deep color they had; what odd little leaves, so
purple beneath; and what large blossoms. Surely these were
no common violets. I would “look them up” when I reached
home. So look them up I did, and found (according to Brit-
ton and Brown) that my plant was the “southern wood violet”
(V. villosa). My new Gray’s Manual, however, was completely
silent on the subject, although in an old and coverless volume
I found “V. villosa, probably a round-leaved form of V. sagit-
tata.” Turning again to the later edition, I found lV. sagittata
often passed in to VY. palmata var. cucullata. Poor innocent
little violet, that can’t find a name for itself among all those
words. I wonder what it really is, don’t you?
Besides these puzzling violets, my bouquets contained
many of the ever present, faded-looking, dog violets, which I
thought hardly worth carrying home. Still, I decided to find
out all I could about them. Perhaps they would amount to
more than I supposed. ‘Why look—there are two kinds! I
never knew before that there were two kinds of dog violets,
except the albinos that I occasionally find.” Nor did I know
it then. However, I was very soon to know that two-thirds
of my “dog violets” were long spurred violets (V. rostrata),
of which Gray condescends to say, “Rather rare.”
Violets, though, are not the only flowers to be found on
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. Lid |
our hill. Where do the bluest hepaticas grow? Where, the
pinkest wild roses? And for that matter ,the largest hickory
nuts? On our barren thorn-infested Hill, of course. Nor are
these all. Adder’s Tongues (Erythronium Americanum)
grow there on top of a great rock where any ordinary adder’s
tongue would not think of growing. Early meadow rue
spreads the most delicate green drapery imaginable over the
loose stones which compose the greater part of the soil. The
pyrolas under the black birch, simply compel one to look at
their glossy leaves. So far as I know, they have never blos-
somed ; but that is all the more exciting, for I must keep close
watch so as not to miss them if they ever do. At every turn
one may see miterworts and false miterworts, cinquefoils and
bellworts, solomon seals and twisted stalks and many, many
others. Common things? Yes. But interesting, since they
grow where cows and thorns are supposed to hold sole pos-
session. Besides these, he who knows where to look, may even
find a single sickly but precious specimen of the much sought
ginseng (Aralia quinquefolia).
Ferns, too, have a place on Our Hill. Polypodies, ebony
spleenworts and bladder ferns may be found in more than one
place, while shield ferns are taller, broader, and darker green
than I have ever seen them elsewhere. Broad beech ferns are
abundant on Our Hill, which is their only station for miles
around. Of the grape ferns (Botrychium) four kinds have
been found, including the rare little B. simplex. However, I
suppose there is probably good reason for its growing on our
seculed Hill, it was probably trying to run away from its name
(which being bigger than the plant itself, is enough to frighten
it from ordinary localities) and so took refuge in our mullein
patch. But it couldn’t escape that way, for I found it and
tagged it with enough Latin to last it the rest of its days.
Yes, Our Hill produces better things than thorns. Does
Your Hill? Perhaps you think your locality is too common-
12 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
place; that only weeds grow there. I knew Our Hill was so—
before I saw the polygala. Maybe you, too, are mistaken; go
and see. Go again; and again and yet again. Before long you
will find something worth having. Why, only this month
(Nov.) I found two new plants one of which was an orchid,
or rather the dried remains of one. It was a common one, to
be sure. A coral boot, C. odontorhiza I think, although I was
unable to determine exactly, since I had only the dried stalk
and seed pods to examine. Yet what a discovery! The first
Orchid on Our Hill!
So persevere and you will find treasure after treasure.
Perhaps not just those I have mentioned but something pre-
cious and probably more beautiful. And remember this: al-
though you may find only a few plants of a kind, let that en-
courage, not discourage you. For if there are only a few of a
kind, think how many more kinds there is room for.
Wellsboro, Pa.
SOME MIDWINTER MOSSES.
By H. S. HamMmonp.
N January 26th, the writer in company with some friends,
took a short tramp out to Brownfield’s Woods which
are situated about 314 miles northeast of the Urbana Court
House, Champaign Co., Ill. These woods are practically vir-
gin timber, cover about fifty acres of rolling ground; the soil
being deep rich leaf mold, excepting for some sandy soil along
the banks of the Salt Fork of the Vermillion river which
drains this area.
The principal trees in the this area are maples, oaks, elms,
hickories, honey locusts, basswood and horsechestnuts. Scat-
tered about on the forest floor are many dead and rotten logs
many of the latter partially covered by the soil. The principal
shrub is spice-bush (Benzoin aestivale).
Under such condition one would ordinarily expect to
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 13
find several varieties of mosses but only the few following
varieties were found:
Orthotrichum Ohioense S. & L. was found growing in
its characteristic dense yellowish-brown to greenish-brown
patches at the base of the trunks of the trees, especially where
the trees stood somewhat apart. The plant is rather difficult
to identify without the calyptra being present; but the genus
includes many of those species commonly found on the bark
and at the base of trees.
Dicranella heteromalla (1) was found along the shady
and somewhat sandy bank of the stream. This is easily iden-
tified by its yellowish seta, which becomes darker and twisted
with age and the oblong to oblong-ovoid calyptra which be-
comes brown and furrowed when dry and empty.
Mnium sp. was also found. These three species were all
the acrocarpus species gathered from, that locality.
Among the pleurocarpus mosses were:
Thuidium recogmtum (Hedw.) the common fern moss
which was found growing on some of the rotten logs. This
moss gets its name from the method of its branching which
closely resembles that of a fern pinna. It is one of our most
beautiful and delicate Illinois mosses.
Hypnum imponens (Hedw.) was found growing in the
characteristic prostrate attitude in dense mats on rotten wood
in shady places. This species is quite dark green in color with
capsules nearly erect and symmetrical.
Amblystegium serpens (L.) the common creeping hyp-
num was more or less common on rotten wood in the shadier
places. The whole plant forms but a thin covering over the
rotten wood upon which it is found.
Other species of pleurocarpus mosses were also found but
the writer has been unable to identify them on account of the
specimens at hand having no fruiting forms present.
Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, Ill.
WILD VIOLETS.
HE first days of April usually bring into bloom upon our
wooded river hills the round-leaved violet, earliest of its
charming tribe. The dainty yellow flowers, streaked within
with brown, look like jaunty little bonnets, and are a pretty
sight amid the dun litter of the woodland floor. So eager are
the blossoms for a bath in the spring sunshine that they are
wide open before the leaves are grown. The latter emerge
quite leisurely from the mellow earth, rolled up like quills;
but once started, they grow wondrously, and in summer will
be found from three to four inches broad lying sleek and
glossy, flat upon the ground.
It seems to me that Bryant must have had this earliest
of violets in mind when he wrote those familiar lines of “The
Yellow Violet’’:
Ere beechen buds begin to swell,
Or woods the bluebird’s warble know,
The yellow violet’s modest bell
Peeps from the last year’s leaves below.
The books, however, are disposed to award that honor
to another woodland beauty, the downy yellow violet, which
I usually do not find in my woods until two or three weeks
later, after the trees are in leaf and ‘‘the bluebird’s warble”
has been heard. The blossoms of this later yellow violet are
shyly hid amid the abundant leafage which clothes the plant’s
stems, and this calls attention to the fact that some violets
have leafy stalks while some bear their leaves all in a cluster
on the ground at the foot of the flower stems.
Bearing this simple fact in mind, we shall begin to notice
that there are many varieties of wild flowers in our woods
and fields. The common blue violet of the roadsides and
meadows, for instance, has leaves only at its root, while an al-
most equally common one, though smaller and paler, is leafy
14
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 15
stemmed. The latter is the so-called dog violet—a term of
contempt which has come to us from England, and was given
because this species (which grows there too) is lacking in the
fragrance that is so much cherished in the common sweet vio-
let of the Old World. As a matter of fact, in this country,
the wild violets have not as a rule any noticeable perfume. The
sweet white violet, however, whose charming little blossom
brighten damp, shady meadows and mossy banks of woodland
streams, has a delicious, though delicate, fragrance. Rarely
is a posy from the fields more acceptable to one shut in than a
handful of these dainty flowers. Their sweetness is too fleet-
ing to cloy, but quite enough to awaken dormant memories and
bring back to the sick-room some happiness of other days.
Hardly less interesting than the blossoms of violets are
their leaves, and they are even more various. In some cases
they undergo complete transformation as the plant grows old.
Thus the early leaves of the common blue violet of the fields
are roundish, with their sides rolled inward, while the later
leaves are cut and divided into such fringes and lobes that one
would not suspect them to have sprung from the same root.
In other caess the leaves have marked shapes at the start, and
these give to the varieties their special names. Of these may
be mentioned the lance-leaved—a white violet, common in
damp soil, with erect leaves, shaped like lance-heads ; the bird-
foot, frequent in sandy places, having leaves cut into four or
five narrow divisions, like the claws of a bird; and the arrow-
leaved, with foliage shaped like arrow-heads, the barbs often
beautifully toothed and fringed, as though nature took delight
in putting a special loving touch to a weapon that could harm
no one.—C. F. Saunders, in Young People.
NOTE AND COMMENT
WANTED.—Short notes of interest to the general botanist
are always in demand for this department. Our readers are
invited to make this the place of publication for their shorter
botanical items. The magazine is issued as soon as possible
after the 10th of February, May, August and November.
PEAT Bocs.—Possibly it has never occurred to those who
live in regions where peat bogs are common that this feature
of the earth’s surface is not a general one. It is known, how-
ever, that such bogs are characteristic of glaciated regions and
that by far the greater number are found north of the line
which marks the southern limit of the old glaciers, and mostly
in the northern hemisphere. Any piece of wet ground is not
entitled to be called a bog. A real bog is wet and springy, to
be sure, but it is underlaid with peat and vegetable remains and
covered on the surface with sphagnum mosses. ‘The saturated
soil prevents the entrance of air and thus decay goes on very
slowly and imperfectly forming the black deposit known as
peat. The presence of ulmic and other acids prevents the
growth of the bacteria of decay and this results in the preser-
vation of anything that falls into the bog. In the Old World
a great number of articles have been preserved in this way and
found after hundreds of years in good condition. Among them
may be mentioned, armor, weapons, clothing, various house-
hold utensils, and even the bodies of men. Examination of the
peat itself reveals the remains of more than ninety species of
plants that have been preserved in a recognizable condition.
The living vegetation of the peat bog is found to be made up
16
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 7
of a number of characteristic species, such as the buck bean
(Menyanthes trifoliata), sundew (Drosera rotundifolia),
pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea), small cranberry (Vac-
cinium oxycoccus), marsh rosemary (Andromeda polifolia),
leather leaf (Cassandra calyculata), pale laurel (Kalma
glanca), Labrador tea (Ledum Groenlandicum), creeping
snowberry (Chiogenes hispidula) and larch (Larix Ameri-
cana). The bogs are regarded as having existed since the
glacial period and the flora is supposed to represent the plants
of that far-away time. In wet grounds that have originated
since the glacial period a very different flora exists. Some
of the representative species being cat-tails (Typha latifolia),
button-brush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), dogwoods (Cor-
nus) various sedges (Carex) and smart-weeds (Polygonum).
An extended account of the nature and origin of the bogs may
be found in the Plant World for February.
CoLor OF FERN Spores —Fern students seldom trouble
themselves about the color of fern spores though familiar
with the changes of color that the sporangia go through in the
process of ripening. The spores are by no means the rusty-
brown objects that some may be led to think they are from a
hasty glance at the spoangia or sori, in fact although brown
is the prevailing color, there is quite a range of color outside
of this that the spores may adopt. According to “The Book
of Fern Culture’ the spores of the Osmundas are bright
green, in Pteris argyrea they are quite black. In most of the
Davallias the spores are yellow, in some of the Gymnogram-
mas they are nearly black while in a few Adiantums they are
pale yellow. The shapes and markings of fern spores are sub-
jects that as yet have been practically untouched though in
allied plants, as the /soetes, these points may serve to distin-
guish species. A study of fern spores would be a most interest-
ing pastime for those who have a compound microscope.—
Fern Bulletin.
18 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
ForMS OF THE ARROW HEApD.—The common arrow-
head is a well-known and variable plant. It was for many
years known as Sagittaria variabilis but more recently is called
S. latifolia. When it was known as S. variabilis a large num-
ber of the more striking forms were named as varieties and
when the craze for hair-splitting began it was inevitable that
many of these should become new species. Two closely re-
lated forms were described in 1894 as S. Engelmanniana and
S. longirostra, respectively and many botanists have since con-
sidered them distinct species, but last year K. K. Mackenzie
discovered at Forked River, N. J., a lot of specimens in which
the distinctive characters of the two forms are so blended that
he is constrained to believe the two to be but forms of a single
species. Thus does another species become extinct. Not the
least remearkable fact in this connection is that the reduction
was made in Torreya.
CEREUS GIGANTEUS.—The New York Sun recently con-
tained the following: “Since the giant cactus, which is by
far the most impressive feature of the desert vegetation of the
Far Southwest, was studied and named by Dr. George Engel-
mann in 1847, it has been known to botanists as Cereus gigan-
teus. Now Dr. L. N. Britton and Dr. J. N. Rose of the New
York Botanical Garden have found that it is not a cereus at
all, but belongs to a separate genus of which it is the only
species. They propose to name the genus Carnagiea in honor
of Andrew Carnegie.” Commenting upon this Horticulture
of Boston observes, “Undoing one another’s work has long
been a passion with many of our esteemed friends, the botan-
ists, and genus and species splitting their ever-besetting sin.
The establishment of this monotypie genus in honor of the
Laird of Skibo looks questionable. With all due respect to
the learned gentlemen mentioned in the above extract, we are
disposed to credit Dr. Engelmann and our German con-
temporary, Schumann, with a better knowledge of the spiny
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 19
inhabitants of the desert than even our New York and Wash-
ington scientists. We know of none who have done more de-
voted and painstaking work on the Cactacae and Coniferae
and allied plants in America than Dr. Engelmann and it is re-
gretted that the name given by him should not be permitted to
stand.” Horticulture should remember, however, that Dr.
Engelmann is dead and gone, while Carnegie is still alive, has
great wealth and is credited with an inclination to “loosen up”
for anything that will add to the fame of Andrew C. It will
be nothing short of ingratitude if Andrew does not do some-
thing handsome for botany in return for his “honors.” But
we submit that we all ought to share in the returns—all but
the college professors who can get at him through the pension
fund. To begin with, how would it do to subsidize all the
botanical and horticultural publications ?
THE Stupy OF SEEDS.—It is suggested that we recognize
different species of trees by the buds, twigs, and bark. I
should like to add seeds, also. The study of seeds is very
helpful in identifying new species of plants. To illustrate.
On one of my botanizing trips, I gathered a little plant, not
more than two inches high having one tiny flower. It was
rolled up with many others and carried home. After many
weeks an attempt was made to analyze it. The flower was
gone, the plant shriveled almost to nothing. Under the mag-
nifying glass one minute seed was found, and at a glance the
marking on that little seed told beyond a doubt the family to
which it belonged. ‘The family resemblance” is very strong
in all species of a family. Being familiar with the shape and
marking of one species it will act as a key to the other species
of that family. My collection consists of several hundred
kinds of seeds and is a source of great pleasure as well as
profit. I would like to encourage all students of botany to
make a study of seeds, and a collection of them.—Mrs. Emma
Buszek, Orange, California.
20 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
Lear SuHoots.—This is the term which Conard adopts
in his “Structure and Life History of the Hay Scented Fern’’
for the curious stems that arise from the base of the stipe in
the fronds of Dicksonia Pilosiuscula. According to this au-
thor about twenty percent of the fronds produce such roots.
Occasionally a stipe will produce two shoots, one on each side.
These shoots have a varying history; they may remain dor-
mant as mere bud-like protuberances or they may grow rapidly
into true rhizomes from which new fronds develop. This
method of vegetative reproduction is rarely mentioned in dis-
cussing the multiplication of ferns by other than sexual pro-
cesses, and seems confined to this single species in our fern
flora.—Fern Bulletin.
CULTIVATING THE LiLies.—Of all the families of plants
that man cultivates for the beauty of their flowers, few if any,
are more desirable than the lilies and irises. The orchids
bear very beautiful flowers but are hard to grow, while the
lilies and irises are of easy culture and hardly surpassed by
the orchids in beauty; in fact, the iris is called “the poor man’s
orchid.” It is surprising what a fine collection can be made
when one really sets about it. Mr. Gustav Pauls of the St.
Louis Altenheim writes that he has been growing these plants
for nearly fifty years and has eighty varieties of lilies, besides
Camassias, Erythroniums, Fritillarias Tricyrtis, Calochortus
Brodiaeas and others. Few plants are more satisfactory than
bulbous plants of all kinds. Once established under proper
conditions they require less care than other plants and con-
tinue to improve as time passes.
SAPROPHYTES AND PARISITES.—Saprophytes among
plants are defined as individuals which live upon dead organic
matter, whether animal or vegetable, while parisites live upon
living animals or plants. The best examples of both these
groups are found among the fungi, in fact recent research in-
cline the scientists to the belief that saprophytes and parasites
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 21
are almost entirely confined to this group. The Mistletoe was
once called a parasite, but this plant has more or less chloro-
phyll and thus is partly self-supporting. Such an association
of plants is more properly described as a low case of symbio-
sis in which each plant gains something from the partnership.
A more pronounced case of symbiosis is found in the associa-
tion of the clover and a species of bacteria which inhabits
small nodules on its roots. Here the bacteria take up nitrogen
for the clover and are repaid by elaborated food from the
latter. The Indian pipe is a plant frequently described as a
saprophyte and in the same class were formerly placed the
coral-roots, broom-rapes and many others, but it now appears
that all these plants have formed partnership with certain low
fungi called mycorhizas, which inhabit the outer layers of the
roots and absorb plant food from the soil, and thus both the
fungi and flowering-plants are true symbionts, each contribut-
ing something to, and gaining something from, the partner-
ship.
PITCHER-PLANTS FOR ScHooLs.—In many localities
where botany is taught it is often a difficult matter to secure
from the surrounding region, material to illustrate the so-
called insectivorous plants. The bladderworts (Utricularia)
are likeliest to be found, but their small size makes them un-
satisfactory. The pitcher-plants are best for cultivating in
pots in the school-room and four different species namely,
Sarracenia purpurea, S. flava, S. Drummondii and S. psitta-
cina, may be procured for 15 cents each from F. H. Horsford,
Charlotte, Vt., at any time of year except in the height of the
growing season. The small cost of the specimens makes it
possible for every teacher of botany to add a most interesting
and attractive feature to the school-room. The sundews
(Drosera rotundifolia and D. intermedia) and the venus’ fly-
trap (Dionea muscipula)also grow well in the school room
and may possibly be obtained from other dealers.
22 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
FerN Mycoruizas.—There is a growing list of plants
known to botanists in which the older parts of the root are in-
habited by threads of fungi which act like root hairs in secur-
ing food materials for the plant. Such associations are known
as mycorhizas and are quite common among the heaths, coni-
fers, orchids and many others. Among the true ferns, how-
ever, at least among the Polypodiaceae, mycorhizas have until
recently been unknown, though it is possible that they will be
found to be not uncommon when the roots are more ex-
tensively studied. At present the only member of the Poly-
podiaceae known to have mycorhizas is the boulder fern
(Dicksonia pilosiuscula), although a species of Cyathea has
been reported in a rather indefinite way as possessing them.
—Fern Bulletin.
WoopENn FLowers.—This morning a friend of mine sent
me a copy of your number 79, November, 1908, vol. 14, No.
4,, marking your article on page 115: “Wooden flowers.” He
sent it to me, because I have been living in Guatemala for 31
years, and have been occupied in botanical work. Permit me
a few words (if the article has not been rectified by anybody
previously). The wooden flower exists. I am willing to fur-
nish samples of it. I have none now on hand, but can procure
them from Guatemala. Only it is not a flower, but Gallen-
bildung (I cannot remember now the English word), as far
I can judge, caused by the sting of an insect—may be a fungus,
but I rather think insect. The description, locality etc. in your
article page 115 is quite correct. Generally the “roses” are
4-5 inches in diameter, but exceptionally beautiful specimens
reach the 12 inches mentioned. I never have collected it my-
self, but it is to be bought, for a few cents, from indians, com-
ing from the Volcanoes, in the streets of Guatemala.—H. von
Turckheim, Bachstr, 40. Karlsruhe, Baden. [We are much
obliged to our correspondent for explaining the reference to
wooden flowers, and thus verifying our implied denial that
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 23
such a thing as a real wooden flower exists. There are, of
course, many curious and fantastic objects in the plant world
due to mal-formations produced by the attacks of insects and
fungi and we can well believe the wooden flower to be one of
those, but a real wooden rose—never! In a later note our
correspondent writes that there is a picture of the “wooden
flower” in Engler and Prantl’s “Naturlische Pflanzenfamilien”
III, 1, p. 161 fig. 10713. According to Engler it is caused by
a parasite, a Phoradendron.—Ed. |
YELLow Hotty Berries.—We have received from Mrs.
G. W. Sirrine, Greenville, S. Car., some very fine specimens
of the yellow fruited holly. This is not a species distinct from
the red fruited form, but is simply a variety of it, due to the
fading out of the pigment which colors the berries. In most
fruits this pigment is anthocyan. A superabundance of this
may cause fruits to be nearly or quite black and a small quan-
tity may allow the fruits to become yellow. This fact is so
well known that no botanist is surprised at finding a yellow
form of a red flower, or of a red fruit. Similarly it seems
quite possible to breed up red flowers from yellow ones, es-
pecially those yellow ones which have spots or streaks of red
in them to start with. The old-fashioned tawny day lily
(Hemerocallis fulva) is of such a peculiar shade of brick red
as to possess little attraction for flower-lovers, but it seems
quite possible to extract from this species a flower with only
the deeper tints of red and in such a case the flower would
doubtless take a sudden jump in popularity. It would be in-
teresting if someone would make a list of red flowers with
yellow varieties and other lists of red or black fruits with
forms in which yellow predominates.
t PLE De B.On ALN |
yg
Rima | Fated by Dr HL AsGlesson, Urbana. IL k Care
It is at this season of the year that the field worker begins
to look forward to another season of out-of-door activity and
to lay plans for a new campaign. Judging from the letters that
have come in to this department, it seems that many of its
readers are preparing to make a collection of plants, and it is
to them that these suggestions are especially directed.
There are all sorts of presses that may be used, from a
piece of board with a rock on it to the elaborate frames offered
for sale by several firms. There is no need of using as cum-
brous affair as the former, or of paying two or three dollars
for the latter, when an expenditure of a few cents will make a
press more satisfactory than either.
The theory of pressing plants is simple; the plant is flat-
tened so that it ocupies less space, and is held in that position
until it is dry. The press must be designed to serve efficiently
for both purposes of flattening and drying. The old-fashioned
method of using weights is simple and has the advantage of
subjecting the plants always to a uniform amount of pressure,
but it is unwieldy and clumsy and in its usual form retards the
drying process. Straps buckled around a press are light, but
are adjustable only to certain buckle-holes. They also wear
out rather quickly and are comparatively expensive. The
press here described has the advantage of cheapness, lightness,
and ease of operation. It has been in constant use by myself
for eight years, and everyone who has tried it has adopted it.
Provide some lath or, better, the dressed strips used for
making lattices, about 114 inches wide by % inch thick. Cut
24
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 25
six pieces 12 inches and four 18 inches long. Nail together to
form a frame 12 by 18 inches; have the heads of the nails on
the 18 inch strips and clinch them on the other side. Two
frames will be needed for each press, which should contain
not more than 25 sheets of plants. For each press get two
cords (sash-cord or heavy fish-line 3-16 inch thick, I prefer the
latter) with a three inch loop at one end (not a slip-knot) and
four feet long.
A supply of driers is also needed, and fifty should be on
hand for each press. Their function is the absorption of water
from the fresh plants, and it is important to have them as ab-
sorbent as is consistent with expense. Blotting paper may be
used but it is expensive. The ordinary material is carpet-
paper, costing 5-10 cents per square yard. There are many
grades in the market and care should be taken to select a suit-
able one, soft, not too thin, and not treated with tar or some
other prepartion. A sample will be sent to anyone on request.
Each square yard will cut into six driers 12 by 18 inches.
Folders are needed in which the plants are placed during
pressing and where they remain until they are completely dry.
Newspapers are as satisfactory as anything. Cut the sheets 16
by 22 inches and fold once to 11 by 16 inches.
Having collected the plants in good condition, lay a frame
on the table with the 18 inch strips down; on it place a drier
and on it a folder. Inside the folder arrange the plant in as
natural a manner as possible. Smooth out some of the leaves,
see that some of the flowers will be pressed open, but do not
waste too much time trying to make “pretty” specimens. If
the specimen is too long for the paper, bend it sharply (not in
a curve); in this way plants up to 48 inches long may be
pressed entire. Add another drier, another folder, and so
build up the pile. Place not more than 25, or at most 30,
plants in one press. Thick stems may be split before pressing,
26 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
and heavy roots and tubers may be halved and most of the
tissues removed, leaving only the outer surface. If the leaves
are too numerous to press well trim off some, leaving a small
basal portion to show their former presence. Thick, heavy
heads of flowers like those of wild sunflowers may be split, but
are better if pressed entire, surrounded by one or more ring-
shaped thicknesses of drying paper. This keeps the other parts
flat and prevents crushing the heads. Do not omit to place in
each folder a label, showing the date and place of collection
and something of the habits of the plant.
After the pile is complete add another frame with the 18
inch strips wp. Place two cords around the frame, one about
3 inches from each end, with the loops just appearing on the
upper side, and fasten as shown in the figure. Slip the free
end (1) through the loop (2). Loop the free end remaining
under the cord at the side of the press (3). Stand on the
press and tighten 4 as far as it can be pulled. Pull 3 to to
take up the slack in 4 and draw 3 up firmly between the edge
of the press and the cord at 5. The pressure will hold it se-
curely without a knot, the press may be moved easily from
place to place, and may be opened instantly by pulling on 1.
Place the presses in the sun or in a warm dry place. After
24 hours change the wet driers for fresh ones, leaving the
plants undisturbed in their folders. Spread the wet driers out
in the sun to dry; a sidewalk is a good place, and they will
dry in an hour on a hot day. Repeat this process daily until
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 27
the plants are dry. This may be determined.by the sense of
touch or by their becoming stiff and brittle. The time re-
quired for drying will vary from 8 to 7 days, depending upon
the plants and on the weather. Store the specimens in the
original folders in a dry place. until they are ready for mount-
ing.
A FREAK DANDELION.—While collecting near lowa City
last spring I chanced upon a form of Taraxacum taraxacum
(L.) Karst, so abnormal as to deserve mention. In place of
the scape which all self-respecting dandelions rear aloft, this
“freak” had a stem, amply provided with leaves—not in
whorls, if you please, but alternate. The tip of the flower stalk
was bifurcate and bore two heads, rather smaller than the
average but perfect in other respects. Near the base of the
stem to still further emphasize the abnormality was an auxil-
lary peduncle tipped by an inmature head. There were several
plants with this leafy stem habit and all very similar in the
forked flower stalk. The soil was an ordinary black earth
quite moist but in no way noticeably peculiar and six feet
away in the same soil were normal plants of the same species.
A friend, who is somewhat severe in his strictures regarding
the activity of taxonomists and the resulting multiplicity of
synonyms, suggests that I describe this form as a new species
and call it 7. paradoxa. However it may be of interest to
some to know that Taraxacum taraxacum (L.) Karst. (7.
officinale Weber. T. Dens-leonis Desv. etc., etc.,) does not al-
ways have a scape nor is its inflorescence always a single head.
—M. P. Somes.
——_EDITORIAL
Any of our readers happening to have a few hours to
spare in Chicago, will find the time well spent in a visit to the
conservatories in Garfield Park. It will be a surprise to many
to know that these conservatories are the largest in America
and only excelled in the Old World by the glass houses at
Kew. Having seen the conservatories at New York, Boston,
Washington and other large cities we are satisfied that they
are not to be mentioned in the same breath with the Garfield
Park houses in point of size and arrangement. This being
only the second season for the conservatories there is much
still to be desired as regards the size of specimens but this de-
fect will be remedied by time. One feature that we do not
recall seeing elsewhere, is a cool house devoted entirely to
coniferous trees arranged in a very attractive way. The fern
house is the gem of the entire collection. Here fern-clad cliffs
surround a small lake fed by springs and filled with lilies and
other aquatics. The glass houses in Lincoln Park have long
been famous but must now take second place.
a aS
Vhen Dr. E. F. Bigelow recently took the presidency
of the Agassiz Association everybody felt that the develop-
ment of that institution would not proceed along conventional
lines and they have not been mistaken. Dr. Bigelow bristles
with unique ideas that are likely to make people interested in
naure-study sit up and take notice. His latest venture is “Ar-
cadia’’ a collection of portable buildings in Stamford, Conn.
in which he purposes carrying on various experiments con-
nected with the work of the Agassiz Association. The funds
for this purpose have been furnished by a philanthropist too
28
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 29
modest to give his name, but the aid is none the less substan-
tial because of this. When the Agassiz Association was first
started, there were practically no books of a popular nature
by which a student, working alone, could get an insight into
the phase of natural history that attracted him, but with the
increase of science-teaching in the schools and the issuing of a
vast number of books on every conceivable phase of nature,
the need for a society like the Agassiz Association was
less urgent and there was a general falling off in membership.
We are of the opinion, however, that there is as still, a decided
need for something of the kind and that Dr. Bige-
low will find out how to adapt the society to the
peed: “olf. Ateadia: |) proves, to (bed, Success. atter “two
years trial, it will become a permanent feature; if not, we
may expect Dr. Bigelow to originate something else as novel.
More than twenty thousand boys and girls have been helped
over hard places by the Agassiz Association. Among them
was the editor of this magazine who remembers with pleasure
and gratitude his connection with it and he could wish no
better fortune for the rising generation than that it, too, may
discover the delights of membership. The American Fern
Society, the Sullivant Moss Chapter, and the Gray Memorial
Botanical Chapter, all had their origin in the old Agassiz As-
sociation.
* Ok Ox
The appearance of an edition of “Gray’s Manual” contain-
ing pictures of a large number of plants has called forth a pro-
test from Henry M. Bolley who takes the ground in a recent
number of Science that the usefulness of the manual is greatly
impaired for school work because it no longer compels the stu-
dent to study out all the details of the plant in hand to be sure
of not going astray. In a large number of cases he now has
only to look at the pictures and compare his plants with them.
While the latter proceeding may put the pupil in possession of
30 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
the name more quickly, Prof. Bolley contends, with reason,
that it will deprive him of much valuable botanical training.
The tendency of school children, and even of adults, to make
the name the end and aim of botany needs to be curbed rather
than fostered. In the manuals we have greater need for ac-
curate keys so worded that the terms, themselves, shall not lead
the pupil astray, than we have for pictures of plants. It may
even be suggested that common names be omitted as their
presence is a constant temptation to the student to rely upon
the index instead of upon his own abilities.
* * xX
The statement by the publishers of Wood’s ‘“‘Class-book”’
that this most valuable manual has just gone out of print, will
affect a large number of botanists like the death of an old
friend. For more than sixty years the book has held an hon-
ored place in the library of botanists. Time has shown some
of its statements to be incorrect, the extension of our knowl-
edge has added many new species to our flora, the battles of
the nomenclaturists have changed many of the old familiar
names and yet the book has held its own through the sheer
genius of its author for knowing and vividly describing plants.
Alphonso Wood was not a closet naturalist. He knew his
plants in the field and many of his descriptions read as if made
with the living, growing plant before him. His keys siezed
upon the most salient features for distinguishing species,
whether along strictly scientific lines or not. After the more
technical matter relating to a plant it was his custom to add
more or less information of a more popular character—what
the plant was good for, how and where it grew, its height, etc.
In our species-naming days when the technical descriptions
in Gray left us in some doubt as to the exact identity of a
given plant, we turned to these more popular descriptions and
made sure. We have never ceased to recommend the book to
those studying botany alone and would rejoice to see a re-issue
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 31
of it brought up to date by someone with the same love for
the plants and a similar attitude toward nomenclature and
species-making. In these days of the strenuous, ultra-scien-
tific manual there would seem to be room for just such a book.
To do the work properly it would need a man like Dr. Bessey
or Dr. Beal. Meanwhile we who have copies of the old book
may continue to botanize with pleasure while others may dig
their species out of Britton’s or Gray’s—if they can!
BOOKS AND WRITERS.
With the beginning of its twentieth volume the British
Nature Notes which is the organ of the Selborne Society re-
sumed an earlier title and is now to be known as The Selborne
Magazine. he Society takes its name from the locality made
famous by the naturalist-parson Gilbert White and is doing a
good work in preserving the fauna, flora, foot-paths, ancient
monuments, and picturesque regions from destruction as well
as advancing the study of natural history and the love of out-
doors. There is no American society exactly like it, but this
does not imply that there ought not to be.
Not the least valuable feature of the Bergen text-books is
the fact that they are not allowed to get out of date. A re-
vision of the “Essentials of Botany” has just been made and
this book, which stands midway between the author’s “Ele-
ments of Botany” and “Principles of Botany’? now offers a
very good text for the average year’s course in plant study.
The only objectionable feature that we note, is the inclusion
of directions for laboratory work with the text, but this would
not be an objection in schools where laboratory guides are not
in use. The book gives a necessary survey of the lower groups
of plant life, but omits many exceptions that only serve to
puzzle the high school student, all of which is to be com-
mended.
32 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
The Amateur Naturalist, profiting by a good example, has
become a quarterly commencing with the January number
which begins volume VI. The magazine now contains 24 pages
an issue and costs 50 cents a year. In our opinion it is worth
the price to anybody interested in the natural sciences.
Books devoted to “biology” which consist of elementary
accounts of botany, zoology and human physiology bound in
one volume continue to appear doubtless in response to that
phase of teaching which holds that such a mixture is better
than separate courses in the sciences mentioned. Among such
books the “First Course in Biology” by L. H. Bailey and W.
M. Coleman is likely to take a prominent place. It may be
doubted whether any course in biology covering but a single
year will ever prove satisfactory, but if it should, the present
book is likely to be a very desirable one for the purpose.
The treatment of both the botany and zoology follows the ac-
cepted order, beginning in the former with the seed and in the
latter with simple-celled animals. The botanical part, how-
ever, follows rather too closely the older books by Gray which
have quite passed out of use as text-books for schools except
in a few remote localities. In our opinion there is too much
emphasis laid upon definitions. Much time is given to the
forms of leaves, flowers and other parts that might more profit-
ably be given to studies of structure and function. Provision
is made, however, to extend the botany for a second half year
by the use of additional matter set in small type. The zoologi-
cal end of the book also admits of use for a year instead of a
healf year by taking up various matters in fine print. This
part of the book shows no special advance over others of its
kind but seems likely to give the beginner a fair idea of the
diversity and relationships of animal forms. The book is
well illustrated, containing more than 800 figures. It is pub-
lished by the MacMillan Company, New York at $1.25 net.
The Plant World
—1)
——s
A monthly magazine presenting illustrated articles on almost every phase
of plant life. Its list of authors includes some of the best teachers and writers
in botany.
Descriptions of travels, experiments in the laboratory and garden, observa-
tions in the woods and fields, hybrids, plant breeding together with readable
notes on books and current events are included among the topics treated.
The September number contains the following articles:
The Course of the Vegetative Seasons in Southern Arizona. By Dr. D. T.
MacDougal. Running through four numbers.
Methods of Reproduction in Guayule (a Mexican Rubber Plant) and Ma-
ricla. By Professor F. E. Lloyd.
; 4
LEAVES OF A HYBRID OAK.
The Western. Edge of the Colorado Desert. By Prof. V. M. Spalding.
Bower’s: Origin of a Land Flora. By Dr. W. A. Cannon.
The following are taken from the November number:
Water Culture Method for Experimenting with Potatoes. By J. J. Skinner.
Gray’s New Manual of Botany. By J. J. Thornber.
Fall Blossoming of the Apple Induced by the Black Rot. By H. S. Reed.
Books and Current Literature.
You may wish to see a sample copy: if so write for it. Cr you may already
know the Plant World (it is now in its twelfth year) ard are ready to send $1.59
for a year’s subscription. Do this at once and we will send you the numbers for
September, October, November and December. Mention the AMERICAN
BOTANIST when you write.
The Plant World
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*Seed Dispersal. ‘Beal rete ie ohawtcs hscbe sob ees taco ee eee $ .40
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Darwin and DeViies :
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JOLIET, ILL.
‘ate fied fl | .
§ {| VOLUME 15, NUMBER 2 WHOLE NUMBER 383
MAY, 1909
|| Tae AMERICAN
| BOTANIST
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CONTENTS '
THE STORY OF THE SAXIFRAGES -
By Walter Albion Squires.
EXPERIMENTS WITH SEEDS AND
SRRDEINGS foie ede ie ae es ee
By Willard N. Clute.
PROSERPINA: STUDIES OF WAY-
SIDE FLOWERS - - - - - - -
By Rev. John Davis.
VARIATION IN PLANTS - - - - -
THE RELATIONSHIPS OF PLANTS -
THE FRUIT OF THE LEGUMINOSAE
By Willard N. Clute.
BILD BOE AN Wm) a) sisi nN
EDITORIAL - - ---- -
NOTE AND COMMENT -
BOOKS AND WRITERS
WILLARD N. CLUTE & ote
JOLIET, ILLINOIS
Ghe American Botanist
A QUART RLY DEVOTED TO ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC BOTANY
WILLARD N. CLUTE 333 EDITOR
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CALIFORNIA SAXIFRAGE.— Savifraga Californica.
1909
GN
=
22D)
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
VOL. XV JOLIET, ILL., MAY, 1909 No. 2
“No plot so narrow, be but nature there,
No waste so vacant, but may well employ
Gach faculty of sense, and keep the heart
Awake to love and beauty.”
THE STORY OF THE SAXIFRAGES.
By WALTER ALBION SQUIRES.
HE little saxifrage (Saxifraga Californica) is one of our
early spring blossoms. In this part of California its
delicate white or pink-tinted flowers appear early in February.
Its slender, red scapes delicate scarlet-tipped sepals, and tiny
pink stamens give to it a beauty and grace which are quite
its own. It is usually found only on cool, shady northern
slopes, making its home among the mosses and maidenhair
ferns. Indeed, it seems rather shy and modest as though it
were not quite at home in the “land of sunshine and roses.”’
Our coldest season is its season of growth. When chilly
winds from the Pacific sweep through the Golden Gate and
the frost is on the hills of the North Peninsula it pushes up
its slender scapes in the mossy glens of cold canyons. By the
first of February it is in blossom. Before spring is fairly be-
gun it is ready to mature its seeds, and then it creeps back
under its coverlet of mosses to sleep through the long summer
until the rains of another winter. Little wanderer from that
interesting family of plants which encompass the pole in the
northern hemisphere, it is not like many of our California
flowers which fling back the flood light of summer days with
gold as bright as the sunbeams. It is still a lover of the cold.
34 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
The home of the saxifrages is the far north,—the dreary,
wind-swept “barren grounds” of the Arctic tundra. On the
product maps of our school geographies there used to be a
dotted line marked “northern limit of trees.’”” The vast region
north of this line stretching from Cape Prince of Wales, to
Labrador was labeled “Mosses and saxifrages.”” This great
expanse in the bleak dwelling place of the genus Saxrifraga.
Many of the species of these Arctic regions extend their
range far to the southward along the great mountain systems
of the northern hemisphere. Those farthest south are found
as isolated colonies on lofty mountain peaks. Sarifraga op-
positifolia has been found on the Green Mountains of Vermont
and along the crest of the Tetons in the West. It makek its
home on the heights of the Pyrenees, among the Alpine peaks,
and on the Jura Mountains. Botanists have found it on Ingle-
borough Hill in Yorkshire and on Snowdon in Wales. These-
are its southern outposts; northward it is found in increasing
abundance to the shores of the Arctic Sea.
S. tricuspidata is found in both Europe and America. In
the eastern part of North America it comes as far south as
Lake Superior. In the West it lives among the Bryanthus and
Arctic willows on the lofty volcanic crater of Mt. Hood.
S. stellaris grows along the margin of the Greenland ice-sheet
and on the cold Labador uplands. Its most southerly stations
are on Mt. Katahdin in Maine and on Mt. Evans in Colorado.
A few species are confined to the United States and two or
three are found as far south as North Carolina or Georgia.
The habits of these southern species show their northern
origin. They cling to the margins of cold mountain brooks
or the edges of bogs.
To account for the wide spread dissemination of northern
species of plants and for their occurrence in isolated colonies
on the mountains of the northern hemisphere is one of the
fascinating problems in the realm of plant life. It would
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 35
seem that such cold-loving plants as the saxifrages first ap-
peared near the poles when the world’s first winter began. In
that winter of winters, the glacial period, the continental ice-
sheets advancing southward drove the Arctic flora before
them. After other ages the ice began to melt from about the
Great Lakes, on the prairies of the Mississippi Valley, and on
the Cordillera of the West. Step by step the glaciers with-
diew toward their northern home leaving behind them long
lines of moraine and glacial drift. Before the advancing
summer the Arctic plants retreated northward following close
after the glaciers. But not all returned, some found abiding
places in peat bogs and on cool northern hill sides. Some
were cut off and ascended mountain slopes, pushed higher and
higher by the advancing age of summer until they found their
present homes on lofty mountain peaks near the eternal snow.
San Anselmo, Calif.
EXPERIMENTS WITH SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS.
By WILuaArRD N, CLUTE.
OSSIBLY because the subject of botany usually begins
with seeds, or possibly because seeds lend themselves
readily to such a variety of experiments, we often find a dispro-
portionate amount of time given to seeds in botanical courses.
It is certainly true that after studying the structure of typical
seeds we should proceed to see what uses the parts have and
how ordinary conditions of heat, light, moisture and air act
upon them, but in doing so it is well to discriminate sharply
between those experiments which elucidate general physiolog-
ical principles and others which are concerned merely with
special structures and functions. In this latter category may
be placed the study of the “peg” of squash and other cucurbit
seeds. In an exhaustive study of seeds the special way in
which the embryo of the squash gets free of the testa may be
studied and also the behavior of the cotyledons in the cocoanut
36 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
and date during germination but in the ordinary high-school
course these may be disregarded since they are special cases
and have no place in the functions of the great majority of
seeds.
That seeds need moisture to grow is a fact familiartoevery
high-school student; as to how much they need and how they
obtain it, the conception is not so clear. We may discover
how much water a given seed will absorb by weighing a quan-
tity of the seeds, placing them in water for a day, and after
wiping the moisture from the outside weighing again. Seeds
will usually take up more than their weight of water. To
decide where water enters the seed we may place some dry
seeds in colored water and note the path colored. The seed
of the white lupine, sold by most seedsmen is excellent for this
purpose though any large seed will do. In the absence of the
lupine, the common white or navy bean may be used but care
should be taken to see that the testa is intact. In many seeds
the testa swells up in ridges along the path of the water and
will show its course without the use of coloring matter. If
it is desired to discover whether the micropyle and hilum are
of any special advantage in absorbing water the behavior of
a set of seeds in which these parts have been covered up with
wax or rubber cement may be compared with that of a set
which have not been treated thus. Or one set of seeds may be
partly immersed in moist sand with their micropyles exposed,
while the other has the micropyles buried in it. It can be
shown easily that ordinary dry seeds contain water by putting
some seeds in a test tube and heating over a flame, first plug-
ging the mouth of the tube with a tuft of cotton. Moisture
will then condense on the cooler part of the tube. Notwith-
standing this, seeds once started to germinating will die if
dried and this may be proven by experiment.
In many studies of seeds it is usual to prove that the stored
food is necessary to the young seedlings by cutting off one or
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 37
both cotyledons, removing the endosperm, etc., and comparing
the growth of such mutilated plants with normal ones. These
experiments, however, need to run for several days and are
not calculated to hold the interest of high school pupils. With
such students it may be taken for granted that they understand
that the stored starch, oil and proteid serve the seed exactly
as they would an animal.
The pupil will readily understand that some of the food
is used by the seedling in forming new parts, but the idea that
the food is a source of energy for the plant is more obscure
since at first glance the seedling does not seem to use energy.
The force used in pushing through the soil should be con-
clusive on this point. It is often assumed that the bursting of
the testa is an illustration of the use of energy, and this force
is usually shown by the time-honored experiment of filling a
botttle with germinating seeds which in swelling will burst
the bottle. This experiment, however, is probably more phy-
sical than physiological. A bottle full of small cubes of dry
wood might be expected to give the same result. A more
appreciable idea of the force exerted by growing plants may
be had by placing a pane of glass over a pot of thrifty young
seedlings. By placing varying weights on the glass it will be
easy to see just how much force a given number of seedlings
can exert. Heat is another form of energy liberated by plants,
but in such small quantities that it is difficult to detect. By
taking two thermometers that read alike and plunging one
in a jar of germinating seeds while the other is placed in
a similar jar of dry seeds it is possible to detect the heat given
off but it frequently happens that the presence of bacteria in
the germinating seeds gives a temperature that while pleasing
to the experimentor is much too high to be accurate.
Some of the experiments with seeds that are often per-
formed in the high-school course but which do not seem to be
essential are those designated to discover where the caulicle
38 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
ends and the root begins, how the embryo breaks out of the
ground, how the seed-coats are burst in different seeds, the
effect of depth upon germination, the amount of pressure ex-
erted by the root in pushing downward, etc.
The subject of digestion in seedlings is one often
avoided in a course of this kind but it is easy to show that
starch will not diffuse through a membrane and then by adding
diastase to the starch to show that diffusion takes place.
Starch may also be digested by making an extract of starchy
seeds and adding dilute sulphuric acid. Test in the usual way
for sugar.
PROSERPINA: STUDIES OF WAYSIDE FLOWERS.
By Rev. JoHN Davis.
‘sT'T is mortifying enough to write—but I think this much
ought to be written—concerning myself, as the author of
Modern Painters. In three months I shall be fifty years old;
and I don’t at this hour (ten o’clock in the morning of the
two hundred and sixty-eighth day of my forty-ninth year)
know what ‘moss’ is.’ There is nothing I have more intended
to know,—some day or other. But the moss ‘would always be
there ;’ and then it was so beautiful, and so difficult to examine,
that one could only do it in some quite separated time of happy
leisure,
which came not. I am never likely to have less leisure
than now, but I wll know what moss is, 1f possible, forthwith.
Thus begins the prose-poet, Ruskin the charming book
which bears the caption of this article. The “Sage of Brant-
wood” made good his promise. Proserpine was the result.
And where could one turn for a more delightful account of the
formation, growth and purpose of this lowliest of nature’s
gifts than in the opening chapter of the volume? Though the
author soon passes from moss to flowers; the latter compris-
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 39
ing by far the substance of his treatise. The title-page gives
the clue to the book.
“Oh Proserpine!
For the flowers now, which frighted, thou let’s fall
From Dis’s waggon.”’
Proserpine was the daughter of Zeus and the earth-goddess
Demeter. As she was gathering flowers with her playmates in
a meadow, the earth opened, and Pluto, god of the dead, ap-
peared and carried her off to become his queen in the nether
world. The pomegranate was her symbol, and flower festivals
were held every spring in her honor. Thus her name was fit-
ting to symbolize an anthology.
Ruskin gives us here an unconventional monograph on the
more common (and therefore less studied) flora of field and
hedgerow; as the violet, butterwort, foxglove, thistle, dande-
lion. He descants eloquently on the root, stem, leaf, flower,
bark and even genealogy of Proserpina,—fascinating the
reader with the life-history of these trite flowers. Not that we
are to expect a systematic or even satisfactory text-book of
Botany, since there is quite enough in the book to challenge
opposition. But it is throughout stimulating. For Ruskin is
more than botanist, or artist, or even critic. He is above alla
moralist; now drawing some profound life-lessons from the
habits of the humblest plants of the meadows; now leading us
delightfully among the classic fields of Thessaly and Arcady,
with the companionship of Diomed and Athena, with Daphne
and Apollo.
Our author pays his respects in no uncertain terms to those
botanists who offend with their ever-changing nomenclature.
On this point the “conservatives” have a strong ally. Speak-
ing of the genealogy of flowers, he writes :—“‘I call the present
system of nomenclature confusedly edifying, because it intro-
duces, without apparently any consciousness of the inconsist-
ency, and certainly with no apology for it, names founded
40 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
sometimes on the history of plants, sometimes on their quali-
ties, sometimes on their products, and sometimes on their
poetical associations.” He insists that we should always make
our text-books intelligent (and therefore attractive) to our
children; keeping clear in mind, “whether we wish our nom-
enclature to tell us something about the plant itself, or only to
tell us the place it held in relation to other plants. Before we
can wisely decide this point we must resolve whether- our
botany is intended to be useful mainly to the vulgar, or satis-
factory to the scientific elite. My own method, so far as hither-
to developed, consists essentially in fastening the thoughts
of the pupil on the special characters of the plant in the place
where he is likely to see it; and therefore in expressing the
power of its race and order in the wider world; rather by ref-
erence to mythological association than to botanical structure.
So far as I have influence with the young myself, I would pray
them to be assured that it is better to know the habits of one
plant than to know the names of a thousand; and wiser to be
happily familiar with those that grow in the nearest field, than
ardously cognizant of all that plume the Isles of the Pacific, or
illumine the Mountains of the Moon.”’
Passages as delicious in their humor as they are incisive in
their invective (but in either case luminous and stimulating),
we might multiply without stint. Note this charming meta-
phor of Daphne, “the ruling power of the leafy peace,” in the
chapter on the Leaf. “She is, in her first life, the daughter of
the mountain river, the mist of it filling the valley. The sun
pursuing and affacing the mist from dell to dell, is literally
Apollo pursuing Daphne. Thus hunted, she cries unto her
mother, the Earth, which opens and receives her, causing the
laurel to spring up in her stead. That is to say, wherever the
rocks protect the mist from the sunbeam, and suffer it to water
the earth, there the laurel and other richest vegetation fill the
hollows, giving a better glory to the sun itself. For sunshine
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 41
on the torrent spray, on the grass of the valley, and entangled
among the laurel stems, or glancing from their leaves, become
a thousandfold lovelier and more sacred than the sunbeams,
burning on the mountain side.”’
What an eloquent burst on the mysterious Law governing
the Immutability of Species:—“But through all defeats by
which insolvent endeavors to sum the order of Creation must
be reproved, and the midst of the successes by which patient in-
sight will be surprised, the fact of the confirmation of species
in plants and animals must always remain a miraculous one.
What outstretched sign of constant Omnipotence can be more
awful, that the susceptibility to external influences, with the re-
ciprocal power of transformation, in the organs of the plant;
and the infinite powers of moral training and mental concep-
tion over the nativity of animals, should be so restrained, with-
in impassible limits, and by inconceivable laws, that from gen-
eration to generation, under all the clouds and revolutions of
Heaven with its stars, and among all the calamities and con-
vulsions of the Earth with her passions, the number and the
names of her kindred may still be counted for her in unfail-
ing truth ;—still the fifth sweet leaf unfold for the Rose, and
the sixth spring for the Lily; an yet the wolf rave tameless
round the folds of the pastoral mountains, and yet the tiger
flame through the forests of the night.”
Ruskin has been placed, after Shakespeare, as the greatest
force in English Literature. It is not extravagant praise. As
a stylist in English prose he has no superior, past or present.
A study of the varied and copious volumes that flowed from
his pen during a half century of unwearied toil, would of it-
self end in a liberal culture. These lines are offered rather as
suggestions; to commend the readers of THE AMERICAN
BoTaNIst to the pages of Proserpina, and incidentally to the
entire writings of the versatile author.
Hanibal, Mo.
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VARIATION IN PLANTS.
NTIL DeVries issued his monumental work on
the mutation theory, it is probable that most
botanists did not realize the great amount of variability there
is in plants, though the fundamental principal of the Dar-
winian theory is concerned with this fact. We present here-
with an excellent illustration of the variations that may exist
within a single species which is republished from Muhlen-
bergia for February 1909. The species illustrated, Trifolium
bifidum, is not uncommon west of the Rocky Mountains from
British Columbia to Mexico. Various forms have been named
Trifolium decipiens, T. Halli and T. Greenei but a careful
examination of a large range of material by Messrs. Heller
and Kennedy have convinced them that these so-called species
have been based on trivial characters. As may be seen, little
dependence can be placed on the shape of the leaf and the
authors suggest that variations in the food supply may account
for the forms.
THE RELATIONSHIPS OF PLANTS.
OT so very long ago most scientists divided the plant king-
dom into four groups, the highest of which included the
flowering plants and cone-bearing trees. The next contained
the ferns and their allies, the third consisted of mosses and
liverworts and the lowest all that multitude of simple forms
which we call fungi, algae, lichens, sea-weeds mildews, yeasts,
etc. But for some time this arrangement has not suited the
botanists for in many cases the distinctions that separated
lesser groups in these great groups were nearly as great as
those that separated the great groups themselves. To remedy
this, various re-arrangements have been suggested, two of
which will be presented here for comparison.
In “University Studies for October 1907, Prof. C. E. Bes-
43
44 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
sey proposes to divide the plants into fifteen great groups or
phyla as follows:
MyxopHyceaE. Blue-green algae. Bacteria, ete.
PRoOTOPHYCEAE. The simple green algae.
ZYGOPHYCEAE. The conjugate algae.
SIPHONOPHYCEAE. ‘The coenocytic algae and fungi.
PHAEOPHYCEAE. The brown algae.
CARPOPHYCEAE. The red algae and chara.
CARPOMYCETEAE. The higher fungi.
Bryopuyta. Mosses and liverworts.
PTERIDOPHYTA. The Ferns and quillworts.
CaLaAMoPHyTA. The Horsetails.
LepIpopHyTA. Lycopodium and Selaginella.
CycapopHyta. The joint firs.
GNETALES. The conifers.
STROBILOPHYTA. The Conifers.
ANTHOPHYTA. The flowering plants.
Contrasted with this is the arrangement proposed by Prof.
J. H. Schaffaer in Ohio Naturalist for April 1909. His ar-
rangement adds one more phylum and re-distributes various
problematical small groups, but in general the lists agree very
well. The list follows:
ScHIzopHyTA. Fission plants, 2,400 species.
MyxopuytTa. Slime moulds, 400 species.
DIATOMEAE. Diatoms, 3,000 species.
CoNJUGATAE. Conjugate Algae, 1,200 species.
GONIDIOPHYTA. Most green algae, 2,000 species.
PHAEOPHYTA. Brown algae, 1,000 species.
Ruopopuyta. Red algae. 2,000 species.
CHAREAE. Stoneworts, 160 species.
Mycopuyta. Fungi, 47,000 species.
Bryoputa. Mosses, etc., 17,000 species.
PTENOPHYTA. Ferns, 4,500 species.
CALAMOPHTA. Scouring Rushes, 25 species.
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. . 45
LEPIDOPHYTA. Club mosses, 660 species.
CyCADOPHYTA. Sago palms, 90 species.
STROBILOPHYTA. Conifers, etc., 400 species.
ANTHOPHYTA. Flowering Plants, 125,000 species.
Although botanists may not agree as regards the indications
of genetic relationships, there is more unanimity in respect to
what are not to be considered indications of such relationships.
Among these Prof. Schaffner enumerates origin of sexuality,
differentiation of gametes, passage from a unicellular to a
filamentous condition differentiation of filament into base and
apex, loss of chlorophyll with development of parasitism and
saprophytism, development of unisexual gametophytes, loss of
sexuality, origin of heterospory. development of complex
forms, development of woody stems, development of the an-
nual habit, development of epigyny, development of cyclic
flowers, coalescence of perianth or other organs, decrease in
the number of floral parts, development of zygomorphy, in-
crease or decrease in the number of ovules, the presence of
opposite or alternate leaves, development of geophily, develop-
ment of various kinds of fruits, extra floral nectaries, etc.
—W. N.C.
THE FRUIT OF THE LEGUMINOSAE.
By WILLARD N. CLUTE.
HAT “the fruit of the Leguminosae is a pod” is an axiom
well conned by students of systematic botany,
biiiithe definition sofa, pod) 1s) \.a matter of some
difficulty. Any extended study of the fruit of this
great family of plants is likely to disclose such a
great variety of pods that the longer one studies the
more difficult does he find it to make a definition that will fit
them all. While still in the flower, he can say with some cer-
tainty that the pistil is monocarpellary, that is, it consists of a
46 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
single carpel with one parietal placenta, but as it goes on to-
ward maturity it begins to put on its disguises. In our most
familiar examples, such as are supplied by the bean and pea, it
opens as two flat valves. Often the opening is a mere matter
of falling apart, but in some of the Cassias the pod is often
under considerable tension through drying and when it does
open, it does so with a snap that sends the seeds in all direc-
tions. On the other hand, many pods like those of the peanut
never open while still others open only along one side and
therefore conform to the definition of a follicle. We usually
assume that the pod is one-celled, but in many of those that
do not open there are cross-partitions between the _ seeds,
making a several-celled pod. Proceeding on this line, several
species, like the tick-trefoils, have worked out a system of
seed distribution by the pod breaking into pieces and thus while
the pod cannot truly be said to open, its behavior results ex-
actly as if it did. In some of these indehiscent pods, the seeds
are surrounded by a juicy pulp as in the tamarind, while in
other styles the seeds are found in inflated bladdery pods, as
in Colutea. Normally the pods are long and straight but in
several species of the genus Medicago, to which the alfalfa
belongs, the pods are coiled spirally like a snail-shell. The
normal pod, as has been said is one-celled, but in addition to
species in which there are cross-partitions, there are others in
which a projection from the walls of the pod nearly divide it
into two longitudinal sections as in the well-known cress fam-
ily. In still other plants the pod bears but a single seed and
does not open, thus forming e fruit that in other groups
would be called an achene, while in Plerocarpus, the single
seed is winged all around and is thus a samara. In a few
species the seeds are covered with a fleshy material forming
what is essentially a drupe.
acre Ren ee aR
eae aR Our Ay Ney
Edited by Dr. H. A. Gleason, Urbana, Ill ‘Capasit
Farther east, flowering dogwood is more common and
does not excite so much interest, but here in Illinois it is rare
and is found along only a few of the streams. One of these is
the Vermillion river, which empties into the Wabash in In-
diana near the Illinois state line. Ascending the river toward
the west, the dogwood becomes steadily less abundent, and
finally disappears completely about ten miles from Urbana. It
is very conspicuous during the blooming season in May, and
the nature lover, strolling along the river, can follow its dis-
tribution without difficulty. There is one hillside far down
the stream which at this season is fairly white with dogwood
bloom, and which harbors so many other interesting plants
as well, that it becomes a paradise for the botanist. The hill
is steep, probably eighty feet high and covered from top to bot-
tom with dogwood. In the rich leaf mold beneath the trees
are thousands of shooting-stars, which bloom at the same
time. In drier, sunny places, the ground is covered with
hoary puccoon (Lithospermum canescens), star-grass (Hy-
poxis hirsuta), lousewort (Pediculairis canadensis) and col-
umbine. Some of these plants are common out on the prairies,
but are quite unusual growing together in the woods.
LS
GOVERNMENT TREE StTupy.—The Forestry Service of
the United States is making an effort to secure more definite
information regarding the time of leafing, flowering and fruit-
ing of our common trees and invites the teachers of botany and
nature-study throughout the country to contribute notes on the
subject. It is intended to publish the results in a series of
colored charts that will be of great value in extending our
47
48 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
knowledge of, and interest in, the trees. Upon application to
the Forestry Service, forms upon which the notes are to be
recorded will be sent, together with a pamphlet containing full
instructions for making the observations wanted. Those who
are alive to the value of a more intimate knowledge of the trees
should not neglect this opportunity to aid in the investigations.
Notes will be welcome from anyone interested in the subject.
CoLorLess PLants.—So universally distributed is plant
green, or chlorophyll, that when we chance upon a plant which
lacks this color it is always an object of wonder. To those
who have studied the physiology of plants the wonder is in-
creased for it is a well-known fact that the plant food is made
in the leaves and stems of plants and that the energy for mak-
ing this food is derived from the sunlight by the chlorophyll.
Without chlorophyll, therefore, the plant can make no food
for itself. There remains but one method of existence open
to such plants, namely, to depend upon some other plant or ani-
mal for sustenance. The dodder solves the problem by boldly
attaching itself to some green plant and by means of special
sucking organs, called haustoria, taking from it the needed
food. Other plants have formed partnerships with bacteria
and fungi, in which the latter obtain for them the food they
cannot make for themselves. Curiously enough many of the
plants which long ago gave up an independent existence still
bear indications about them of a higher state, for the leaves,
though no longer functional are found to have retained the
stomata, or openings, which in higher plants, admit the air to
the interior of the leaf in the process of food-making.
NOTE AND COMMENT
WantTep.—Short notes of interest to the general botanist
are always in demand for this department. Our readers are
invited to make this the place of publication for their shorter
botanical items. The magazine is issued as soon as possible
after the 15th of February, May, August and November.
YELLOW VARIETIES OF RED BeErRRIES.—Apropos of your
note in the February issue, anent yellow berried holly, it is
interesting to note that the plant which is known on the
Pacific Coast as California holly, and which normally bears
red berries, occurs occasionally on Santa Catalina Island with
yellow berries. Botanically the plant is Heteromeles arbutt-
folia, an evergreen shrub or small tree of the rose family and
its use in Christmas decoration is quite extensive on the Pacific
Coast, where the true holly is not indigenous, I believe.—C.
F, Saunders, Pasadena, Calif.
Tue Bitter Root.—In the 5th volume of Muhlenbergia
the editor, A. A. Heller, has begun a series of popular articles
on various plants of the West that thus far have been but mere
names to most eastern readers. In the January number a
picture of the bitter root (Lewisia rediviva) is given together
with an account of its discovery, appearance and uses. The
plant was named by Pursh for Captain Meriwether Lewis,
“the pathfinder,” who discovered it in Montana upon his return
journey from the Pacific Coast in 1806. The plant has since
become well known and has been adopted as the State flower
of Montana. Long before Montana was even a territory,
however, the plant was well-known to the Indians who found
49
50 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
the thick roots both palatable and nourishing and used them
in soups. A single ounce of the dried root is said to be suf-
ficient for a meal. The bitter root is own cousin to the “pus-
ley” and portulacca of our fields and flower gardens and has
the same fleshy leaves but these commonly die before the rosy
flowers appear.
THE TRUE SHAMROCK.—“Trish botanists of note, including
Keough, Theilkeild and others assert that all history, romance,
sentiment and common sense unite in designating Trifolium
repens as the true Irish shamrock. The weight of evidence is
in its favor and the studied effort of late years to make it Tri-
folium minus seems to have very little ground to stand on.
If one imports a piece of Irish sod with clover on it one has a
right to sell it for pieces of eight; but outside of that, anyone
with Trifolium repens can say with a clear conscience that he
has the real Irish shamrock.” —Horticulture. [The Trifolium
repens, here mentioned is, of course, our common white clover
of lawn and door yards.—ED. |
WEEDS KILLED BY CHEMICALS.—Between the weeds and
the bugs, the farmer’s life in the growing season is made a
strenuous one. The bugs however, have been pretty well over-
come by the use of various poisons and the question now is,
can weeds be eradicated by similar means. While weeds do
not eat up the crops, as the bugs do, they are quite as serious
a menance to our food-plants. They rob the growing plants of
light and heat, they take from the soil a great quantity of the
soil water, they prevent light rains from reaching the soil at
all and when the crops are harvested the presence of weed
seeds lessens the price at which they can be sold. In recent
years many experiments have been made in spraying crops
with various chemicals designated to kill the weeds and leave
the crops unharmed. One of the most valuable of these
chemicals is sulphate of iron. When sprayed on fields of grow-
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 51
ing grain it invariably kills out the weeds without harming
the other plants. At first glance this seems a preposterous
statement since it is naturally assumed that what will kill weeds
ought to kill other plants. The explanation, however, is this:
The leaves of our grains are covered with a fine coating of
wax, called bloom, which sheds the chemical when sprayed
upon it, while the leaves of most weeds, lacking such protec-
tion, are burned up in consequence. The sulphate of iron is
likely to have no effect on weeds whose leaves are protected by
bloom and will kill field crops lacking the protection.
FLower PicMEents.—It begins to look as if the great
range in the color of flowers, which renders them so attract-
ive to us, is merely a matter of a few chemicals. C. M. Broom-
all has been experimenting along these lines and in the “Pro-
ceedings of the Delaware County Institute of Science” for
January, notes that in general an alcoholic solution of the
petals of red and pink flowers will turn green when alkali is
added and red if acid is used; yellow, purple and blue flowers
turn green with alkali but resume their original colors when
acid is applied. The experimentor finds sodium hydroxide
and nitric acid to be satisfactory reagents, though other acids
and alkalis may be used. Care should be taken not to add an
excess of the reagent. If this is observed, the solution of a
given flower may be turned to green and back again a num-
ber of times by making the solution alternately acid and al-
kaline. It is concluded from these experiments that the flowers
have but three pigments, red, yellow and blue, from which by
various combinations all the other colors can be made. In
nature, the evolution of carbon-dioxide in the flower is sup-
posed to give the necessary acid for slowly changing the color
of the greenish buds to that of the mature flower. The pig-
ment appears to be present in the flower-buds even while yet
green, for if they are placed in weak acid solutions at this
52 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
time they will assume the hues of the fully expanded flower.
There is much still to be investigated in this subject. We
would like to have some explanation from this theory on the
causes of the color changes in flowers—those that open red and
change to blue or those that open yellow and change to red,
for instance. The flowers that open white and turn to pink,
as in the case of Trillium gradiflorum, can be explained upon
the supposition that the red pigment is here late in developing.
The pigments in many flowers seem very stable, since speci-
mens that have been pressed and dried for more than half a
century gave nearly as good results as fresh flowers.
FLOWERS OF THE TROPICAL FoREST.—Some of the forest
trees of Uganda offer magnificent displays of flowers. There
is one, the Spathodea with crimson-scarlet flowers larger than
a breakfast cup and not very dissimilar in shape. These flow-
ers grow in bunches like large bouquets and when in full blos-
som one of these trees aflame with red light is a magnificent
spectacle. The Lonchocarpus trees have flowers in color and
shape like the wistaria ; from the branches of the lofty erioden-
drons depend on thread-like stalks, huge dull crimson flowers
composed of innumerable stamens surrounded by thick car-
mine petals. The Erythrinea trees on the edge of the forest
seldom bear leaves and flowers at the same time. When in a
leaflless state they break out into a crimson-scarlet efflorescence
of dazzling beauty. The Pterocarpus trees have large flowers
of sulphur-yellow.—National Geographic Magazine.
Livinc AND Deap Matrtrer.—We are accustomed to
think of the cell as the smallest part of a living plant and a
structure quite distinct from ordinary inorganic matter but a
writer in Science takes a different view of the subject. He
says “The only essential characteristic and constant difference
between living and non-living matter is that within the former
there is constant and rythmic metabolism, while in the latter
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 53
no such process occurs. The living cell is made up of active
labile molecules and these molecules consist of numerous atoms
and each atom contains a large group of electrons; atoms and
electrons are in ceaseless rythmic motion while groups of atoms
are being constantly cast out of the molecule and replaced by
new groups, split off from matter outside the molecule. Mat-
ter is endowed with life when it becomes the seat of that form
of energy which makes of it a metabolic mechanism. As soon
as a molecule becomes the seat of assimilation and excretion,
it is no longer dead; it lives.”
A Ca.iForNIA Poppy Note.—While the California poppy
can hardly yet be classed in the list of disappearing wild
flowers, it is a fact that it is much scarcer near the larger cities
of the Southern California tourist belt than it was even a few
years ago. This is due partly to the gradual settling up of the
land and the bringing of it under the plough; but quite as
much, perhaps, to the wasteful gathering of the blossoms by
crowds of wildflower hunters, who often carelessly pluck the
plants up by the roots. Fortunately it grows readily from seed
broadcast, and it is interesting to note that along the line of the
electric railway between Los Angeles and Pasadena, the com-
pany keeps a long strip of its roadway annually sown to this
golden wild flower, which at the height of its blooming is al-
ways the source of especial delight to the nature loving
traveler.—C. F. Saunders, Pasedena.
Peat Bocs.—The resident of the northern parts of our
country may be inclined to think he knows what a peat bog
is, and he may be surprised to learn that the well-known boggy
stretch covered with sphagnum and inhabited by pitcher-
plants, sundews and similar vegetation is but one type of peat
bog. This is the flat bog, but there are also hanging bogs and
raised bogs. The hanging bog is found on mountain sides
where a copious supply of water seeping down allows the peat
54 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
vegetation to grow. The raised bog is apparently rare in this
country but common in Ireland and other parts of northern
Europe. In this type the sphagnum moss raises the water by
capillarity until the centre of the bog is sometimes more than
twelve feet above the water level in the basin where the bog
is forming. Heavy rains may cause the bogs to burst de-
vastating the adjacent country. In 1896, according to a writ-
er in Plant World, a bog in County Kerry, Ireland, burst
discharging nearly six million cubic feet of peaty matter and
drowning several persons. The low temperature of sphagnum
bogs is said to be due to the persistence of the winter’s cold and
ice which the blanket of sphagnum helps to retain.
Tue Nut Pine.—One cannot always imagine the vegeta-
tion of other parts of the world though familiar with related
species of his own region. The seeds of our eastern pines are
altogether too small to be eaten, but in parts of the west there
are pines whose seeds are not only edible but large enough
to have some importance as an article of commerce. One of
the best known of these nut pines—Pinus monophylla—is il-
lustrated in the February Muhlenbergia. This is the species
whose seeds not infrequently find their way to eastern markets
now-a-days. The seeds are highly prized by the Indians and
when they are ripe practically the whole tribe repair to the
forests to gather them. When roasted the seeds have a very
pleasant flavor that is appreciated by others as well as Indians.
The most interesting peculiarity about the tree is the fact that
it bears but one leaf in a “bundle.” An examination of the
nearest species of pine will show that the leaves do not appear
as those of other plants do here and there on the plant, but that
from two to five are borne in a bundle on very ‘short dwarf
branches. The present species was named monophylla because
it has but a single leaf. A study of development has shown,
however, that the plant should have two leaves, but that one
of each pair usually fails to grow.
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 55
Woop PropuctTion.—A few years ago, people spoke of
“our inexhaustible forests; they do not do so nowadays.
Our country is still sparsely settled in comparison with many
European countries but with characteristic extravagance, we
have wasted the forests more than many a larger nation would
have done. At present we are removing annually twenty-three
billion cubic feet of wood. According to the National Geogra-
phic Magazine we use 100,000,000 cords of fire-wood;
40,000,000,000 feet of lumber; 1,000,000,000 posts and poles;
118,000,000 ties; 1,500,000,000 staves; 183,000,000 sets of
heading; 500,000,000 barrel hoops; 3,000,000 cords of pulp
wood; 165,000,000 cubic feet of round mine timbers and
1,250,000 cords of wood for distillation. Other nations are
managing their forests in such a way that the annual increase
of growth balances the wood removed. Unless we quickly
adopt the same policy we will soon be dependent upon these
more provident people for what wood we use.
Hatrs oF Dicxsonia.—The boulder fern (Dicksonia
pilosiuscula) is frequently called hairy dicksonia, fine-haired
mountain fern and other names of similar import to indi-
cate its vestiture of hairs; indeed, the specific name here used
also refers to the fact that the fronds are hairy. Going fur-
ther we find that these hairs, or rather one of their qualities,
is responsible for several other common names of the plant for
the etherial oil which they secrete gives it the fragrance which
has caused it to be named hay-scented fern, sweet-grass fern,
sweet fern and the like. Microscopic examination of the leaf
surface shows that the frond bears two kinds of hairs, acicular
and glandular. The acicular hairs are simply pointed, but the
glandular ones are terminated by a bulb-like swelling from
which the fragrant and volatile oil is exhaled. The glandular
hairs are most abundant on plants grown in dry sunny places,
following the rule for vegetation in general in this respect. Ac-
cording to C. E. Waters the oil distilled from this plant has a
56 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
rather disagreeable odor at close quarters, but diluted with
ether and exposed to the air reminds one of the usual fra-
grance of the fern.—Fern Bulletin.
PERENNIAL Dopper.—It is generally assumed that all
the species of dodder (Cuscuta) are annual plants and the
New Gray’s Manual makes this assertion, but experiments re-
cently carried on by F. C. Stewart and G. T. French show that
the clover dodder (Cuscuta epithymum) at least is able to live
over the winter as far north as central New York, and thus
is a perennial species. In the opinion of these gentlemen, the
plant chiefly survives the winter in this way instead of by
seeds. The clover dodder is a European species that infests
clover and alfalfa fields. The perennial parts of the plant con-
sist of bundles of thread-like stems from a quarter to half an
inch long, coiled about the stems and branches of the alfalfa,
close to the soil. That these threads are alive and capable of
growth was shown by placing the infested alfalfa plants in a
green-house when the dodder at once resumed growth. Other
hosts upon which the dodder was found are flea-bane(Erigeron
annuus) yellow trefoil (Medicago luplina) and dandelion.
A Rare VoOLUME.—At a recent auction sale in Philadel-
phia, according to the Philadelphia Record, a copy of William
Darlington’s “Florula Cestrica,” published in 1862 was sold
for $17.00. This does not indicate that botany is looking up,
however, for the advance in price is to be attributed solely to
the age of the book. Yet there are a good many appreciative
plant students in this country who would be glad to exchange
seventeen dollars for such a volume. The friend who sent us
the clipping about the sale of the book added in a note the fol-
following :
“T have never seen the Florula, which was the forerunner
of Flora Cestrica. The latter is, I think, one of the most in-
teresting botanical works ever written, and its thoroughness
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 57
still it makes it a valuable adjunct to the library of every one in-
terested in studying the flora of southeastern Pennsylvania, as
you doubtless know, without my telling you. But the feature
about it I have always liked, is the pleasant comment which
the old Doctor bestows upon the various plants, as he describes
them, giving to the work something of the quaintness and
flavor of Izaak Waltons’ ‘Complete Angler.’ ”’
We sometimes wonder, after the last new species has been
made and something like an agreement as to plant names has
been patched up, whether the time will not come again when
our prominent botanists may be attracted to the plants, as the
early botanists were, by their beauty, their perfumes and their
uses, and give us other books that are not mere compilations
of facts, but breathe something of the spirit of regard for the
flowers themselves which should animate every botanist
worthy of the name.
A MutatTinG RupBECKIA.—Since reading of Dr. Beal’s
collection of mutating Rudbeckias in the AMERICAN BOTANIST
for December, 1907, I found an unusual Rudbeckia hirta in an
old field. Each head had eight regular rays and at the base of
each ray was attached a cluster of shorter and narrower rays.
The abnormal rays were of different lengths, some more than
half as long as the normal ones. A few of them were broad and
deeply cleft. All the heads (three) on the plant had this pe-
culiarity.—Nell McMurray, New Washington, Penn.
[The head of Rudbeckia which Miss McMurray describes
illustrates the transformation of some of the tubular disk color-
las into rays. Examination shows that it is usually the mar-
ginal flowers of the disk that have thus changed, but in some
cases flowers two or three rows in from the margin have also
developed the rays. Their cleft shape is probably reminiscent
of the five-lobed structure of the normal tubular corolla. If
all the disk flowers should change in this way the result would
be a “double” head, and it is interesting to note that this has
been done with Rudbeckia lacimiata, producing the cultivated
golden glow. |
EDITORIAL
In 1908, when this magazine changed from a monthly to
a quarterly, we adjusted the differences in the subscription
price by giving a subscription for a year and a half to all who
had paid for one year in advance. This extension made a
large number of subscriptions end with the May number in
the middle of a volume instead of at the end, as formerly.
Since there are a large number of subscribers who like to have
their subscriptions end with the year and the volume, we take
this occasion to point out that all subscriptions ending with
the present number will be extended to the end of 1910 upon
payment of a dollar. This extension is offered, however,
only to those who pay in advance and we trust all will take
advantage of it. Bills for all subscriptions due will be found
facing the frontispiece in each copy. These are made out for
one year in advance but the extension of the time suggested
may be obtained by the proper payment.
sens (ake
For the first time in seven years the editor of this maga-
zine will not visit the Eastern Chautauquas this year. Instead
he will have charge of summer classes in botany for teachers
at the University of Illinois. Other classes in systematic bot-
any and ecology will be in charge of Dr. H. A. Gleason, well
and favorably known to readers of this magazine. Work in
the summer session begins June 21st, and runs for nine weeks.
Teachers who contemplate brushing up their knowledge of
botany will find Dr. Gleason’s classes a most efficient means
to that end and we venture to assert that the other work in
botany will be no further behind the pace set than conditions
make necessary. A die
During the summer of 1909 Dr. E. F. Bigelow will con-
duct a summer school for nature study at Sound Beach, Conn.
58
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 59
This is the third summer school of this kind that Dr. Bigelow
has started in Connecticut and the experience gained in the
earlier work should make this new venture a most helpful
one. The school will run for four weeks beginning June 21st
and the cost of tuition will be nominal. Situated on the shores
of Long Island Sound, the school should afford a most de-
lightful opportunity for getting acquainted with nature under
a capable teacher. ee Sy
Of all the catalogues that have reached this office during
the spring, we have been most interested in those from the
Biltmore Nursery, Biltmore, N. C., and Wagner Park Con-
servatories, Sidney, Ohio. The Wagner Pork people seem to
be concerned not only in selling the plants but in helping the
buyer to plant them properly and to make them grow. The
Biltmore catalogue is also well arranged and is worth owning
for the illustrations of unusual flowers which it contains. The
time has gone by when a rose-bush or a lilac planted in the
middle of the lawn would be considered a complete decorative
planting. Landscape gardening has moved forward with
great rapidity during the past few years and if you own a half-
barrel painted green stuck on a post in the front yard and
intended for holding growing flowers in summer, it is time
you tore it down and set your lawn in order. Even your
weeping mulberries planted in the middle of the lawn ought
to go. It has taken the public a long time to discover that
shrubbery and flowers should be set on the borders of the
lawn and not scattered promisciously about it, and only the
observant have found it out yet, but if you would not be left
behind you must play the game. Get some of the progressive
catalogues, buy something besides geraniums and asters, and
join the movement for a more beautiful country.
i oa
At a recent meeting of the Germantown Horticultural
Society, the secretary, George Redles, exhibited a specimen
60 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
of the yellow cypripedium which was the result of twenty-five
years’ search. Asa boy, Mr. Redles had seen the flowers in
the vicinity of Germantown and when he later took up botaniz-
ing, he wanted a specimen of these flowers but they were
gone. Then began the hunt just brought to a successful term-
ination. All botanists and botanizers who see something in
botany besides a chance to change the names of plants or to
make new and doubtful species will appreciate and sympathize
with the spirit that urged on Mr. Redles’ hunt. If it were the
mere plant he wanted, he could have obtained it for a quarter
from ony one of half-a-dozen nursery men; if it were merely
to see it growing wild, a hundred correspondents could have
told him where to get an armful of it; but the finding of the
plant for himself could only be accomplished by his own ef-
forts. And now that the plant is found and properly labeled,
the finder must have a certain regret that the quest is ended,
for it is the pursuit rather than the capture that attracts. In
one form or another we all have our elusive moccasin flowers.
The mere species does not matter so long as we have some ob-
ject to take us out of ourselves and into the free out-of-doors.
In his search for the moccasin into what distant retreats was
not the searcher carried! Along many a path that real mocca-
sins have trod, through shady ravines, across breezy uplands,
in the dim woods, threading the tangled swamps; the apparent
object, the moccasin flower; the real object, though perhaps
but dimly understood by the searcher, the delight that comes
from association with wild nature.
a ae
From articles in various botanical journals we judge that it
is still the fashion in some remote quarters to chronicle the
finding of wildflowers new to some particular political divis-
ion of our country. The individual interested in adding new
specimens to “our State flora” is engaged it seems to us in a
pursuit that has more of sentiment in it than of practical bo-
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 61
tany, and one that is very little removed from the collection of
leaves from the tombs of famous men, ferns from the great
wall of China, and flowers from Palestine. Political boundar-
ies have little basis for existence except expediency and may as
likely run across a natural physiographical area as be co-ex-
tensive with it. If these industrious individuals were only en-
gaged in making a complete flora of a mountain chain or even
a single peak, of a lake basin, a river valley, a geological out-
crop, an island, or a sand dune, we could feel great interest
in their work, but that kind of botany which sets a high value
on a plant because it grew a few feet on the right side of an
imaginary line does not appeal to us. Politicians may favor a
State flora to tickle the vanity of their constituents and afford
ground for a harmless sort of boasting, but what a real botan-
ist wants with such a work is beyond us. Although the West
is not entirely free from this taint the State flora is most pre-
valent in States that have been settled longest.
sink a
In most of the affairs of life it is a selfish spirit that animates
us. It is hard to interest the mass of people in any new move-
ment that will not benefit themselves, and usually not possible
to interest them at all unless it affects their pocket-books. But
to refuse aid to a worthy movement, simply because there is no
immediate return in it for us, is often a short-sighted policy.
At first glance the demand for government aid for good roads
seems to be a class measure backed by the farmers on the one
hand and the owners of automobiles on the other but this is a
narrow way of looking at it. It is true that the farmer is
likely to be the greatest gainer but those who live in cities will
also gain in the lowered cost of produce brought about by the
ease with which the farmer can carry such things to market.
And is there a single person interested in botany that would
not be the better for good roads, whether he owns his carriage
or auto or is obliged to depend upon his own muscles for loco-
62 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
motion. With good roads we may be sure getting there and
back with ease and celerity. Every plant-lover should be an
ardent advocate for good roads. A government that can spend
nearly four hundred millions a year preparing for war in a
time of peace, can surely afford a few millions for roads and
thus add to our peaceableness.
BOOKS AND WRITERS.
That there is in this country a regular weekly publication
devoted to the study of nature may be news to many, but such
a publication exists in “Records of Walks and Talks with
Nature” edited by C. J. Maynard, West Newton, Mass. The
publication is well along in its second volume and appears to
be published for a small circle of students who take Saturday
excursions with the editor. The little publication is deserving
of a wider circulation.
If the unbotanical public fails to become familiar with
our wild plants, it will not be the fault of the book-makers.
Every time a new guide of a popular nature comes out we
think the entire field has been covered, but presently another
writer discovers a new short-cut to the flowers and shows us
our mistake. The latest addition to the popular texts is the
“Practical Guide to the Wild-flowers and Fruits,” by Dr.
George Lincoln Walton. This is designed for people who
know nothing at all about botany and technical terms in con-
sequence are reduced to the minimum. As in several other
works the flowers in this volume are arranged according to
color, but the author goes a step further and by means of eas-
ily understood keys has broken up these color groups into
lesser divisions, characterized by the arrangement of the leaves,
size of the flower, time of blooming, etc. If one is simply try-
ing to run down the name of a plant, there seems to be no bet-
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 63
ter book for the purpose, provided the particular plant happens
to be listed. In a work of this kind, of course, only the more
noticeable plants come in for mention, and there is practically
nothing in the text regarding their haunts and habits. In the
second part of the book the fruits are treated in a similar
manner. The book contains 225 pages and is published by
The J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, at $1.50 net.
In Cummings “Nature Study for Primary Grades,” is-
sued by the American Book Co., we have what seems to the
reviewer a series of very practical studies of common things
that are not too technical for the pupils for which they are
intended, nor yet so simple as to become babyish. We note
with pleasure, also, an entire absence of the usual twaddle in
which trees, birds and flowers sustain conversational parts.
Pupils who use this book should finish it with an intelligent
interest in the common objects of out-of-doors and a know-
ledge of such things that cannot fail to be of use to them in
the more formal courses in science in high-school and college.
The book deserves to be widely adopted.
In our opinion, the book “Wild Flowers Every Child
Should Know,” by Frederic William Stack, has a rather mis-
leading title. Instead of a book on the wildflowers of special
note as one would naturally expect to find, it is only another
volume relating to the plants of the eastern states. Certainly
we should never include the black sanicle, sow thistle, and
pepper grass among plants that every child should know, un-
less it is assumed that every child should be familiar with even
the weeds. As in so many of its predecessors the flowers in
this book are arranged according to color, an arrangement
likely to be satisfactory when closely adhered to, but we fear
that anyone looking for a description of skunk cabbage, Jack
in the pulpit, louse-wort or cancer-root would scarcely think
of looking in the section devoted to red flowers. The greatest
64 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST.
fault of the book, however, is the lack of a key of any kind.
The book then, is not so much an aid to finding the names of
our showy wild-flowers, as it is an account of the plants when
found. For this purpose it answers fairly well, the descrip-
tions of the plants being cast in untechnical language and con-
siderable attention given to the uses and folk-lore of the
plants. One advantage the book has over others is the fact
that the scientific names agree with the nomenclature that the
botanists of the world have adopted. The book is illustrated
with 48 good photographs and four plates in color. It is pub-
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VOLUME 55, NUMBER 3 WHOLE NUMBER 82
AUGUST, 1909
‘THE AMERICAN
BOTANIST
CONTENTS
THE FETID ADDER’S TONGUE -
By Walter Albion Squires.
THE SUMACHS poet OE hee iad et oi
By Frank Dobbin.
ST. JOHNSWORT Ac nore BT tang 8
By Dr. W. W. Bailey.
pesue A pln hue IN sgalehe sa alacant
By E. E. Baldwin.
THE LOST STAMEN IN TURTLE-
HEAD 5-4 Li = = @>A4 oe
By S. C. Wadmond.
FLOWERS OF THE SALT MEADOWS
THE DWARF SPLEENWORT - 2
DIATOMS”) - se 3
NOTE AND COMMENT
FIELD BOTANY -
EDITORIAL -
| BOOKS AND WRITERS
WILLARD N. CLUTE & CO.
JOLIET, ILLINOIS
Ghe American Botanist
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Scoliopus Bigelovii
FETID ADDER’S TONGUE.
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
VOL. XV JOLIET, ILL., AUGUST, 1909 No. 3
THE FETID ADDER’S TONGUE.
BY WALTER ALBION SQUIRES.
T has always seemed something of a misnomer to call the
little Erythroniums of the Eastern States, yellow adder’s
tongue, but there is in the West a species of plant related to
the Erythroniums, whose reptilian characteristics are quite
manifest. Scoliopus Bigelovit is commonly called Fetid ad-
der’s Tongue in California. Its broad mottled leaves are sug-
gestive of the spotted puff-adders of our prairie states, and its
flowers resemble the open mouth of a snake sufficiently to ac-
count for its common name. The narrow petals curved in
front of the flower are not unlike the red flashing tongue of a
snake, while the hooked stigma resembles the poison fangs of
a venomous reptile.
The flower cluster is really an umbel though the stem of
the flower does not appear above the ground. The separate
flowers are pushed up one or two at a time. As soon as they
are fertilized the sepals and petals fall off and the scapes be-
come prostrate, lying on the ground and winding about the
plant like tiny serpents—a kind of a plant La6dcodn. The
flower has a delicate beauty suggestive of the orchids. Its
purple-veined sepals and narrow wine-colored, snake-tongue
petals are not exactly like any other flower we have ever seen.
The plant, however, does not encourage close acquaintance. I
once dug up a specimen to carry home, but the fetid odor of its
blossoms was so nauseating that I decided to leave it in its
native haunts.
The felid adder’s tongue is one of our earliest spring blos-
soms. I have found it in blossom in January on the north
66 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
foothills of Mt. Tamalpais. It grows in dense shade on cold
north slopes and seems to have a special liking for the shadow
of the redwood belt. In the great redwood forests of Mendo-
cino county I found it to be especially abundant. Under some
giant of the forest, a dozen feet in diameter and more than
two hundred feet high one is apt to find a colony of Scoliopus
flourishing in the thick debris of leaves and twigs sent down
from the branches in the sky. These pygmies of the plant
would, it would seem, are ever loyal to the friendship of their
ciant Antaeus. An acquaintance with the forest goes far to
dispel the book-learned theory that all nature is a heartless
“struggle for existence.’ The forest is a world of plant co-
operation and helpfulness. The removal of the trees means
death to many humble dwellers of the shade, and when the
lowly vegetation of the forest floor is destroyed by sheep, fire,
or cultivation the lofty monarchs of the forest sicken and die.
San Anselmo, Calif.
THE SUMACHS.
BY FRANK DOBBIN.
H OW they flame out of some half-forgotten Autumn after-
noon! A long hedgerow gorgeous as an Indian maid,
or per chance some rocky upland pasture one blaze of color
under the September sun, giving a foretaste of the grand
color scheme that Mother Nature will presently work out by
means of the poplars, maples and oaks.
Rhus typhina, well named the staghorn sumach from the
resemblance which its branches bear to the antlers of a deer,
is the most common of this interesting genus. Sometimes in
favorable localities it grows to a height of more than thirty
feet, while on the other hand if the soil be poor and thin it is
forced to remain as a small shrub of two or three feet but still
bravely fulfilling its mission in the world by bearing aloft its
panicle of crimson fruit. When the March sunshine begins to
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 67
hint strongly of Spring the farmer’s boy, independent of patent
devices, seeks the patch of sumachs in the hillside pasture and
there selecting the branches or main stems of the proper size
and straightness, he proceeds to cut enough to furnish spiles
for the coming “sugaring.”” Our grand-mothers too had a use
for the sumach. They gathered the fruit or “bobs’’ as they
were called, and by boiling them made a dye that would pro-
duce a fine shade of silver gray. When the sumach attains to
any size, and it sometimes does reach a diameter of six or
seven inches, the wood will be seen to be of a handsome shade
of yellow varied by darker lines which mark the annual
growth. It is susceptible of considerable polish and has a fine
satiny luster. Although this shrub is somewhat of a nuisance
to the farmer by persisting in sending out a skirmish line of
young shoots into his cultivated fields yet that season “when
the purple elderberries vie with the sumach’s crimson stain”
would loose much of its beauty were it absent from field and
hedgerow.
A nearly related species is R. glabra or smooth sumach
as the name indicates. A glance at the new shoots will be suf-
ficient to identify it as they are smooth and glaucus, quite in
contrast to the densely hairy shoots of the more common R.,
typhina. While walking beside the Champlain Canal recently
I found the bank for some distance covered with this shrub.
What a dash of crimson it must make on the landscape when
the leaves take on their autumnal coloring! Another species
of wide distribution is the dwarf sumach, F. copallina, easily
recognized by the wing-margined petioles and the dark shin-
ing green of the upper side of the leaflets.
Any one who is a frequenter of swamps is familiar with
R. vernix, the poison sumach or dogwood as it is often called.
This is a handsome shrub but one much better to look upon
than to handle, as anyone can testify who has been afflicted
with its poison. It is said that the Japanese collect the sap of
68 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
this shrub and use it in the manufacture of the varnish for their
celebrated lacquered work. A nearly related species furnishes
the Wourali poison made by the natives of Guiana.
This genus also possesses another poisonous member in
the common poison ivy, Rk. Toxicodendron. ‘This plant loves
to scramble over old walls and by means of rootlets which it
sends out along the stem is sometimes able to climb to a con-
siderable height. It has often been mistaken for the woodbine
—usually much to the sorrow of the one making the mistake.
My first sight of the aromatic sumach, FR. canadensis, was
near the top of a steep cliff in southern Vermont. In such
situations or on dry stony banks, it is usually found. Crush
the leaves and it will be found that they have rather a pleasant
aromatic odor; hence the name RF. aromatica by which the
shrub is sometimes known. The ill-scented sumach or skunk-
bush, R. canadensis var. trilobata is a western plant. common
but beyond the range of the Eastern student. The smoke tree,
R. Cotinus, which is often seen in parks and cemeteries is a
sumach and is said to have sometimes escaped from cultiva-
tion. It certainly would be a welcome addition to our waste-
land and hedgerow shrubs.
Shushan, N. Y.
ST. JOHNSWORT.
BY DR. W. W. BAILEY.
HE common St. Johnswort (Hypericum perfora-
tum) is one of the many weeds adventive from
Europe. Its English name issaid to have been given
from the fact that it begins to bloom on St. John
the Baptist’s day—June 24th. Here where I write,
from a corner of the Old Bay State, this is certainly true.
If I desired to show a beginner how many curious things
may be learned from a single plant, there is hardly one that I
would prefer as a text. The young, especially, are ever in-
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 69
terested by such striking features, and some of them odd, which
this plant presents. First consider the opposite and decussate
leaves. That last term which sounds so like a swear word only
means that the leaves, while opposite, cross each other in pairs,
each succeeding couple alternating with the pair above and be-
low, so as to fill the space and give each the best possible show
for light and air. These elliptical leaves, when held to the
light, and looked through are seen to be, as the books have it
“punctate with pellucid and dark dots.” In less technical
language the foilage is spotted with many thin translucent
places mingled with black spots like fly specks. These are seen
also on the flowers.
There are five light yellow petals and the inflorescence is
centrifugal, the middle flowers blooming first. The stamens
are in three marked clusters united by their filaments at the
base. The botanist says they are triadelphous or in three
brotherhoods. The three divergent thread-like styles project
from among these, capping a three-lobed capsule or pod. There
are many other and quite different looking species of Hyperi-
cum, some of them native. Of these H. ascyron, formerly
known as H. pyranudatum is the most showy. Its stems are
from two to five feet high and the leaves from two to five
inches long. The huge conical pods are apt to assume a
ruddy color in ripening and are almost as handsome as the
flowers. The plant is found on river banks from New Eng-
land to Pennsylvania and the far west. A striking contrast
to this splendid plant is the little orange grass or pineweed
with heathlike leaves, minute flowers and red pods growing in
sandy fields.
To return to the common species, few plants show more
strikingly the effect of environment. In good soil it may be
four or five feet high while on a dry road bed it is sometimes
only an inch or two in height. In this last case instead of the
many flowered cluster seen in favorable situations it may be
70 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
reduced to one flower. The same thing is often seen in the
species H. Canadense which has a recognized variety muim-
mum, I am not aware of any economic use for the genus.
Most of its members may be classed as weeds though H. as-
cyron is well worth a place in any garden.
Touisset, Mass., July 1909.
REPRODUCTION IN APIOS TUBEROSA.
BY E. E. BALDWIN.
N an article on the fruiting of Apios tuberosa published in
the Botanist, last fall, it was noted that in the latitude of
northern Hlinois it seldom bears fruit which was something of
a surprise to the writer. In this latitude, (Mississippi) this
plant grows luxuriantly and flowers freely besides producing
root tubers in abundance.
It is the law of the reproduction of those plants which re-
produce themselves both by seed and by any form of subter-
ranean growth and whose habitat while originally tropical has
extended itself for any great distance above the frost line into
the temperate zones, that, while in their original habitat they
keep up both methods of reproduction, as they extend north or
south from the tropics they gradually cease flowering and de-
pend upon their root growth for reproduction.
The reason for this is obvious. In their tropical home
the warm season is long and ample in length for the seeds to
mature. As the season is shortened by reason of the increased
distance from the tropics reproduction by the bearing of seed
becomes more and more difficult and is gradually abandoned
by the plant which conforms itself to the circumstances sur-
ronding it and gradually depends upon its root crop the more
for reproduction.
Thus the sweet potato (Batatas edulis) while it flowers
profusely and matures seed in Central America, in this lati-
tude never flowers except late in the fall of an exceptionally
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 71
warm year and then does not mature seed but depends upon
its tubers for reproduction. So also the Irish potato (Sola-
mum tuberosum) thrives and produces tubers in abundance
for a long stretch above where it can mature seed and in its
most northern limits of cultivation is almost flowerless. The
common cane (Arundinaria macrosperma) which in the tropics
bears seed freely has in this latitude only borne seed twice in
the past seventy years, (in 1873 and 1864), depending on its
rattoons for reproduction.
So we see that the Apios in thus abandoning the bearing
of seed and reproducing itself by tubers protected from the
cold in the colder parts of its habitat in only obeying a common
law of the reproduction of plants.
Norrell, Miss.
THE LOST STAMEN IN TURTLE-HEAD.
BY S. C. WADMOND.
L AST summer I had been down in the marsh of a Sunday
afternoon, and with other things brought home some
turtle-head (Chelone glabra), its long spikes looming up con-
spiculously in the flower vase. I happened to take a flower
from one spike and split it open in an indifferent fashion when
I became immediately interested, for I counted five perfect
anther-bearing stamens! I remembered that this was uncom-
mon amongst the Figworts, and so looked up the description
of Chelone in the manuals. None of them made mention any-
where of the occasional or even rare occurrence of five antheri-
ferous stamens in Chelone, Verbascum being the only genus in
our Figworts which has five anther-bearing stamens. I hasten-
ed to slit open another flower and another, until several spikes
were stripped, but all excepting the first showed the regulation
four stamens with their curious woolly heart-shaped anthers,
and a fifth sterile filament smaller than the others.
Many days thereafter I chanced to be glancing through
72 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
my first botanical text-book. Gray’s “Lessons in Botany” and
there was just the record I had been looking for. “In the Fig-
wort family the fifth stamen appears in Pentstemon and turtle-
head as a sort of filament without any anther, a thing of no
use whatever to the plant but very interesting to the botanist
since it completes the symmetry of the blossom, and to show
that this is really the lost stamen, it now and then bears an
anther or the rudiment of one.”
I am convinced that it is only very rarely “now and
then” that the lost stamen appears, for I examined hundreds of
blossoms of turtlehead last summer, and never found another
flower with five antheriferous stamens. The manuals say of
Chelone, ‘Flowers white, often tinged with rose or pink.”
Our plant has decidedly cream-colored flowers without the
slightest suggestion of rose or pink.
Delavan, Ws.
FLOWERS OF THE SALT MEADOWS.
UST back from the white sands of the surf-beaten beach
J lie the salt meadows, soft with brackish ooze, odorous of
fish and haunted by ravenous mosquitoes—a sort of no-mans’-
land between the shifting seashore and terra firma. On breezy
days of early autumn, when the wind drives the mosquitoes
to cover, I love to push my boat far up some one of the many
streams that dissect the sunlit marsh and see how nature’s
garden grows there; for even in so unlikely a spot as this, amid
sedge and “black grass’ does she set dainty flowers.
Here that lowly beauty, the seaside gerardia, lifts to us
its chubby purple flower-cups. In our own Western land it
keeps ever fresh the memory of old John Gerarde, for whom
it is named and who loved plants as you and I do, and wrote
quaintly about them in England more than three centuries ago.
Here too, we may gather starry sabbatia without stint—that
beautiful blossom like a pink five-pointed star wtih a yellow
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 73
center, that frequenters of the seaside all admire but few can
call by name. It is abundant from Florida to Massachusetts ;
and along the coast of the old bay state people have given it
the pretty name of “‘rose of Plymouth,” though it bears no re-
lationship to a rose.
Among the many sorts of goldenrod whose cheery blos-
soms on the threshold of the frost should be a stimulus to all
who are disposed to autumn melancholy, none is more lovely
than the seaside goldenrod, which luxuriates on the tonic salt
of these meadows, often attaining a height greater than a
man’s. It is easily distinguished from other varieties by its
smooth, thick leaves and showy clusters, consisting of flower
heads which resemble miniature sun-flowers. They convince
the most skeptical that goldenrods and sunflowers are indeed
of one family.
Here and there certain flowering plants grow so closely
together that the marshes are distinctly colored by them over
considerable areas. One of these is the marsh rosemary, or
sea lavender—a delicate, bushy little herb covered with tiny
lavender-colored flowers. It is such a plant as you with to
take home with you and set in a vase on your mantle-shelf, as
indeed you may, and you will find that it will keep all winter
long in its stems and persistent calyx cups a touch of color that
will be a pleasant reminder of autumnal days.
But the great colorist of the salt meadows in the salicor-
nia, or marsh-samphire. Every one who visits the seashore in
September has seen and marveled at the crimson hue that
covers the meadows then as with a mantle. It is due to the
presence of myriads of these fleshy, leafless plants standing
thick as blades of grass. The flowers are very minute and
hidden away in the joints of the stem; and the stems, at first
green, are not noticeable amid the general verdure until age
reddens them. Then they gradually transform the entire com-
plexion of the meadows.—C. F. Saunders in Young People.
THE DWARF SPLEENWORT.
Asplenium pumilum.
HOSE who have confined their fern studies to a limited
1egion often have an erroneous conception of the range
in form of gcnera that makes collecting in any distant country
a series of surprises. Sometimes the impression of a genus is
correct, as when we assume from experience with the cinna-
mon fern, the interrupted fern, and the royal fern, that all the
Osmundas are large, but we are as likely to go astray in our
judgment as we do when we infer from a few diminutive speci-
mens that all the filmy ferns are as small and delicate. In
general the smaller the genus, the greater is the likelihood that
the species composing it are all quite similar; indeed one of the
reasons brought forward for separating our common boulder
fern (Dicksonia pilosiuscula) from the other Dicksonias was
that it differed from the others so much in size an habit.
In any large genus, however, it is usual to find a wide
range in the size, shape and cutting of the fronds. The species
are likely to begin with entire fronds, shade into pinnatifid or
pinnate species and end with forms that are often many times
compound. So, too, in the matter of size, there are species,
small and inconspicuous, almost lost among the other herbage
of their haunts and others that reach sizes that render it im-
possible for them to escape notice. After one has spent a day
collecting polypodies so small that it is necessary to carefully
examine the mossy tree-trunks upon which they grow in order
to find them at all, it is an impressive contrast to find on the
way home some species such as Polypodium crassifolium with
fronds like broad-swords.
Nor do size and delicate cutting have any necessary rela-
tionship. The large fronds are as likely to be deeply cut as
are those of small species but no more so. In the case I have
mentioned both forms happen to have entire fronds, though
one is possibly fifty times larger than the other.,Size very fre-
74
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 75
; ae
ji
NYS
LS
THE DWARF SPLEENWORT.—Asplenium pumilum.
76 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
quently depends upon habitat. In ground inhabiting species,
there is usually no reason for a diminution in size, but those
species which live upon trees, must keep their proportions
within the bounds which their habitat places upon moisture,
light and root-hold.
Some thoughts of this nature must pass through the mind
of anyone who examines any extended series of tropical As-
pleniums. At one end of the list is the great simply pinnate
fronds of Asplenium marginatum like a gigantic Asplenium
angustifolium, taller than a man and at the other is the little
Asplenium pumilum chosen to illustrate this article. Although
so small our fern does not grow on trees or rocks, but is to be
found among the grasses and herbs on shrubby half open hill-
sides. The variation in the fronds presented by the fertile,
and therefore presumably mature, plants would delight those
botanists who thrive by making distinctions between tweedle-
dum and tweeledee. A set of specimens could be selected that
would make an unbroken series beginning with entire forms
and ending with pinnate forms with pinnatifid pinnae. In
drawing up a description of the species, the scientists have
fortunately described the larger forms. Had they by chance
first discovered only the small forms and described them, it is
likely that the larger ones would have been considered dis-
tinct.
Like a large number of our spleenworts, the present spe-
cies has black stipes with a tendency to become green as they
approach the blade of the frond. The largest specimens are
usually less than five inches high and being so inconspicuous,
have failed to attract much notice. The species, however, is
pretty widely distributed, being found in the West Indies,
Mexico, Columbia, East Africa and India. The specimens il-
lustrated were collected near Gordon Town, Jamaica by the
writer in 1900. [Villard N. Clute in Fern Bulletin.
DIATOMS.
IATOMS are very small, one celled organisms, which are
D among the primal forms of life, and have apparently ex-
isted with little or no change from the earliest appearance of
life upon the earth.
They are bivalves with shells of glass instead of lime, held
together by side hoops of the same material instead of hinges.
For many years after their discovery they were supposed to
be animals, chiefly because of their power of locomotion, a
very large proportion of them being rapid travelers during
their whole lives. Several eminent scientists still hold to this
opinion, but they are now generally regarded as belonging to
the vegetable world. They vary greatly in size and outline,
and are elaborately ornamented with sculptured markings, alae,
striae, costae, etc., many of them being among the most beauti-
ful forms in nature. Their shells being so largely silex they are
comparatively indestructible, and where the conditions are
favorable they often accumulate in vast quantities. Nearly
every permanent body of water, however, small, contains them
in greater or less abuundance; when this water disappears the
diatoms are left as a fossil deposit.
Quite a number of these deposits are found in Bristol. A
little over the line west of the lower reservoir of the Bristol
Water Company is one of these deposits ;the stratum of dia-
toms is about two feet thick and covers one or two acres. It
contains numerous species many of them large and interesting.
When this reservoir was made, another fossil deposit was re-
moved. On the farm of Silas Carrington is another deposit
notable for the abundance of Frustulia Saxonica, well-known
as a test object for the microscope; its markings are so minute
as to require high powers and perfect lenses to resolve them.
On the old Lazarus Hird farm is a deposit showing an
abundance of the very rare Achnanthidium vexellum; and
north of this on the Mix farm is perhaps the largest deposit
77
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
~
C9)
in Bristol. It covers fifteen acres and perhaps more, and is
of unknown depth. I have material brought up from a depth
of 10% feet, showing seven feet thickness of diatoms to this
point, which probably continues down several feet more, but
we could get no farther down on account of the rapid inflow
of water. This deposit is remarkable as containing the beauti-
ful little Cyclotella antiqua, which has never before been found
in this country as far as I can ascertain. I have sent speci-
mens to the most experienced collectors but none of them had
ever seen it before. This Bristol form is more beautiful than
any of the European specimens that I have seen.
All these fossil deposits, the ponds and streams mentioned,
and many others contain hundreds of species, a full description
of which would require a large volume; a mere list of their
names would cover many pages. Very many of these are
among the most remarkable and beautiful of the fresh water
varieties. The filamentous kinds are found nearly everywhere
in Bristol, and the species are very numerous. They resemble
the Algae, except that they are brown instead of green, and
each joint or cell is an individual orianism with an independent
life of its own.—W. A. Terry, Bristol, Conn.
HABENARIA LEUCOPHAEA.—Another apparent effect of
the wet season has been the unusually large number of fringed
orchis on the prairies of central Illinois. This orchid is a
moisture-loving plant, and lives in the low prairies where the
soil retains the moisture, in company with Phlox glaberrima,
Asclepias Sullivantit and other such plants. It is generally
very rare, and the collector may consider himself lucky who
finds more than one plant in bloom in a season. This summer,
however, it has been rather abundant, and probably a hundred
plants bloomed in this vicinity. This does not mean that there
have actually been more plants this year than usual, but merely
that more of them have bloomed.
—
a NOTE AND COMMENT
WantTED.—Short notes of interest to the general botanist
are always in demand for this department. Our readers are
invited to make this the place of publication for their shorter
botanical items. The magazine is issued as soon as possible
after the 15th of February, May, August and November.
(once
IMPATIENS PALLIDA ALBA.—Some time ago this color-
sport of the yellow touch-me-not (/mpatiens pallida) was re-
ported from several localities in Pennsylvania, but so far as
we are aware it has not been reported elsewhere. It will be of
interest therefore, to record that it occurs in abundance at
“Dellwood” about four miles north of Joliet, Illinois. Here
it grows on the rocky banks of a small artificial lake and is
accessible only by boat. As in the other cases reported, the
flowers are quite like those of the type except that they are
pale creamy white in color.
LINNAEUS AS A NAME TINKER.—It would seem from a
letter which old John Collinson wrote to Linnzeus in 1755 that
those who change the names of plants and those who strenu-
ously object to such changes have been ever with us. The
following, though written more than 150 years ago, has a very
familiar sound. Collinson writes: “TI have had the pleasure of
reading your Species Plantarum, a very laborious and useful
work, but my dear friend, we who admire you are much con-
cerned that you should perplex the delightful science of botany
with changing names that have been well received and adding
new names quite unknown to us. Thus botany, which was a
pleasant study and attainable by most men is now become, by
79
80 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
alterations and new names, the study of a man’s life and now
none but real professors can pretend to attain to it. As I love
you, I tell you our sentiment.” And again he writes: “If you
will be forever making new names and altering good and old
ones for such hard names that convey no idea of the plant, it
will be impossible to attain to perfect knowledge in the science
of botany.”
PLaNnts AND NItTrRoGEN.—Although the air is nearly
four-fifths nitrogen, most plants though absolutely dependent
upon a supply of nitrogen for growth, can obtain none from
this source. Certain bacteria living on the roots mostly of
leguminous plants have the power to fix atmospheric nitrogen
and pass it on to the plants upon which they grow, but plants
in general must take their nitrogen in the form of nitrates dis-
solved in the soil water. According to the Scientific Ameri-
can, an English scientist has lately discovered that certain
plants are able to absorb atmospheric nitrogen by means of the
epidermal hairs wif which they are covered. The nitrogen
is said to be built up into protein within the plant hair and
then passed on to the other cells of the plant.
PERSONAL GENERIC NAMES.—A writer in a recent num-
ber of Science deplores the present tendency to name genera of
plants and animals for persons of no great scientific import-
ance and cities as illustrations Perkinsia, Kellia, Mitchillina,
Smithia, Jonesia, etc. He says that these were all, no doubt,
estimable gentlemen, but questions whether their names are
commanding enough to deserve perpetuation in this way, to
say nothing of euphony. These, however, pale into insignifi-
cance beside certain other “terrible examples’ cited such as
Billingsella, Girardinichthys, Pilsbryoconcha and Tarltonbean-
ia. As regards this latter the author says it should be
changed to Tarlton-H.-Beania to avoid a suit for damages
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 81
by Dr. Bean. Those who make the names of our genera are
not the only sinners in this respect. Some years ago, an ama-
teur botanist is said to have named a species from the Yellow-
stone, Nationalparkensis!
MULTICELLULAR PLANT Hairs.—The epidermis of many
plants produce hairs that are most wonderful and beautiful
objects when viewed with the microscope or even a good lens.
These hairs are by no means the simple things that one who
has not seen them is apt to imagine. Besides the simple one-
celled hairs that are most common, there are branched hairs,
forked hairs gland-tipped hairs and multicellular hairs whose
points radiate from a common center and form most interest-
ing and delicate rosettes. The following species are among
the best for showing the latter type of epidermal hair and some
of them are always to be obtained during the growing season:
Viburnum lantana, V. Plicata, Deutzia scabra (crenata),
Eleagnus argentea and the species of Shepherdia.
AMERICAN MISTLETOE.—There are several species of
Mistletoe in the United States but the one usually called
American Mistletoe is Phoradendron flavescens. This is
most abundant in the southern States though it is found in
Southern New Jersey, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana and Missouri.
In a recent bulletin from the University of Texas on the ana-
tomy and some of the biological aspects of this plant several
points of interest to the general botanist are given. The mistle-
toe is something of a botanist itself and selects only certain
trees as hosts. In Texas the trees usually selected are mes-
quite, hackberry, elm, oak, ash, osage orange, prickly ash,
pecan, gum, walnut, mulberry and china berry. In Austin,
about 90 per cent of such trees are infested with Mistletoe.
The seeds are distributed by birds, to whose bills and feet the
sticky outer covering of the seeds adhere, and do not begin to
grow until exposed to proper conditions of temperature and
82 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
moisture. The embryo is well supplied with chlorophyll and
the endosperm, by which the seed is surrounded, also contains
chlorophyll and apparently is able to make additional food for
the young plant. The cotyledons are very closely joined to the
endosperm and absorb nourishment from it. The Mistletoe
seldom fails to deform and often kills the plant upon which
it grows, notwithstanding the fact that it is not wholly a para-
site and makes some of its food.
VALUABLE POLLEN.—It may surprise some people to
learn that even such an apparently insignificant thing as pollen
may be valuable enough to guard from thieves. At a recent
orchid show in England, all sorts of precautions were taken to
pievent envious orchid hybridists from carrying off the pollen.
The present race of cultivated orchids are nearly all the pro-
ducts of various crossings. Occasionally an unusual hybrid
sells for thousands of dollars. Those who have plants that
are likely to bring crosses of this kind are, of course, very
careful to see that none of the pollen gets into the hands of
competitors. The latter, however, by visiting the exhibits of
fine orchids may carry away the precious pollen and make
crosses of their own. Some pollen if properly cared for may
remain good for six months and be sent half way around the
world. Therefore if you have any unique specimens of orchids
remove their pollen masses before allowing them to visit the
flower show.
Tue WHITE PINE Rust.—The white pine is threatened
with a new disease that, if allowed to spread, will practically
exterminate this invaluable timber tree in America. This dis-
ease is the European blister rust (Peridermium strobi) which
is well-known in Europe but which has but lately appeared in
this country. This rust has the peculiar habit of requiring two
different kinds of plants upon which to complete its life history.
One of these plants is the common currant or gooseberry.
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 83
When found on these plants its identity with the pine rust was
not known and it was named Cronartium ribicola. The rust
begins on the currant or gooseberry in spring and spores from
these plants are blown to the white pine where the damage is
done. Later spores from the white pine start the infection
anew in the currant. The spores from the currant can infect
either the pine or other currants, but spores from the pine seem
able to infect only the currant. The fungus invariably kills
the pine ina short time. Its appearance in this country is due
to the fact that it was imported with white pine seedlings.
A New Form or Burpocx.—In The Plant World for
June, Harry B. Brown reports the finding of a laciniate leaved
burdock near Jessup, Indiana, in 1907. The lower leaves
were thick, ovate, acute and irregularly laciniate, and
the inflorescence was irregular with numerous small
sterile flowers. This same variety has been found in
two different places about Joliet, Illinois, during the present
summer, and it has also been found near Champaign, Illinois.
A peculiar feature of the Joliet and Urbana plants is the large
and conspicuous light colored veins that ramify through the
leaf. All the plants were whitish downy. The plant apears to
the writer to be a mere sport of the familiar Arctium minus
but since it may be better handled if named it is suggested that
it be called Arctium minus f. laciniatum. Since the burdock
is a European plant it is likely that this form has been observed
and named before but thus far the writer has found no record
of it.
EFFECT OF SELECTION ON CorN.—We do not always
realize how widely a single species may vary. Some experi-
ments carried on at the University of Illinois for the past six
years has shown a remarkable amount of variation in the corn
plant. The purpose of the experiment was to discover what
could be done to change the height at which the ears were
$4 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
borne. Accordingly seed was selected from two types, one
with ears near the ground and one with high ears. Each suc-
ceeding year seed was selected from the plant showing the
greatest variation and now the following difference may be
noted: In the high-ear plot, the average height of the plants
is 114 inches, that of the low-ear plot 79 inches; in the high-
ear plot, the average height of the ears from the ground is
60 inches, that in the low-ear plot 27 inches; in the high-ear
plot the number of internodes below the ear averages eight, in
the low ear the average is four. All this has been accomplished
without crossing by simply selecting the most characteristic
plants from which to breed. No doubt any other plant would
show similar variation under similar methods of treatment.
IMPROVING THE WILDFLOWERS.—The statement that no
two blades of grass are just alike has been reiterated so fre-
quently as to be commonplace, and we apparently often fail
to grasp the significance of this diversity to the cultivator of
plants. Since plants do differ, not only in their leaves but in
their flowers, fruits and other parts, we can frequently make
choice of the good or the bad in the same species and by care-
ful selection soon have much finer plants than the common run
afield. No matter what wild plant you admire most, it is
probably within your power to have better specimens of it
than you have ever had before. Take the hepatica, for in-
stance; if one chooses, he may have clumps in which the
flowers are of the deepest shades of blue others pure white,
others deep pink or still others of paler shades of blue and
pink. He may have three-lobed or five-lobed plants, with the
lobes sharp or blunt and all this by selection. The finest plant
of any species probably does not grow in the nearest field but
by searching long enough in many fields one may find it. It
is very certain that we do not value our native plants as highly
as their beauty warrants. In England a multitude of our com-
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 85
mon wild things are carefully cultivated and there receive the
admiration due them. We, too often, pass these fine plants by,
in the desire for the imported novelties of florist and nursery-
man.
DeatH oF Mrs. Asa Gray.—Mrs. Jane Loring Gray,
wife of the famous botanist, died at Pride’s Crossing, Mass.,
July 29, 1909, at the age of 84 years, having survived her dis-
tinguished husband more than twenty years. Mrs Gray was
a native of Boston and after the death of her husband con-
tinued to reside in the curator’s house in the Harvard Botani-
cal Garden at Cambridge where the funeral was held.
ENGLAND’S EARLIEST FLOWER.—Notwithstanding the
fact that London is situated in the latitude of Labrador and
therefore much further north than Montreal and Quebec, the
climate is so mild that some plants are able to bloom through-
out the season and therefore in strict truth England can have
no earliest flower. In commenting on our recent query as to
our earliest spring flower, The Gardening World says: “In
some part or other of Britain the Christmas rose (Helleborus
niger) may be seen in bloom in November and from that time
more or less till February. Then we have Galanthus nivalis
octobrensis which flowers in October although its congeners
bloom any time from Christmas till April in Britain. These
are followed by the winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) in
February from which time crocuses, daffodils and other bulbs
keep up a display till June. In referring to wild plants there
are some which bloom any month in the year provided the
winter is mild. This includes the daisy concerning which the
poet says, “The rose has but a summer’s reign, the daisy never
dies,’ nevertheless we have seen hybrid perpetual roses in the
neighborhood of London at Christmas and in the neighbor-
hood of the sea on the south coast quite in abundance.”
|
PPE. DB Ou Adnan
Sa Edited by Dr. H. A. Gleason, Urbana, Ill. Sarat
May-apples are ripe in August. Just why the plant should
bear the name of May-apple, is not quite clear. W. H. Gib-
——
son, in his admirable “Sharp Eyes” hints that it is only a
mock May-apple, an imitation of another May-apple in New
England. Mr. Gibson and Dr. Gray neither express a very
good opinion of our well-known Podophyllum peltatum.
“The May-apple of New Jersey and southward,” says
Mr. Gibson, is a true fruit which follows a large white flower,
and Dr. Gray, the botanist, says ‘it is eaten by pigs and boys!’
Think of it, boys! And think of what else he says of it:
‘Ovary ovoid, stigma sessile, undulate, seeds covering the la-
teral placenta each enclosed in an aril.’ Now it may be safe
for pigs and billy-goats to tackle such a compound as that, but
we boys all like to know what we are eating, and I cannot but
feel that the nublic health officials of every township should
require this formula of Dr. Gray’s to be printed on every one
of these big loaded pills, if that is what they are really made
of”
Gibson evidently doesn’t appreciate the flavor of the May-
apple, if we may believe his half-humorous, half-sarcastic re-
marks. But James Whitcomb Riley, who is a true Westerner,
was evidently of a different mind, when he wrote:
“And will any poet sing
Of a richer, lusher thing
Than a ripe May-apple rolled
Like a pulpy lump of gold
Twixt the thumb and finger tips,
And poured molten through the lips.”
And what is more, Riley knew how to eat the May-apple,
for his little verse tells exactly how it is done.
85
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST ST
Hapits OF ForeicGn PrLants.—Most of the ordinary
weeds that are so common in gardens, along streets and in
vacant lots are foreign species that have become naturalized
in this country. Many of them have followed man for genera-
tions, and are just as intimately connected with him as the rat,
the mouse, or various kinds of insects. They have frequently
lost the habit of living with plants in natural surroundings,
and are completely dependent on the presence of man. Ac-
cordingly, such plants are uncommon in the woods, the prai-
ries, or elsewhere where the original vegetation has been un-
disturbed. They seem unable to compete with native vegeta-
tion or to make a place among native plants. On the other
hand most of our natives plants are soon killed by cultivation
or other disturbance of their environment, and consequently
do not persist as weeds. Our commonest garden weeds are
annuals and produce a large crop of seeds. Most of them
bloom during the late summer, when the garden plants are the
largest and cultivation the most difficult. Examination of an
ordinary vacant lot will usually show that forty to seventy
percent. of the plants are foreign, while a similar census of an
area of timber some distance from a dwelling will reveal less
than five percent. of naturalized plants.
Botany UNDER A TREE.—On the campus of the Univer-
sity of Illinois stands a large austrian pine with branches close
to the ground. The men with the lawn mowers trim the grass
around the tree, but never try to get under the numerous
spreading branches. This makes a retreat where a number of
plants may grow which are not found elsewhere on the cam-
pus, and at the same time illustrates very well some interest-
ing features of the migration and colonization of plants. Every
year the wind blows thousands of seeds of many kinds of
plants across the campus, but only those which are fortunate
enough to stop in some such sheltered place as this ever have a
88 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
chance to grow. Such species are the hedge-mustard, (Sisym-
brium officinale var. leiocarpum), lamb’s quarters, (Chenopo-
dium album), pigweed, (Amaranthus albus), and some other
common weeds. Then birds find the tree a convenient place to
roost, and bring in the seeds of many other plants, such as
pokeberry, Virginian creeper, Japanese ivy, mulberry and
nightshade. Most numerous of all, however, are the seed-
lings of trees with winged seeds, including the elm, box elder
and green ash. These seeds are blown in by the wind from
trees near by. In all about twenty-five kinds of plants are
found beneath the tree in an area of not more than three hun-
dred square feet.
ANOTHER GROWTH-RING.—In a preceding issue a number
of different forms of growth rings were mentioned. A more
peculiar one has been common this summer in meadows and
pastures, formed. by the slime-mould Physarum cinereum
Slime moulds are small simple organisms, sometimes con-
sidered to be fungi and sometimes regarded as animals. The
plant body is a slimy mass of naked protoplasm, which has a
slight power of locomotion. When it is ready for reproduct-
ion, it creeps up the stems and blades of the grass where it is
living and develops conspicuous gray powdery masses of
spores. Gray rings, where the grass is covered with the
spores, have been common this summer, probably because the
frequent rains have been favorable for the growth of the slime-
mould. The largest of them are six to eight feet in diameter.
No adequate reason has been given as to why these plants live
in rings.
OTHER PLANTS IN STRANGE PLAcEsS.—The ecologist be-
lieves that if the external conditions are right for a plant, in
any place, and if the plant has adequate means for migration,
the plant will sooner or later be found there. Many years ago
a railroad crossed a deep valley by following a ravine from the
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 89
uplands down the valley. Since then the track has been
changed, but the flat, vacant, unkept roadbed still lies along the
sides of the ravine surrounded by dense woods. The trees
have not yet had time to grow up and most of the roadbed is
occupied by jungles of blackberries. Here and there the drain-
age is not good, and small pools of water have collected. To
these have migrated bulrushés blue flags, cat tails, and several
other swamp-loving plants, which look decidedly out of place
on the steep hillside a hundred feet above the valley. The
most interesting plant of all is the water cress, (Radicula nas-
turtium-aquaticum), which is growing luxuriantly in one small
shaded pool. The water cress has small seeds, and we may
suppose that they were brought from some other pond in mud,
adhering to the feet of birds. Elsewhere along the same em-
bankment prairie plants have established themselves, and black-
eyed Susan, prairie coneflower and tick trefoil grow only a
few feet away from hepaticas and wild hydrangeas.
ANOTHER INTERESTING MiGratTion.—The University
forestry plantation has afforded many illustrations of the
movement of plants from one place to another, and scarcely
a year elapses without one or more new invaders appearing.
Most of these are carried by the birds, which come in enor-
mous numbers to the forestry to roost; many others have seeds
distributed by the wind, while some cannot be accounted for.
The particular case in point is the twayblade, (Liparis lih-
folia), a single plant of which appeared and bloomed during
the spring. Twayblade has been found in this country, but
not for many years. It certainly does not grow within a ra-
dius of ten miles from the forestry, and has been considered
extinct within the county. Just where it came from, or how
its seeds travelled, are matters that can not now be explained.
——\_ EDITORIAL
Within the past few years, the study of botany in schools
has changed very rapidly. Not long ago, high school botany
consisted in learning the meaning of the terms in descriptive
botany, the tracing of plant names, the “‘analyzing” of flowers
and the making of an herbarium. This phase of botany still
holds in some sections but is fast giving place to a newer
botany that, while founded upon it, differs widely in treatment.
By the old method the student learned of roots, stems, leaves
and flowers for the sole purpose of being able to discover the
names of plants by the use of a key; at present he studies these
same organs to discover of what significance they are in the
organization of the plant and may spend an entire year in
botanical studies without coming in contact with a key. The
first half year, at least, of any good botanical course now en-
deavors to give the pupil an understanding of how the plant
lives, how it takes and makes its food, how it reproduces, how
it disseminates its seeds, how it is adjusted to its surroundings
and the part each organ plays in the work. In the old books,
photosynthesis, respiration, transpiration and osmosis were
rarely mentioned and pollination was confused with fertiliza-
tion; now these matters cleared of this obscurity form the
groundwork of the course. When the new phase of botany
first came into vogue, it was taught, like the old, by the recita-
tion method. Structures and processes were described and the
student was expected to read and remember. But the question
early came to the teacher, Why not study the plants them-
selves instead of studying about them? Acting upon this sug-
gestion botany became a laboratory study. For a long time,
however, it was hampered by the attitude of the books devoted
to the subject. In these the authors, accustomed to describing
plants and plant processes, continued to describe the things to
90
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 91
be seen with the result that the pupil was usually willing to
take the word of the book for it and rarely got up interest
enough to investigate for himself. More recently a new type
of manual is beginning to appear. In this the pupil is given a
series of outlines containing questions that can only be an-
swered by a careful study of proper material. At last botany
has become a live study. There is now a object in studying
plants not connected with the requirements of the teacher.
Something new is to be discovered daily and discovered in
such a way that it does not easily slip out of the memory. The
great object now is to so word the questions that none of the
pleasures of discovery shall be with-held from the pupil. To
meet this demand there is now offered a little manual entitled
“Laboratory Botany for the High School’ by Willard N.
Clute. It is published by Ginn & Co., and aspires to cover a
year’s course in botany, but is is so arranged that the first part
of the book will properly fit the course in schools where but a
half year is devoted to the subject. It should meet the wants
~of the inexperienced teacher, espcially, since it gives a list of
materials needed for each study, tells where to get and how to
preserve them and how to present the subject in
class. It can be used with excellent results in schools
lacking laboratory facilities as no complicated apparatus
is required for the work outlined. In addition it
will fit practically any text. The second part of the book is
devoted to the evolution of the plant world, beginning with
the simplest types and tracing the rise of flowering plants by
studies of typical specimens of algae, mosses, ferns, fern allies,
etc. The book contains several unique features, among which
may be mentioned a list of definitions following each study, a
key to the trees, outlines for floral ecology and tables of plant
groups. It is written by a high school teacher for high school
pupils with the sincere wish that by its use the study of plants
may gain in attractiveness.
BOOKS AND WRITERS.
Goings ‘‘With the Trees” a book of popular information,
has recently gone out of print.
A new magazine devoted to the natural history of the
middle west has appeared under the title of The Midland
Naturalist. It is to be published bi-monthly at Notre Dame,
Ind., under the editorial management of J. A. Nieuwland. The
first number was issued in April and contains a variety of
articles on plants and animals.
The Amateur Naturalist, after weathering the vicissitudes
of this life for several years has been merged with the Guide
to Nature. The Naturalist filled a niche all its own and we
are sorry to see it cease publication. Like most of the maga-
zines devoted to natural history, however, it was run largely
for the editor’s pleasure, long experience having shown that
there is no money in such ventures. Thus it happens that
when the editor gets overloaded with other work connected
with breadwinning or finds automobiling more enticing than
type-setting the magazine has to stop.
Still another botanical publication has issued from the New
York Botanical Garden in the shape of a fungus journal to be
known as Mycologia. This makes the ninth serial publication
for which New York is responsible, but while pleased at the
unusual activity which so many publications denote we can-
not help feeling that instead of so many thin little publications
at exorbitant prices it would be far better to combine them
into one or two dignified serials like those of Missouri Botani-
cal Garden. It is certainly exasperating to be obliged to sub-
scribe to so many publications in order to keep up with things
botanical. Mycologia is a continuation of the Journal of My-
cology edited by the late Dr. W. A. Kellerman. It is a bi-
monthly of about 36 pages and costs $3.00 a year. The num-
bers are not sold separately, but would cost at the rate of 50
92
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 93
cents for each 36 pages if they were. At such a price we fear
that mycology stands in no danger of being popularized from
this source. Dr. W. A Murrill is the editor of the new maga-
zine which also has a list of thirteen associate editors in this
and foreign countries. The first number contains a colored
plate of fungi and five articles of interest to mycologists.
Doubleday, Page & Co., the well known publishers have
recently decided, in the interests of their readers, to print no
more books in type smaller than 11-point, the type in which
this magazine is set. This is a commendable move and we
hope to see other publishers soon follow so good an example.
The American people are a nation of readers and should not
be obliged to injure their eyes in trying to read fine print.
Everywhere the interest in the teaching of agriculture in
the public schools is on the increase and books intended for
pupil and teacher are appearing in constantly growing num-
bers. Many of these books appear to be written to meet a
fancied demand for teaching certain phases of the subject, and
while possessing many good points are not adapted to use in
the average school. This criticism, however, cannot be brought
against a recent volume entitled “One Hundred Lessons in
Agriculture” by Aretas W. Nolan. This strikes the reviewer
as an extremely practical and practicable book. Instead of
studying descriptions of farming operations, the pupil is set
to studying them at first hand. At the beginning of each
study is given the object of the study and a list of necessary
materials and then a series of questions guides the pupil to his
results. These questions we rejoice to see are not such as can
be answered except by a study of the materials. In addition
to giving the pupil a knowledge of farming, this book seems
likely to make him a pretty wide-awake and observant indi-
vidual. Although a book for schools, most of the studies are
intended for work out-doors which is exactly as it should be.
We are gradually getting over the notion that the only learn-
94 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
ing of value is found in a book and the only good teaching is
in the school building. The book contains nearly three hundred
pages and is well illustrated. It is published by the Acme
Publishing Co., Morgantown, W. Va., at 65 cents.
Another recent nature book is “The Study of Nature”
by S. C. Schmucker. This is one of the volumes in Lippin-
cott’s Educational Series, and is designed for the teacher rath-
er than the student. It is divided into three sections consider-
ing respectively the theory, the materials and the course. The
most noteworthy of these is the section devoted to materials
in which will be found much useful matter relating to the
plants, animals, etc. To the reviewer the course outlined does
not seem particularly strong and the list of “helpful books”
is not what would be called a representative one, Teachers,
however, will find it a very desirable addition to their books
and may gain much help from it.
In some quarters the loose-leaf system of note-books
has taken hold upon the schoolmen and several books have
been issued in response to this demand. One of the latest of
these is Meirs’ “Plant Study,” issued by Ginn & Co. The
most important feature of this work is the handy form of
binder which makes the addition of new pages or the removal
of old ones a very simple matter. At the top of each page
are a series of directions for study, and drawings are intended
to be made on the blank part of the page. To the reviewer
the directions for study seem indefinite to be followed by
school children alone, but they may work out well enough in
the hands of a competent teacher. The scope of the course
outlined is the part of the work open to the most serious ob-
jections. It is apparently designed to cover a single half-year
in which a large part of the work consists in “analyzing”’
flowering plants. In most communities this form of “botany”
is decidedly on the wane and we hope to see it disappear en-
tirely in time. Assuming, however, that our public schools are
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 95
still “hitting the high places” in botany with a half-year given
to the subject, the author has given them a good form of note-
book for the purpose. Our complaint is not against the author,
but against a system of botany teaching that makes such a
book desirable. We believe that there are many phases of
botany of greater importance than that of filling out of blank
forms with descriptions of plant parts, but we are well aware
that the average teacher of botany does not think so. Until the
day dawns when they do, “Plant Study” will answer their
purposes better than any other book we have seen.
At the time of his death, the late H. Marshall Ward, was
engaged upon a series of tree-books which was to include a
volume devoted to each part of the tree. At the time of his
death three volumes had appeared and two volumes have been
issued since, under the editorship of Percy Groom. The lat-
ter two deal with fruits and form. The same general scheme
is followed for each volume. There is first more or less mat-
ter applicable to trees in general, followed by a special treat-
ment of the trees in the British flora. The books are very
fully illustrated and while designed primarily for use in Great
Britain will be of much use to American readers. The general
part of each volume goes exhaustively into the variations of
the parts of the tree and the flora of the world is laid under
tribute for illustrations. The books are published by G. P.
Putnam’s Sons, New York, at $1.50 each.
Prof. J. H. Schaffner has recently issued in the ‘“Pro-
ceedings of the Ohio State Academy of Sciences,” an account
of the “Trees of Ohio and Surrounding Territory,”’ which is
certain to be of great value not only to the students of the
central west but to those of the whole territory covered by
the botanical manuals for the Northern States. In addition to
the trees native to the region, all the principal cultivated spe-
- cies have been included. The keys offer a variety of ways for
determining the species there being keys for both the summer
96 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
and winter conditions. We regret to note, however, that the
nomenclature used is a purely local one and does not agree
with that adopted by practically all botanists. In the descrip-
tions of the species the salient features have been siezed upon
and even the novice ought to be able to name his specimens
by the use of this book.
I. Dorfler of Vienna, Germany has begun the publication
of an international botanical journal to be known as Dorfleria.
The first number bears date of May 15, 1909 and contains 64
pages of text in which are listed the contents of the current
numbers of the botanical magazines of the world. In addition
there are notes and views of botanists and various longer
botanical articles.
The regular edition of Britton and Brown’s “Illustrated
Flora” has recently gone out of print and only a few copies of
the work in half morocco remain unsold. These latter are
now held at $18.00 a set. The volumes were printed from
type and it is unlikely that they will ever be reprinted. But it
would be an excellent thing if the cuts and keys could be re-
printed in a single volume.
The Philadelphia Botanical Club has recently issued the
first number of Bartonia, a botanical annual which will be the
official organ of the club. The first number is a very credit-
able piece of work, well printed, and containing, in ad-
dition to a brief history of the club, by the editor, Stewardson
Brown, accounts of various botanical trips made by members
and a list of those belonging to the club.
The new edition of Gray’s Manual was issued less than a
year ago but in this short time a large number of errors have
been found in it. In the March number of Rhodora nearly
30 pages are used to list these errors with corrections. This list,
however, is an excellent thing since it serves to keep the
Manual up to date. It is likely that other lists will appear as
further study changes our view of the plant.
THE BEST WORKS ON FERNS
OUR FERNS IN THEIR HAUNTS, by Willard N. Clute. Octavo, 333
pages. 225 illustrations. Eight colored plates. Contains the only il-
lustrated key ever published, and a full account of all the ferns of
Eastern America. The species can be identified by the illustrations,
alone. More copies of this book are sold annually than of any other.
Price post paid, $2.50.
THE FERN ALLIES OF NORTH AMERICA, by Willard N. Clute.
Octavo, 250 pages, 150 illustrations, eight colored plates. A companion
volume to “Our Ferns in Their Haunts”, containing a full account of the
scouring rushes, club-mosses, quiliwerts, selaginellas, water-ferns, etc.,
etc., in North America. Seven keys to the species. A check list with
synonyms. The only book on the subject in the English language.
Listed in the New York State Library list among The Best Boone of
1905. Price post paid, $2.00.
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Of-the several books which I have written, none
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Laboratory Manual of Botany
FOR THE HIGH SCHOOL
BY WILLARD N. CLUTE
The leading characteristics of this new and in many ways unique laboratory —
botany are (1) its presentation of a connected study of evolution in the plant
world; (2) its method of thorough and suggestive direction for both teacher and
pupil; (3) its concise yet adequate lists of questions for answer in notebooks —
after actual field or laboratory investigation; (4) its clear and accurate outlines Has
of the specific subjects, a
In addition, it contains a glossary of difficult terms in each section, a pes 4
for outdoor work with trees, outlines for a study of floral ecology, and tables 2
- of the principal families and larger groups of the plant world.
The practical value of the book is assured by the fact that it is written by a
high-school teacher and has been used, in outline, for six years with marked
success in one of the largest high schools in the United States. It is absolutely
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without detriment to the work.
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De Vries has put the finishing touch upon Dicwiniets and his famous Muta- —
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self. Everybody who expects to understand current scientific literature must
have a knowledge of how species are supposed to originate by mutations and
the only book which goes exhaustively into the subject is
SPECIES AND VARIETIES-—Their Origin by Mutation
By Hugo De Vries. Octavo. 853 pages. $5 postpaid. Two years subscription to
AMERICAN BOTANIST given free with each order.
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| VOLUME 15, NUMBER 4 WHOLE NUMBER 83
DECEMBER, 1909
|| THE AMERI CAN
BOTANIST
CONTENTS
CAMAS - < 2 - # ° e 97
By Walter Albion Squires,
SOME WILD FRUITS OF ALBERTA,
CANADA z . « 99
By W. M. fuels
CLEISTOGAMY IN THE VIOLET 101
THE NOVEMBER WOODS a ey AOS
By Dr. W. W. Bailey.
- THE ROMANCE OF THE VIOLET 105
NOTE AND COMMENT . . . 107
EDITORIAL . erties uel teh ge
BOOKS AND WRITERS . . . 124
odinmalaee N. CLUTE & CO.
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Ghe American Botanist |
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RETNA i AUR DAR Tig TESTED MR CNH |
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Send for particulars and enclose 10c. if you wish a sample copy
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CAMASSIA ESCULENTA.
ww
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
VOL. XV JOLIET, ILL., NOVEMBER, 1909 No. 4
oe wintry nights against my window pane
Nature with busy pencil draws designs
Of ferns and blossoms and fine spray of pines,
Oak-leaf and acorn and fantastic vines,
Which she will make when summer comes again,—
Quaint arabesques in argent, flat and cold,
Like curious Chinese etchings.—By and by,
Walking my leafy garden as of old,
These frosty fantasies shall charm my eye
In azure, damask, emerald and gold.
—-Thomas Bailey Aldrich.
CAMAS
By WALTER ALBION SQUIRES.
ae genus Camassia is represented in the Eastern States
by a single species, C. Fraseri. It seems to be rather
sparsely scattered over the region extending from the moun-
tains of Pennsylvania and Georgia to the edges of the Great
Plains. I have found it near the source of the Neasho river
in Kansas. This is probably near its western limit. I have
never seen a locality in the East where this camas made up any
considerable part of the flora; but as soon as one crosses the
Great Divide and begins to descend the Pacific slope the dif-
ferent species of camas begin to be abundant and in some
places they make up a large part of the vegetation. Five or
six species are found in the West the most abundant being C.
esculenta.
In the early days this plant was exceeding abundant on
the prairies of eastern Washington and northern Idaho. Old
settlers of Camas Prairie in northern Idaho tell how, when
they first reached the summit of Craigs Mountains, the whole
98 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
magnificent plain lay stretched out beneath them, blue as a
summer sea with these blossoms. Agriculture and herding
have driven the camas in large measure from the Clearwater
and Palouse prairies. It is now to be found only in fence
corners and out-of-the-way places; but farther back in the
midst of the forests are many meadows where it still flourishes.
These meadows vary in size from an acre to several hundred
acres and all are encircled by the dark wall of the forest. Some
of the larger meadows have been “taken up” as homesteads
and the settlers cut the camas every year for hay. The word
camas is derived from the Indian name for the plant.
As is usual with primitive peoples the names was not re-
restricted to one kind of plant but was applied to several spe-
cies which do not belong to the genus Camassia. One species
of Brodiaca was called “‘blue camas” and a certain poisonous
Zygadenus was called “death camas.”” Camas bulbs formed
the chief food supply of some of the Indians of the Northwest.
They baked them in pits dug in the ground until the bulbs
crumbled into a white starchy powder which was their flour.
It was the encroachment of the whites upon the ‘“camas
grounds” of the Indians which lead to the Nez Perce War. It
was during this war that the remarkable retreat of Chief
Joseph and his followers took place. Encumbered with wo-
men, children and baggage, the Indians crossed the Bitter
Roots into Montana, then made their way to the National
Park and turning northward were within a day’s march of the
Canadian line where they were captured by Gen. Miles. It
was only another chapter in the pathetic story of that race
which since the coming of the white man has been fighting a
loosing fight for the land of its forefathers. Many of the cap-
tives never saw their native haunts again. They were sent far
away to pine away their lives in the fever-stricken hated “hot
lands” of the Indian Territory, while they longed for the cold
springs and green prairies of their beloved “camas grounds.”
San Auselmo, Calif.
SOME WILD FRUITS OF ALBERTA, CANADA
By W. M. BUSWELL.
HEN people go berrying here they are usually after
“saskatoons,”’ as the North-west June berry (Amelan-
chier alnifolia) is commonly called. The berries are flat and
tasteless compared to most berries used in the East, but as they
are the only fruit that is found in large quantities here they
are very acceptable. They are used for sauce and for pies, and
put up in cans for the winter. A species of smooth fruited
gooseberry is fairly common and these berries are often used
with the saskatoons which improve them greatly. Although
both kinds are fairly abundant every year they are more pro-
lific every other year. Red raspberries are very plentiful along
the river and in some groves on the prairie and seem to bear
fruit equally well every year. The berries begin to ripen about
the middle of July. Wild strawberry plants are very common
and they blossom very freely in the Spring but the amount of
fruit produced is very small compared to the number of blos-
soms.
Another berry that is very common in coulees or any place
where there is timber is the cranberry (Viburnum pauci-
florum), as it is called here. These bushes form the princi-
pal undergrowth of all timbered tracts. People make what
they call cranberry butter, or cranberry jelly out of the fruit
and it is very nice when made up in this way, but the berries
are not fit to eat from the bushes as they taste much like a soft
rotten apple. The bright red fruits hang on the bushes all
winter if not eaten by the birds and do not seem to be affected
by the severe cold weather.
In the Eastern States we did not consider choke-cherries
of any use whatever, but they find uses for them here, making
a jelly of them which is much better than one would expect.
I have also seen them cooked and used for sauce, but I never
cared to try them that way as there seemed to be too many
99
100 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
stones for the amount of sauce. Bird, or pin cherries are very
common and are often used for jelly, but the birds do most of
the picking.
Both species of Shepherdia or buffalo-berry are common
here although S. argentea is the only one bearing edible fruit.
Most of the bushes here seem to have been partly killed by
fires and do not produce a great amount of fruit. The berries
are very acid and are among the best for jelly if they were
more abundant. The other species (S. canadensis) seldom
bears any fruit although blooming freely in the spring. The
berries are insipid and of no value anyway. Both the plants
and their fruit differ greatly and from their appearance would
hardly be considered as belonging in the same genus.
Although one of the first plants to bloom they are among
the last to ripen fruit. Usually they are not ripe until the last
of August or first of September. Some of the ranchers call
the buffalo-berries (S. argentea) bull-berries, but whether
buffalo or bull these bushes would be much easier handled if
dehorned. The branches all end in sharp points like the thorns
of the hawthorn.
These are the only edible berries of any value I have
found here but there are others that help to feed the birds and
squirrels. The red osier cornel is very common and the berries
are eaten by several species of birds. Flickers and sparrows
seem to prefer them to many others.
One of the most common small shrubs, that seems to take
the place of the hardhack of the East is the wolf-berry (Sym-
phoricarpos)commonly called buck-brush by ranchers and
homesteaders. The small white berries are eaten by several
species of birds. The smaller species (S. racemosus var.
pauciflorus) is fairly common, fruiting at the time the other
species is in bloom.
Silverberry bushes (Elaeagnus argentea) are common
everywhere, but I would not consider the berries fit for food,
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 101
although Gray calls them edible. They consist mostly of one
large seed surrounded by a dry greenish powder and a rather
tough light green skin. They are one of the sweetest flowered
plants we have here and would be useful for that reason if for
no other. Bunch-berries are common under trees in coulees
as is also the dwarf raspberry (Rubus triflorus) but neither
are very valuable as a food.
South and east of here there are large tracts of open
prairie where there are probably no berries of any kind while
farther west toward the mountains there may be more or dif-
ferent species, but this locality, along Battle River, probably
has most of the species found in this part of Alberta.
Flagstaff, Alberta.
CLEISTOGAMY IN THE VIOLET
LEISTOGAMY, or close-pollination, in unopened blos-
soms, is a curious illustration of Nature’s occasional par-
simony. The lavish hand with which she is wont to distribute
pollen, amounting to over 3,000,000 grains to the flower in
some wind-fertilized plants, is withdrawn in the case of the
closed violet blossom, which she restricts to a paltry 100 grains.
It is recorded that some years ago, before the great pine area
of North Carolina had been denuded of its forests, cities as far
away as Reading, Pa,. occasionally had their streets covered
with a layer of fine, yellowish powder, and the uninitiated de-
clared that it had rained sulphur during the night. But it was
the golden rain of pine pollen from the far-away forests of
North Carolina. Pine pollen has even been known to form a
yellow scum on the ocean far at sea, and whales have feasted
on it. Even the humble rag weed has distinguished itself by
shedding its clouds of minute pollen dust in such quantity that
it has penetrated into the heart of great cities and invaded of-
fice buildings, much to the discomfiture of susceptibles to hay
102 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
fever, who must seek refuge abroad, where rag weed is un-
known, or hie themselves to some altitude where the pollen
cannot reach.
In striking contrast to this prodigality of nature in pollen
production, where she is compelled to use the wind as her
transfer agent, is her close-fistedness in cleistogamy, where the
pollen packet is delivered direct from anther to stigma without
the intervention of bug, bee, butterfly or wind. The cleistoga-
mous flower itself has the appearance of a bud arrested in de-
velopment. It does not open until the seeds are ready for dis-
tribution. Here is an instance of a close corporation in the
floral world; outsiders like the bee and the butterfly are not in-
vited to its board. The running expense is reduced to a mini-
mum; there is no outlay for petals for advertising purposes;
no honey is provided for the entertainment of unnecessary
visitors; the production of pollen is cut down, the stamens re-
duced in number and size; the pistil is abortive, with only the
vestige of a stigma, while the manufacture of perfume is cut
out altogether. When the seeds are ripe and ready for de-
livery the capsules splits open on three sides, the three valves
assume a horizontal position and then the edges fold together
with a powerful twist and the ripe seeds are expelled with con-
siderable force to quite a distance, much in the same manner as
you would shoot a moist apple seed between forefinger and
thumb and land it on teacher’s desk when she wasn’t looking.
With all this close-fisted frugality in reproductive outlay
the tribe of violet increases prodigiously, and perhaps outstrips
many flower families which keep open house all season and
entertain all comers with a lavish expenditure for gold-dust,
honey-sweets, perfumery and general floral display. The pur-
pose and importance of cleistogamy, with its small accessory,
apetalous, scentless, nectarless, abnormal flowers is quite un-
known, but many plants have adopted it, notably among our
own flora, jewel weed and oxalis. Perhaps it was a happy
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 103
thought on the part of nature to demonstrate her ability to ac-
complish great things with small means and teach us economy.
—Philadelphia Record.
THE NOVEMBER WOODS
By Dr. W. W. BaILey.
ACH season presents its own peculiar beauties. Novem-
ber, often regarded as cold and chill, the death time of
the year, has a special charm for those who love the woods.
While most of the leaves have fallen, and either lie in sweet
smelling heaps by the pathway, or are driven in wild mazurkas
by the wind, a few wine-colored, tawny, bronze or amber
tinted still remain untouched. Oaks, for instance, are never
more picturesque than now as the light shines through their
persistent foliage. Again, the walker is very much impressed
by the yellow, or ochre or siena colors of many grasses. Those
along the salt marshes are particularly lovely while on sandy
upland banks one notes the feathery plumes of Andropogon.
This leads us to speak of the varied means of distribution
which nature employs to scatter fruit and seed. The object
of such dispersion is to remove the young scholars, if we can
so call a seed, from the too direct and overshadowing home in-
fluence. A little observation during the season, only, goes to
show that wide distribution is not so much aimed at, as new
chances and improved environment. Thus if one watches the
aeronautic ventures of thistles or dandelion or milkweed he
will be surprised to find that many times the balloon or para-
chute is empty. The passenger has stopped in his own country
or, in other words, seed or fruit have become detached near
home. Of course, there are times in tempest or gale when
winged or plumose fruits and seeds are whirled to remote dis-
tances but it is not the rule.
Another mode of dispersal is duly impressed at this sea-
son upon the pedestrian, who finds his clothes lined with burs
104 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
or prickly pods. Nature is very fond of this grapnel method
of seed distribution. She may employ simple spines as in
cockle bur, or hooks as in burdock, or spines with retrorse
teeth as in beggar ticks. The object is the same in all cases;
viz: to make animals and man the agents in scattering the off-
spring. It is too late, now, in most cases to observe the me-
chanical means of propulsion employed by wild geranium,
wood sorrel, violet, etc. It may be, however, that a branch
of witch hazel (Oct. 30th) in flower, if taken home may some
night surprise the collector by an unwarrantable artillery dis-
charge. The shinning seeds are forcibly expelled from the
woody capsules. We have often tried to analyze—it is too
subtile a sentiment to catch—the peculiar feeling induced by
the spider-like yellow flowers of this witch hazel or Hamame-
lis. Why should it bloom so late, even after its own foliage
can no longer give it countenance.
Sometimes one sees, brought from the West Indies, the
so-called “sand box.” This is a woody capsule, in which the
tension is so great, that when relaxed the seeds are sent in a
noisy bombardment to a long distance. Who could fill that
box—repack it again? ““Where is that Promethean heat which
could its light relume?”
We cannot, in so brief an article by any means exhaust
the list of ways in which seeds are dispersed. Many fruits, by
their colors are attractive to animals. Their pulp may be eaten
and the seeds rejected. Then, as every one knows, birds make
a tremendous scattering when they alight on a thistle top or a
sumac. Nature’s political economy is not always to be seen of
men. Water is an agent in transferring many seeds and fruits
which by special levity or by contrivances adapted to the pur-
pose, float on stream river or ocean. There is no more fas-
cinating study than is afforded by this branch of ecology.
Providence, R. I.
THE ROMANCE OF THE VIOLET
HE modest violet is everywhere, but how many admirers
of this universal favorite are familiar with the story of
her wanderings and fidelity and of her gradual change from
white to blue? Viola’s history is inextricably bound up with
that of the beautiful Ilo, daughter of the King of Argos, priest-
ess of Juno, and beloved of Jupiter who, on account of the
jealousy of Juno, changed Io into a milk-white heifer. But
this stratagem could not escape detection by Jupiter’s queen,
and through her blandishments she obtained from him the gift
of the heifer, which she placed in her grove at Mycenae, under
the charge of watchful Argus with the hundred eyes, of which
only two ever slept at one time.
Now to the rescue comes Mercury, most wily, most versa-
tile of all the gods. Mercury, was a young man in a broad-
brimmed hat adorned with wings bearing a staff in his right
hand and winged sandals on his feet. He was herald general
to the gods, interpreter of dreams, god of eloquence and pre-
siding deity of thieves; he prophesied with loaded dice, bound
Ixion to the wheel, chained Prometheus to the rock, and at
length borrowed the pipe of Pan with which he lulled hundred
eyed Argus to sleep, cut off his head and delivered Io, for
which exploit we are duly grateful, because without the wan-
derings of Io in the form of a white cow tormented by a gad-
fly, which pursued her in a state of frenzy over the whole
earth, perhaps we should not have the gentle violet to brighten
our spring rambles and make glad our hearts. Thus we are
told that the dainty violet was created by Jupiter and dedicated
to Io to be her companion during her wanderings up and down
the earth. Wherever she went to escape the persecutions of
Juno in the form of a gad-fly violets sprang up to keep her in
good cheer and remind her of Jupiter’s constancy. Especially
in pastures green and along the borders of shady streams are
105
106 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
these beautiful flowers found in great abundance, for to such
retreats resorted Io to find sustenance and seek refuge from
her tormentor. Even to this day, although most of the violets
have become blue from looking up at the sky, where Io now
dwells, they love to follow the cows wherever they go, whether
to mossy dell, moist meadow or shady wood, and whenever
you find bossy standing knee deep in the brook down by the
“old swimmin’ hole” just look along the banks and there you
will find great companies of Io’s faithful retainer and consoler,
the humble, modest, delicate violet—Philadelphia Record.
STRUCTURE OF Lity Pistits.—The old idea of a com-
pound pistil was that it consisted of two or more transformed
leaves with their margins united and projecting inward bear-
ing the ovules. This view is essentially correct except that it
is likely carpels never were leaves although homologous with
leaves. Since such leaves as produce buds usually produce
them on their margins it would of course be expected that in a
compound pistil the bud-like ovules would be produced on the
part of the carpel corresponding to the margin of the leaf. This
in fact is what usually happens, but not always. According to
C. E. Temple in Science many members of the lily family,
among which are the tulip the white erythronium, the lily-of-
the-valley and the various “Easter lilies,” bear their ovules
upon the middle part of the carpel. Even the partition walls
of the pistil may be developed from this part. At first glance
this may seem “contrary to nature’ but it is no more remark-
able than that certain cells should develop leaves and others
petals, in the first place. Nature has a variety of ways of ac-
complishing the same purpose, and has apparently decreed that
more than one region of the carpel may bear ovules, without
regard to how much it may confuse our previously conceived
notions concerning the process.
NOTE AND COMMENT
WaANTED.—Short notes of interest to the general botanist
are always in demand for this department. Our readers are
invited to make this the place of publication for their shorter
botanical items. The magazine is issued as soon as possible
after the 15th of February, May, August and November.
ELEMENTARY SPECIES OF LINNAEA.—The pretty little
plant named for the great Swedish botanist has now had its
turn at the hands of a persevering German who finds that our
single species may be resolved into no less than 140 elementary
species with several sub-forms. Linnaeus has been called “the
father of botany” but we are inclined to think that were he
alive he would be likely to decline to father such botany as
this.
THE PARASITE OF A FuNGus.—Since the fungi are lack-
ing in chlorophyll, without which plants cannot make food
from the air and water, they are obliged to depend upon ready-
made food derived from other plants or animals. If the
fungus lives on dead and decaying matter it is called a sapro-
phyte, but if it attacks living things it is a parasite. Occas-
ionally certain speces of fungi show that there is not always
“honor among thieves” by preying upon one another. Thus
the mushroom Collybia dryophila, which lives upon dead wood,
is in turn obliged to support a smaller fungus known as Tre-
mella mycetophila. In the Ontario Natural Science Bulletin,
H. H. Whetzel recently recorded another case of this kind in
which Cephalothecium roseum was found living on one of the
hard puff-balls, Scleroderma vulgare. The Cephalothecium
107
108 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
is a familiar fungus to sight at least, and will be remembered
as a thin growth pinkish in color, to be seen frequently on dead
and decaying substances. It appears to be very common on the
puff-ball mentioned and has also been found on decaying
apples.
THE FERTILE SPIKE OF OPHIOGLOSsUM.—After a study
of the vascular system of the sporophyte of the Opioglossaceae
M. A. Chrysler supports the view that the fertile spike is to be
regarded as consisting of two fused pinnae. This is true of the
species of Botrychium in which the fertile spike has a double
vascular supply. The allied genus Aneimuia is remarkable for
always having two fertile spikes on each frond, both spring-
ing from the base of the frond and very evidently transform-
ed pinnae. In view of this the double vascular supply to the
Botrychium spike is quite according to nature. The Ophio-
glossaceae have always been regarded as a very ancient and
simple family of ferns, but if the new view is correct, they may
now be considered rather highly specialized.—Fern Bulletin.
New Meruop oF Forcinc PLants.—Most plants in
temperate regions where the cold of winter is severe enough
to put an end to plant growth, have learned to take a rest in
winter and this habit has become so thoroughly fixed that even
when dug up and kept in a greenhouse, such plants refuse to
grow until they have finished their natural dormant period.
By taking the plants up early in autumn and giving them a
good freezing it has been found that they begin at once to
grow. Evidently the cold has something to do with the ac-
celeration of the resting process. A few years ago, it was dis-
covered that by exposing plants to the fumes of ether or chloro-
form for a short time, they would grow exactly as they would
if frozen or if allowed to finish their natural period of dor-
mancy. Recently a German, Prof. Molisch, has written a
pamphlet in which he claims that the plants can be forced as
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 109
well by warmth as by cold. In the new treatment, all that is
required is to immerse the shoots of the plants to be forced, in
water at a temperature of 30 to 35 degrees centegrade (about
80 or 90 degrees of the ordinary scale) for ten or twelve hours,
after which they are to be kept in a dark moist chamber at a
temperature of about 80 degrees until they begin to grow.
Then they are brought into ordinary greenhouse conditions
and bloom very quickly. Lilacs, azaleas and spiraeas treated
in the middle of November were in bloom by Christmas while
untreated plants of the same kind had not started. The sim-
plicity of the process opens up attractive possibilities for even
the novice in gardening.
THE VERSATILE WoopBINE.—Climbing plants may be
placed in four general groups as regards the means for getting
up in the world. Least specialized are the scramblers, such as
the bed straw (Galiuwm) and certain climbing roses and
brambles. These depend upon their recureved prickles to
catch upon other plants and hold them in place. More suc-
cessful are the twiners like the bean and hop that simply wind
their stems about other vegetation. The root-climbers are
more common in the tropics than in our own region but they
are not without representatives here in such forms as the
poison ivy and the English ivy. The most highly specialized
group comprise the tendril-climbers. The tendrils may be
modified stems as in the grape, petioles as in the garden nas-
turtium, stipules as in the species of Smilax, veins of the leaf
as in the pea, or even in the tips of the leaves themselves as in
various tropical plants. As to methods of attachment, two
forms are noticeable, one in which the tendrils wrap around
the object the other in which the tips spread out in sucker-like
disks. This latter form is usually developed when the
plants climb upon rocks or the trunks of trees. Very few
plants possess more than one of these methods of climbing but
the common woodbine (Am~pelopsis quinquefolia) is more for-
110 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
tunate. Normally it is a tendrid-climber like the grape to
which it is near allied, but on occasion it may develop adhesive
disks and it frequently put out roots like the poison ivy. No-
body seems to have investigated the subject to see if the three
methods of climbing indicate three forms of the plant.
CoAL FROM PLANT SporES.—A writer in a recent issue
of Rhodora reports that certain coals that have been investi-
gated, consist almost entirely of the microspores and mega-
spores of certain fern allies that flourished during the coal
forming period. By careful manipulation of the coal it is
possible to study the spores satisfactorily with the miscroscope.
These spores are the next thing to pollen grains—pollen
grains themselves being essentially spores—and the bitumin-
ous matter found in some coals is regarded as produced from
the waxy matter contained in the spore coats.
Fruits RIPENED By CHEMICALS.—The ripening of fruits
is essentially a chemical process. Everyone is familiar with the
fact that even the sweetest fruits may be sour or astringent
until they are nearly ripe. When they are full grown, or “full’
as the grower often expressed it, a gradual change occurs. The
tannin, starches and other constituents of the fruits are slowly
turned to sugars by a process akin to digestion in animals if,
indeed, it is not exactly like it. This being the case many ex-
periments have been undertaken to advance or retard the ripen-
ing process. In fruits, such as the banana, that have to goa
long way to market, they are usually picked before they are
ripe and, since they will carry best in the green condition, no
effort is made to hurry their ripening. On the contrary the
ripening process is retarded. At the end of their journey, how-
ever, it is often desirable to ripen them at once. This is ac-
complished in some fruits by exposure to the sunshine, or by
heating. A writer in Science mentions a new and very suc-
cessful method which consists in exposing the green fruits to
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 111
the fumes of various chemicals. Benzoic and salicylic acids pro-
duce results at once but the most potent agent thus far found is
acetic acid. By exposing green dates to the fumes of this acid
for 12 hours, the experimentor was able to ripen them in three
days. Since the ripe fruit of the date deteriorates very rapidly
it cannot be sent to market in the fresh state, but the new pro-
cess will allow it to be sent green and ripened at the end of the
journey. The process is probably applicable to many of the
perishable fruits of the tropics.
THe NAMEs oF PLANtTs.—The last congress of botan-
ists to legislate regarding the names of plants, decided that a
large number of generic names should not be changed. This
was on account of their long use by botanists, though accord-
ing to strict “priority” they should be changed. In this case
“priority” would mean any name published after 1753 and
before the one now in use was published. To go back to 1753
as a starting point is bad enough, but there are several anxious
botanists who object to even this date and who want all re-
strictions removed so that they can trace their plant names
back to those given by Adam. They say with truth that this
is the only way to secure real priority, but what does priority
really matter. How silly it is for scientists, sane in every other
respect, to want to change well-known names of plants for
those totally unfamiliar. Most botanists of this type have ac-
cumulated a large stock of ancient and musty volumes from
which, if the 1753 bar is removed, they expect to dig up a lot
of old names to supplant the familiar and just as useful ones
we have at present. This will not help science in any way, nor
will it add to our knowledge of plants, but it would increase
the possibilities in that game of word making which closet
naturalists delight to play and would give them a chance to
associate their own names with those of ancient botanists
about as worthy of remembrance. It is to be hoped that no
botanical congress will consent to open this Pandoras box.
112 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
ARCTIUM MINUS LACINIATUM.—On pages 83 of your
current number there is a note on the new form of burdock.
I noticed the same plant growing in a street on South Bend,
Ind. I intended transplanting it, thinking it a teratological
form. The discription agrees perfectly with the plant I found,
and if it reappears I will send leaf specimen.—J. A. Nieuw-
land.
PLANTS AND CoLp.—It has always been more or less of
a puzzle, even to the scientist, to decide how certain plants are
able to survive the winter in the leafy condition. It is some-
times stated that the cells of such plants are so small that
freezing the water in them does not rupture the cell walls, or
even that the cells do not contain sufficient moisture to make
its freezing a disturbing feature. A Swedish botanist has re-
cently offered another explanation to the effect that such
plants, at least in northern Germany and Scandinavia, contain
sugar instead of starch during the winter and that the sugar in
some way protects the protoplasm from freezing.
Poisonous ToMATOES.—Our old familiar friend the to-
mato is under suspicion again. When it first obtained a place
in cultivation it was under the guise of an ornamental plant
named love apple. As such it was regarded as deadly poison-
ous and its relationship to the nightshades gave color to the
belief. Sooner or later, however, it was found to be edible
and thereupon it was transferred to the garden where it has
since remained as a highly prized fruit. Its harmful character
has always been more or less hinted at, however, and but a
short time ago tomatoes were reputed to cause cancers. Of
course this was all nonsense, but there seems more truth in the
charge that is now being made by various physicians to the
effect that some kinds of tomatoes are likely to cause heart
trouble. Since all people are not affected alike it seems still to
be a question whether all tomatoes are harmful or, whether
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 113
only a few persons are susceptible. It is well known that the
luscious strawberry appears to be poisonous to some people,
but that does not prevent the rest of us from indulging in straw-
berry short-cake. The harm in the tomato is laid to “lyco-
persic acid” whatever that may be. It is supposed to be most
abundant in tomatoes that have been picked green and ripened
on the way to market and the moral of all this is that one
should eat only fresh tomatoes, and the inference that he
should grow them himself. If the fact that some people’s
hearts are affected by stale tomatoes induces every man to
make a garden, we shall welcome the discovery of “‘lyco-
persic acid.”
JAPANESE AiR PLant.—Whether or not, as P. T. Bar-
num averred, the public like to be humbugged, it is pretty cer-
tain that most people stand in grave danger of being duped be-
cause of their ignorance of botany. Last autumn, at a country
fair the writer came upon a vendor of the “rose of Jericho”
which was nothing else than our well-known “resurrection
fern (Selaginella lepidophylla). The specimens were highly
perfumed and the dealer was loud in his praises of the “large
red flowers” which he asserted they produced. Pressed for
further information in the writer’s most guileless manner, the
dealer enlarged upon the merits of his wares, telling how they
grew in a remote part of South America and were imported
with great difficulty. When skepticism about the large red
flower was expressed, the dealer insisted that he had seen one
in bloom within the week, that its perfume could be smelled
for several blocks and offered to forfeit ten dollars if they
could not be smelled that far when they bloomed! But, alas,
the Selaginella never does bloom. Many people, however,
paid twenty-five cents for a specimen of the wonderful plant.
Evidently this humbug is about worked out for we begin to
find a new creation offered as the Japanese air-plant. This is a
small deep green moss-like plant that is said to live entirely
114 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
upon air. In reality it is a sea-~weed Demarestia aculeata which
the Japanese make a business of collecting and preparing for
display. Its feathery appearance makes it a very decorative
object, but the statement that it is alive and lives on the air is
of course, all nonsense.
PLANTS IN THE ANTARCTIcS.—Of course a botanist ac-
companied Lieutenant Shackleton’s party in a search for the
south pole but he doubtless had an easy berth as soon as the
real journey began, if his sole duties were the collection and
study of plants. Plant life appears to be pretty scarce in high
southern latitudes, but the party encountered certain plants
from warmer regions that they would have gladly avoided.
The leader of the party reports that their health was excellent
except for certain colds that were evidently due to germs from
a bale of blankets. Thus these minute but annoying plants that
produce so much discomfort in lower latitudes during the
winter have extended their migrations to the frozen south.
ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE.—The zoologists have
slightly the advantage of the botanists in the matter of nomen-
clature in that they started earlier to make a “stable’’ nomen-
clature but in their efforts in this direction they have been no
more successful than have those of the name tinkerers of
plants. Ina recent number of Science, Jonathan Dwight, Jr.,
pays his respects to the zoological code as follows: “Codes do
not evolve but are made for convenience and we should quit
burning incense before the shrine of priority if we seek sta-
bility. Priority is rather a bog from whch the nomenclatural
muck-rakers exhume the fossil names of a past age. We
shall always be at the mercy of forgotten names tucked away
in stray volumes unless there be some “statute of limitation”
—the bug-bears of code makers. Let the upturning of the
names of obscure writers be stopped and the remodelling of
codes with fresh interpretations of their canons be prevented.
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 115
It is not justice for the dead zoologist that we held so much as
justice to the living, and even now, the dead get no recognition
if they violate the rules of the game unknown in their day.
The “statute of limitation’? needed at the point where codes
break down is a responsible body of men whose rulings will be
respected by every scientific man who cares more for stability
of names than he does for his cwn preferences.”’
CARROTS AND CoLor —Make a very thin section of the
common carrot root, place it under the microscope and with
proper magnification you will see certain angular pale orange
colored bodies in the cells. These are crystals of carotin and
it is to them that the color of the carrot root is due. This fact
would be of no great significance but for the fact that it is
this same carotin that produces the characteristic color in many
orange yellow fruits such as those of the mountain ash and
triosteum. Nature has two ways of coloring her brilliant
specimens. In one case she colors the cell sap, in the other
the color is lodged in tiny bodies called chromoplasts within
the cells. It is a curious fact that the color of blue and purple
flowers is always due to colored cell sap but red, orange and
yellow fruits and flowers usually bear their colors in chromo-
plasts.
NECTAR STATISTICS.—We sometimes get new light on an
old subject in the most indirect way. For instance the chance
for insect pollination among the flowers is shown to be very
good when we consider the annual output of honey. It has
been estimated by careful observers that a bee carries about
three tenths of a grain on each trip to the hive and therefore a
pound of honey—or rather nectar, since the nectar has to be
evaporated to make honey—a pound of honey would require
more than twenty thousand trips of the bee. It is not to be
wondered at, in the light of these facts that the life of the
average worker bee is said to last not longer than six weeks.
116 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
Fortunately the average hive of bees contains often as many
as fifty thousand workers. On each collecting trip the bee
visits at least ten flowers and the bees of a single hive must
daily call at some millions of blossoms. The honey-crop of
this country reaches the astonishing amount of nearly 130
million pounds annually. Some genius with a taste for figures
and some leisure time, may be inclined to figure out the number
of blossoms visited by the bees in their labors. He should not
forget to allow for the trips made for pollen and for the honey
to make into wax and for the honey consumed by the bees, and
for the water that must be evaporated out of the nectar, and
for—but this is enough for a start.
SpEcIES PRoDUCED BY CRossING.—In recent years we
have heard a great deal of Mendel’s Law as applied to the
crossing of animals and plants. Briefly this law reads that
when two different species are crossed, the offspring tend to
resemble one of the parents to the exclusion of the other. By
breeding these offspring together, however, a second genera-
tion is produced, 25% of which resemble one grandparent
259% of which resemble the other grandparent and the remain-
ing 50% resembling their own parents in being mongrels or
hybrids. This second generation of hybrids if bred together
will give again 25% oi one, 25% of another and 50% hybrids,
and so on apparently for ever. Mendel’s Law was first pub-
lished nearly fifty years ago but until recently received abso-
lutely no attention and it was commonly supposed that hybrids,
instead of having the capacity of producing pure species re-
sembling their own parents, were either sterile or only capable
of continuing the hybrid race. The re-discovery of Mendel’s
law has caused scientists to go to the opposite extreme and to
apply the law to almost everything, but now comes Burbank
saying that in his work he has frequently crossed distinct spe-
cies and got therefrom, not a hybrid reproducing according to
Mendel’s law, but a very distinct species in which the char-
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 117
acters of the two parents were perfectly blended and which re-
produced itself exactly with no tendency to produce forms re-
sembling the species started with. Some of these “new’’ spe-
cies cited are the Logan berry; the wonder berry, a cross be-
tween Solanum guinense and S. villosum; a cross between
Rubus occidentalis and R. strigosus, another between Rubus
idaeus and R. villosus, and many others. This, if true, forms
an overlooked factor in species making.
STORAGE OF WATER By SEEDS.—The very first require-
ment of seeds, when they begin to grow, and an absolute ne-
cessity to the young seedling, is water, and yet nature has sel-
dom contrived any method whereby the seed may store up
water for the sprouting embryo. In a few cases, however,
this end has been accomplished. The mucilaginous seed coats
of flax and quince are able to absorb considerable moisture
from a shower and retain it for the use of the seedling. Ina
similar way the spongy covering of the garden nasturtium ab-
sorbs water and the central spongy layer in the walnut and
hickory nut which carries water to the interior, after the man-
ner of a lamp wick, is well known. At one end of the castor
bean there is a spongy outgrowth of the testa and this has been
shown to be of use in absorbing water which passes directly
into the seed at this point.
TREES FOR STREET PLANTING.—One can always detect a
new and “green” community by the presence of an abundance
of weeping mulberries, cottonwoods and box elders. These
species have their place but that place is not in this State today.
They are temporary structures and should be avoided unless
absolutely necessary for the protection of more stable and
slower growing material or in desert country where nothing
else will grow. Do you want to know what is good and why?
The American elm is the best tree in the world for street or
lawn. It is tall and wide spreading, hardy and grows fairly
118 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
rapidly after the third or fourth year. The Norway and sugar
maples and the ash are also very desirable. Of the fine lawn
trees any of the following are excellent and should grow well
in this State: horsechestnut, linden, sycamore, tulip tree,
hackberry and I cannot recommend too strongly the use of
evergreens such as the Austrian pine, the hemlock and the
white and Norway spruce.’—I/linois A griculturalist.
THE SPINDLE TREE.—In many parts of America there is
a small shrub, related to the well-known bitter-sweet (Celast-
rus) which, like it, bears in autumn and early winter, numer-
ous pink capsules that early split open displaying the brilliant
red aril which surrounds each seed. With us it is usually
called burning bush, strawberry shrub or wahoo, but allied
species in England go by the name of spindle trees. This last
name is a very ancient one and according to most writers has
been given to the plant because its wood was once used for
skewers. History does not say what property of the wood
caused this species to be singled out for the purpose and there
seems to be less reason for the use of the name than there is
for the application in a similar case of ironwood or lever-wood
to our species of Ostrya and Carpinus. But there is no ac-
counting for common names.
Saco.—The name sago is derived from Sagu an East
Indian name for a granular starch obtained from various spe-
cies of palm. A similar material may be obtained from certain
of the cycads close allies of the pines. One common cycad fre-
quently seen in conservatories is often called sago palm on
this account. While the true sago may have been derived
from palms the name nowadays is applied to a variety of
starches. Even tapioca may be said to be a kind of sago. The
so-called “Portland sago” was made from the corms of the
European cuckoo pint or lords-and-ladies, a sort of arum
closely allied, and similar in appearance, to our familiar Jack-
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 119
in-the-pulpit or Indian turnip. The European plant in its
natural state is quite acrid and reputed to be poisonous, but
yields the sago upon being baked. The acrid properties of our
own plant are well known but these disappear when the corm
is dried and doubtless it, too, would yield sago on proper
manipulation. A man lost in the woods might sustain Ife for
a long time if he but knew of the sources everywhere about
him upon which he could draw.
Use or Cactus PLant Rips.—Everybody knows that
the cylindrical and spherical species of cactus are usually
strongly ribbed, but the reason for these ribs is not so well un-
derstood. If one should make a cross-section of one of these
plants he would find the fibro-vascular bundles, which distri-
bute the absorbed moisture to the plant, to be situated it a
circle near the center of the stem. Between these bundles and
the outside of the stem is the region in which the surplus mois-
ture is stored. The ribs on the cactus plant act somewhat on
the plan of an accordeon or the bellows of a camera, expand-
ing or contracting with the supply of moisture. This enables
each plant to take up a large supply of water under favorable
circumstances. If the stem was a mere cylinder the thick and
tough outer skin would only allow of storing a definite
amount, but with a ribbed stem the absorption of water can
go on indefinitely.
Famity Names.—In certain recent books dominated by
a purely local nomenclature we have seen some of the familiar
family names displaced by new ones. Thus Poaceae and Pin-
aceae, are used for the grass and pine families respectively.
Leguminosae is replaced by Fabaceae, Cruciferae by Bras-
sicaceae and so on. These do not appear to be likely to come
into general usage, for which we may be thankful, but we may
be still more thankful that others with which we are threatened
do not seem to have a chance of gaining place. If they did we
120 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
might find our Primulaceae under the name of Rotaceae, our
Chenopodiaceae masquerading as Holeraceae, the Ambrosi-
aceae called Nucamentaceae, the Boraginaceae as Asperifoliae
and the Violaceae as Melanideae. All these names would be
used if priority prevailed, but what good would the changes
do? None that we can think of; but the harm the changes
would work are very potent. It would confuse the beginner,
make an endless trouble for the older student and render all
works of botany in a measure unintelligible to beginners who
took up the study of plants under the new names. Of all the
people studying plants not one desires a change of names.
Only those with axes to grind really favor a shake-up.
CuristMas TREES.—It requires about four million small
trees annually to supply the demand for Christmas trees and
some nervous individuals have inveighed against the Christ-
mas tree custom for fear it may add its share to the drain our
diminishing forests have to bear. According to the United
States Forester, however, we have little to fear from this
source. It would require only about 1,500 acres to grow all
the Christmas trees used in the United States. This is a very
small item compared with the hundred thousand acres needed
to supply the lumber mills for a single day. A single yellow
newspaper devoted to sordid records of murder, suicide
and other crimes makes a much heavier demand on the forests.
It would be far better for both the forests and the peeople if
there were Christmas trees in every home and only four mil-
lion yellow journals ever issued.
REMEDY FOR Ivy Porsonrinc.—For the benefit of the few
that cannot handle poison ivy without ill effects, we note
another remedy for poisoning by it. This is tincture of Grin-
delia. It is to be diluted with four or five times as much water
and the affected parts bathed with the solution or covered with
cotton or gauze saturated with it.
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 121
Common Names.—The only thing certain about common
names, is that a plant has a common name when it is commonly
called by that name in any part of the world. This reflection
is induced by a note in a British contemporary protesting
against the use of thorn-apple as a common name for the fruits
of our species of hawthorn or Crataegus. “Considering its
long accustomed use for Datura” says the writer, “this must
- cause confusion.” Here in America the case is just the other
way about. Confusion would exist if our common Jimson
weed were called thornapple. Considering the case strictly on
its merits, the hawthorn fruits have much the best right to be
called thornapples for they are certainly little apples and they
are borne on thorn trees. Nevertheless we shall have to let it go
at that, for both plants are commonly called thornapple in dif-
ferent parts of the world and thus both are entitled to the
name.
GrowTH OF TREES.—Considerable uncertainty exists as
to the time necessary to grow merchantable timber, but only
upon an exact knowledge of such things can a satisfactory
policy of forest management be based. According to a writer
in Forest Leaves the time required for various kinds of trees
to reach a diameter of twelve inches is as follows: pin oak
40 years, black oak 50 years, red oak 58, white oak 100, sweet
gum 62, walnut 56, tulip tree 50, black locust 45, ash 72,
hickory 90, catalpa 20, Carolina poplar 12. Of course the
character of the soil, water supply and location have much to
do with the slow or rapid growth of trees, but these figures
seem fair averages. As to the time required for greater di-
ameters the same writer gives records of actual counts for var-
ious trees, some of which are added here: Hackberry 25 inches,
115 years; elm 27 inches, 120 years; sugar maple 38 inches,
155 years; sycamore 57 inches, 260 years; tulip tree 57 inches,
225 years; sour gum 25 inches, 141 years; beech 36 inches,
165 years; black willow 18 inches, 50 years.
——=\ EDITORIAL ~——»
This number closes our fifteenth volume and we turn to-
ward volume sixteen with a determination to make it as good
as those that have gone before it, and as much better as pos-
sible. Our country is yet too young for us to hope for a very
extended subscription list. We are still too busy taking an
account of stock, in collecting and naming and naming again
everything that looks like a plant. This magazine never has
been directed to those who collect and swap plants, but rather
to that thoughtful few who are interested in the wonderful
ways of the plants themselves. Not that we believe that those
who really appreciate the plants should always be in the mi-
nority. One of the inducements toward founding the journal
was that by so doing we might aid in reducing the number of
those who have no abiding interest in real botany. But the
work goes slowly and we would that our readers would realize
that the interests of this magazine are their own. The more
people there are who are interested in botany, whether sub-
scribers to this magazine or not, the more abundant and better
will be the books and publications devoted to our phase of the
subject. This being so, we hope our friends will continue to
help us push the magazine. We know there are many who
neglect no opportunity to recommend it to lovers of nature
among their acquaintances but we need your subscription for
the new volume; will you not send it in early?
me, See
Recent mumbers of Plant World have contained a large
number of short items which have been received with enough
favor by readers to induce the editor to continue or even to en-
large upon the idea in future. The same conclusion with ref-
erence to short notes was made by this magazine several years
ago and it is pleasant to note the spread of the idea. Now and
122
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 123
then a scientist, after much labor may discover enough new
facts to make a long and imposing article, but most discoveries
do not warrant so much space. There is not a botanist of the
editor’s acquaintance, however, that could not sit down and
write out dozens of such short notes and yet these very notes
for which all botanical publications are searching remain un-
written because their possessors cannot make a long article out
of them. Winter is a good time to write up such notes. Why
not begin another year by sharing your interesting experiences
with others of similar tastes.
* * *
The conventional idea of a botanical club, is an association
of botanists for the purpose of presenting and discussing
papers on their chosen subject. All too frequently, however,
the interest in such a club wanes for want of enough people
with the leisure and inclination to keep up the supply of papers.
Moreover, there are usually in such societies a number of peo-
ple who imagine they cannot write a presentable paper. Often
the only obstacle in the way of forming a good strong botani-
cal society is the feeling among those who ought to join that
they are not fitted to take part in the programs. To all such
we would suggest the scheme of taking up some single book
and discussing it, Chautauqua fashion. The editor knows one
society of this kind composed of people with no special pre-
tentions to being botanists but with a rather lively interest in
plants, that has finished one successful season and is starting
on a second. The plan is for each member to secure a copy
of the book decided upon, to read the assigned pages at home
and to take part in the discussion at the weekly or fortnightly
meetings. If there are any working botanists in the club, they
can be relied upon to present original papers. The book se-
lected for study would depend somewhat upon the attainments
of those forming the club. If without much botanical knowl-
edge, Vincent’s “Plant World” (80c.) or Grant Allen’s
“Story of the Plants” (40c.) would be good for a beginning.
124 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
More advanced students—say those who have had a course in
high school botany would find such a book as Arthur and
MacDougal’s “Living Plants and their Properties” ($1.25)
desirable. Other books for special subjects would be Bailey’s
“Plant Breeding” ($1.25), Grant Allen’s “Colors of Flowers”
($1.00) or Henslow’s “Origin of Floral Structures” ($2.00).
We cannot too strongly urge upon the plant collector that real
botany is more than the preserving and naming of plants.
Many very intelligent people amass large herbariums and be-
come familiar with every species in their region without sus-
pecting that there is a vast and unexplored field of the great-
est botanical interest close at hand that needs only a proper
introduction to be as fascinating as ever plant collecting and
naming could be. This is the time of year when clubs of the
kind we have mentioned are most easily formed. Those who
have tried without success to get their friends actively inter-
ested in botanical studies should try the merits of such a club.
We shall be glad to send a copy of this magazine free to every
club of four or more members organized after this plan and
will continue to send the magazine as long as we receive
quarterly reports from the club regarding its work. We hope
that all who are tired of studying botany alone will go to work
at once to organize a club.
BOOKS AND WRITERS
That there are more than fifty thousand different species
of fungi in the world is not hard to realize after a look through
Prof. F. E. Clements’ “Genera of Fungi,” in fact it is this vast
number of fungi that make such a book either necessary or
possible. For many years the descriptions of the plants be-
longing to this great group have been accumulating in the
various volumes of Saccardo’s “Sylloge Fungorum” but in
this form were almost inaccessible to students. The present
book is designed to key out the genera and families of Sac-
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 125
cardo’s great work but with the families rearranged according
to the results of the author’s studies. In it are keys to the
orders, families and genera of fungi, a guide to the volumes of
Saccardo’s “Sylloga Fungorum,” an index to the families in
the “Sylloge” and in Rehm’s “‘Discomyceteen,” and various les-
ser lists. Numerous surprises await the botanist who has not
kept closely in touch with advances in fungology. The genera
are listed under the four familiar classes Schizomycetes, Phy-
comycetes, Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes, but a few come
under the class Chlorophyceae. The fungi imperfecti are listed
separately. One looks in vain for the Saccharomycetes. These
have been included with the Ascomycetes. In the same group,
also, are found the rusts and smuts which in other works are
usually found among the Basidiomycetes or else by themselves
as Aecidiomycetes. The line between lichens and fungi has
been entirely obliterated, the lichen genera and fungus genera
being arranged quite according to the fugus relationship. The
book ends with a glossary so complete that it resembles a Latin
dictionary. More than 2700 genera are keyed out in this
work; it would be out of the question to include the species.
All who work with the fungi owe a great debt to Prof. Cle-
ments for issuing such a book. The book is an octavo of 220
pages and is issued by the H. W. Wilson Co., of Minneapolis
at $2.00.
Books on agriculture are rapidly appearing but none too
rapidly considering the need of the schools for teaching agri-
culture and the long way behind the times such teaching 1s.
A new book issued by the American Book Co,. is “Practical
Agriculture” by John N. Wilkinson. This takes up the sub-
ject by some sixty pages devoted to soils, tillage and the needs
of the plant followed by half as many relating to special crops
after which comes such subjects as fertilizers, propagation of
plants insect friends and foes, more special crops, landscape
gardening, stock feeding, animal husbandry, etc., etc. Al-
126 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
though the book does not appear to be a large one, the text
runs to nearly four hundred pages. To the reviewer the ar-
rangement of the subject matter seems to indicate that it was
rather hastily put together and would profit by a more careful
and connected arrangement. Too much emphasis is placed on
recitations regarding subjects about which the pupil can have
no first hand knowledge. Such directions as “Discuss the
culture of black pepper” are out of place in a book intended for
the farmers of America. In agricultural teaching there ought
to be a minimum of reciting and a maximum of doing. Such
practical exercises as are included are very good but the ques-
tions on the chapters are too indefinite for the pupils for which
the book is intended. The book, however, will contribute its
full share toward the teacher’s equipment. It is well illus-
trated and shows a wider range of topics than is found in most
books of like character.
“Elements of Agriculture” is the title of another text de-
signed to advance the teaching of agriculture in secondary
schools. It is written by G. F. Warren and published by the
Macmillan Co. In contents it is essentially like other books
on the same subject but takes up the topics in a different way
beginning with chapters dealing with the improvement of ani-
mals and plants, the propagation of plants, plant food, the soil,
etc. The latter half of the book is devoted to animal hus-
bandry. The greatest difficulty a teacher must experience in
attempting to use this work is the impossibility of using it all.
There are more than 400 pages of text in which numerous
laboratory experiments are called for and in addition there
are extensive lists for collateral reading. The author covers
too much ground and does not always confine himself to gen-
eral principles. The work on special crops could well be omit-
ted or included in a later course. The book, however, is one
of the best we have seen. The directions for laboratory work
are at times a bit indefinite, but the questions on the lessons
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 127
are characterized by sound sense as to selection and good judg-
ment as to arrangement. Any teacher who cannot find valu-
able material in these questions is hard to suit. The book also
abounds in striking and illustrative illustrations. All in all
it is one of the best agricultural texts we have seen. The
price is $1.00 net.
A sample copy of the Sketch Book published by A. E.
Vogel, at Manchester, N. H., has just reached us. From the
appearance of this number, we are inclined to think that most
of our readers would be interested in sending for it. It is
about such a publication as we should be tempted to issue if
we had time and money enough to make it possible, and there
were not so many other things that need somebody to do them.
The Sketch Book draws freely from the works of Thoreau,
Jeffries, Whitman, Burroughs, Howitt and writers of like
tastes and we wish it continued success.
That nature study is gradually taking definite form is
shown by the appearance of such books as “Practical Nature
Study” by John M. and John G. Coulter and Alice Jean Pat-
terson. The authors are wise enough to see that no set pro-
gram for teaching nature study can be made, and the book in
hand is therefore intended as a bundle of suggestions to young
teachers by teachers who have successfully taught the subject.
The first part of the book is largely a discussion of methods
which can be read and re-read with advantage by all teachers
of nature study and elementary science. Part II. contains an
outline for work arranged according to grade and_ season,
dealing with plants, birds, insects, the weather and the like.
Part III. contains an outline for nature study and elementary
agriculture in grades above the sixth, followed by twenty-
seven chapters devoted to special subjects that may be studied,
with discussions of the best ways of studying them. In Part
IV. are discussions of bird study, school gardens, evolution
128 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST
and like matters. All teachers who have anything to do with
the biological sciences will find this a most desirable book. It
is destined to give the teaching of nature study an impetus
toward sanity. It is published by D. Appleton & Co., New
York,
For the past eight years, John P. Brown has been edit-
ing the journal Arboriculture in the interests of tree planting
and forestry in general, and the hardy catalpa in particular.
During this time he has had the satisfaction of seeing the ca-
talpa come to the front as a desirable tree for planting, and has
seen many millions of these trees set out by the railroads for
the production of poles and ties. With the October number
the magazine ceases publication. Evidently the catalpa can
now “go it alone.”
There are about a hundred woody plants growing in the
vicinity of San Antonio, Texas according to a little booklet
issued by Bernard Mackensen of the San Antonio High School
in which each species is discribed in untechnical language, its
time of flowering and fruiting noted, and all common names
cited. The southern affinities of the flora are seen in the in-
clusion of many names unfamiliar to botanizers in the Nor-
thern and Eastern states such as Ephedra, Cebatha, Prosopis,
Sapindus, Zizyphus and Cestrum. In genera like Quercus and
Celtis common to both regions the difference in floras is seen
in the fact that different species take the place of our common
forms. The booklet must be of special value to students of the
woody plants of southern Texas, but is of interest to all botan-
ists. Teachers in the schools of other parts of the country
could take an example from this book with profit.
BOTANICAL MAGAZINES
AT LESS THAN HALF PRICE
A Rare Bargain for Teachers, Students
and Lovers of Nature
We have recently made up the volumes of American Botanist
and Fern Bulletin into complete sets and this has left various odd
volumes on hand. ‘These are exactly like those made into sets, com-
plete and perfect in every way, but being surplus volumes are worth
less to us and we propose giving our friends the benefit of this by
offering all the odd volumes at
35 CENTS A VOLUME.
Every volume is new, clean and complete and contains more
than 120 pages of reliable information on a wide variety of subjects
connected with botany. There never was a greater bargain offered.
It is absolutely impossible to get as much really useful and interest-
ing matter elsewhere for twice the price. Think of a 120-page volume
on botany for 35 cents. If you are interested in any phase of botany,
this is your opportunity. Of course the volumes will be of our se-
lection, but there will be no duplicates. The price includes postage.
AN EXTRA VOLUME, FREE.
All who order at least five volumes of either magazine at the
reduced price will be given an extra volume free, and this will not
duplicate the others ordered. Do not order more than 7 different vol-
umes of each magazine as we cannot supply them, but you may order
duplicate volumes for your friends. Be sure to state distinctly how
many you want of each magazine. At these prices our surplus stock
will not remain long. Send in your orders early.
PRICE OF COMPLETE SETS.
We can hold out no hope that those who buy the volumes of-
fered above will be able to complete their files. The early volumes
of Fern Bulletin have long been out of print and the other volumes of
both magazines are going fast. We have less than 50 sets of each
on hand at present. The immense amount of information offered on
unusual phases of botany, places these magazines far ahead of others
in their value to the scientist, and no good botanical library is com-
plete without them. Do not delay until it is too late. Somebody will
have to be content with incomplete sets. While they last we offer
AMERICAN BOTANIST, Vols. 1 to 15 inclusive.......$7.50
AMERICAN BOTANIST, Lacking only Vol. 3....... 6.00
BARING Oilele Ne eViolSeaGmton ai mnclisimes ese cea St5O
JER IN| IBWOLALIBAMIUN. Wrallise Wie) aly sharelhntsinidens ge aoa oo one 7.00
An extga volume of either magazine given free with orders for
complete sets.
250 PAGES OF READING FOR A QUARTER.
To clean up various edd copies we offer 12 different numbers of
the American Botanist cr 8 different numbers of the Fern Bulletin for
25 cents, or we will send both secs for 50c. Of course there are no
complete volumes in this offer which simply means 250 pages of good
reading for a quarter. If our stock is short when your order is re-
ceived, the money will be returned.
Address
WILLARD N. CLUTE & CO., JOLIET, ILL.
BOOKS for the BOTANIST
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST or THE FERN BULLETIN
will be sent one full year with any book offered below, for 50 cents additional
OUR FERNS IN THEIR HAUNTS By Willard N. Clute.
The best selling fern book in America. 333 octavo pages, 225 illus-
trations and 8 colored plates. Full life histories, careful descriptions
and all the poetry and folk-lore of the ferns of Eastern America.
Price $2.15 postpaid.
THE FERNS AND FERN ALLIES OF NORTH AMERICA,
By Willard N. Clute. A companion volume to “Our Ferns” and the
only work of popular nature in this country. 250 pages, 150 illustra-
tions and 8 colored plates. Devoted to the scouring rushes, club-
mosses, etc. Every species in North America carefully described and
illustrated. Price $2.15 postpaid. With “Our Ferns” $3.80.
THE FERN COLELECTOR’S GUIDE. By Witlard N-Clite
Where to find, how to collect and how to preserve our ferns. 60
pages, numerous illustrations, check-list of the species and illustrated
key. Intended for use in the field. Price 54 cents postpaid.
LABORATORY BOTANY FOR THE HIGH SCHOOL Ss,
Willard N. Clute. Approaches the subject of botany from the natural
history side. Tells the teacher where to find materials, how to pre-
serve them and how to present them in class. Gives the student full
directions for work and numerous exact questions to ensure careful
study. Reduces the work of the teacher to the minimum and induces
a love of botany in the pupil. Easily handled bv beginning teachers;
a boon to older ones. 178 pages cloth. Price’'75 cents postpaid.
THE NEW GRAY’S MANUAL. 926 pages and more than a
thousand illustrations. Nomenclature acccrding to the Vienna Rules.
The standard in Systematic botany. You can name your plants to
stay named with this book. Numerous keys, accurate descriptions
of species, and everything bFrourxht up to date. Price postpaid $2.50.
ANY OTHER BOOK ON BOTANY. Your own bookseller
does not keep these unusual books in stock. We can supply any of
them at once and the same reduction in the price of our magazines
will be made when they are ordered with such books. Send us the
name of the book, the publisher and the price and you will receive it
by return mail.
THE BEST MAGNIFIER. This is the best lens we know of
for use in identifying flowers, ferns, etc. Has a perfectly flat field,
is strongly made and heavily nickel plated. Just the right size for
the pocket. The lenses are removable for cleaning and it may be
attached to a chain, like a watch if desired. Price $1.25 postpaid.
With either magazine one year $1.75.
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST is a 32 page quarterly de-
voted to economic and ecological botany. It is quite unlike any
other botanical magazine in its scope and subject matter and _ its
articles are of permanent value. |