ete |
Aa
‘ fe \\e ¥ ; \ 1//7 A = SS } : > ee es ~ ee 5 /,
vs 4 ; bene tas At Ba Ger ti 44
TORREYA
A Monruty JourNnat or Botanicat Nores anp News
JOHN TORREY, 1796-1873 RI
EDITED FOR
THE TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB BY
MARSHALL AVERY HOWE
Volume IV.
NEW YORK
1904
peess oF 1m Mew Ena Paintine COMPARY, LaWcasren, PA
THE TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB
OFFICERS FOR 1904
President, HON. ADDISON BROWN, LL.D.
Vice Presidents, HENRY Ii. RUSBY, M.D. EDWARD S. BURGESS, Pu.D.
Recording Secretary, F. S. EARLE, A.M.* EDWARD W. BERRY,?+
Botanical Garden, Bronx Park, New York City. Passaic, New Jersey
Corresponding Secretary fo) w ’
JOHN K. SMALL, Pu.D.
Botanical Garden, Bronx Park, New York City.
Editor, Treasurer, JOHN HENDLEY BARNHART, A.M., M.D. FRANCIS E. LLOYD, A.M. Tarrytown, N. Y. Columbia University.
Associate Editors, NATHANIEL L. BRITTON, Pu.D. DANIE't T. MACDOUGAL, PH.D. TRACY ELLIOT HAZEN, Pu.D. WM. ALPHONSO MURRILL, PuH.D. MARSHALL A. HOWE, PH.D. HERBERT M. RICHARDS, 8.D. ANNA MURRAY VAIL.
Meetings the second Tuesday and last Wednesday of each month alternately at the College of Pharmacy and the New York Botanical Garden.
PUBLICATIONS. Bulletin. Monthly, established 1870. Price $3.00 per year; single numbers 30 cents. Of former volumes only I-6, 13, and 19-27 can be ‘supplied entire. Partial numbers only of vols. 7-18 are available, but the completion of sets will be undertaken.
Memoirs. A series of technical papers published at irregular intervals, estab- lished 1889. Price $3.00 per volume.
Torreya. Monthly, established 1901. Price $1.00 per year.
All business correspondence relating to the above publications should be addressed to Francis E. Lloyd, Treasurer, Columbia University, New York City.
* Resigned May I0, 1904.
+ Elected May 10, 1904.
ERRATA, VOLUME 4
Page 36, 22d line, for Brefelda, read Brefeldia.
Page 64, last line, for augustefolia, read angustifolia.
Page 67, 12th line, for Virburnum, read Viburnum.
Page 89, 3d line of footnote, for Lands., vead Lunds.
Page 99, after line 5, zzser¢ SPERMATOPHYTA.
Page I11, Ist and 2d lines, for New New, read New York. Page 143, 22d line, for Thistleton, read Thiselton.
DATES OF PUBLICATION
1, for January. Pages 1-16. Issued January 27, 1904. 2; February. 17-32. February 25, 1904. 35 March. 33-48. March 12, £904. 4, April. 49-64. April 28, 1904. 5, May. 65-80. May 13, 1904. 6, June. 81-96. June 8, 1904. Vs July. 97-112. July 21, 1904. 8, August. 113-128. August 27, 1904. 9, September. 129-144. September 30, 1904. BLO; October. 145-160. October 29, 1904. ane November. 161-176. November 21, 1904.
Pie, December. 177-201. December 30, 1g04.
Vol. 4 No. 1
TORREYA
January, 1904
PHYSIOLOGICAL APPLIANCES —I By GEORGE E. STONE
The appliances described in this series of notes have been im- provised in the writer’s laboratory during the past few years, in connection with a physiological practicum, and while they may not possess much value to the investigator, they have proved useful in the students’ hands. We realize that physiologists have their own methods of demonstrating physiological phenom- ena. Now and then, however, there appear in various journals helpful suggestions in regard to demonstration methods which the writer has found interesting and profitable, and it is hoped those now to be offered may prove the same to others.
APPLIANCES FOR DETERMINING THE AMOUNT OF CARBON DIOXIDE TAKEN UP BY PLANTS
As a means of determining that plants take in carbon dioxide under the influence of sunlight, the writer’s students in physi- ology have for some years made use of the following apparatus with satisfactory results.
Fig. § shows an appliance designed largely for experiments with leaves. Briefly stated, it is a modification of the Winkler- Hempel apparatus for gas analysis. The apparatus consists of a bulb burette provided with a two-way stop-cock, and has an aperture at the bottom, closed with a rubber stopper, for the in- sertion of the specimens. The burette is graduated to 5), c.c. and has a capacity of 85 c.c. The method of using the apparatus is quite similar to that of the Winkler-Hempel gas burette. The
[Vol. 3, No. 12, of ToRREYA, comprising pages 177-201, was issued December 22, 1903. ]
only practical difference being that when specimens are placed in the bulb their volume has to be determined ; in other words, the capacity of the burette has to be reéstimated. This is done by filling the burette and measuring the contents with another burette or pipette. The principal feature of the apparatus con- sists in having the specimens in the burette that is employed in making the determination. For experimental purposes we gener-
Fic. 1. Apparatus for determining the amount of carbon dioxide taken up by plant tissues,
ally select Myriophyllum \eaves and have about § or 10 per cent. of carbon dioxide in the burette. The method of operation is as follows: The required amount of carbon dioxide is supplied to the burette containing the plants by first filling with water or mer-
2 © —
cury, and allowing all but 5 or 10 per cent. of this to be replaced by air, and the remaining space by carbon dioxide. After expos- ing the plants to sunlight for a given length of time, the air in burette is forced over into the potash bulb, and after a short period returned. ‘This is accomplished by the pressure of mer- cury or water, whichever happens to be used. The difference in volume is then noted and from this is calculated the percentage of carbon dioxide absorbed. Either water or mercury may be employed, and when the former is used we usually take the water from a reservoir suspended five or six feet above the appar- atus, in which case we regulate the output of water by the stop- cock shown at Cin Fig. 1. We seldom allow the contents of the burette to go below the 83 or 84.c.c. mark. In using water, a small portion of the carbon dioxide is likely to become absorbed. The absorption of carbon dioxide, however, can be largely prevented by a drop of oil on the surface of the water. In case mercury is used, no such precaution is necessary. It has been our practice to allow students to make a few analyses of the car- bon dioxide, previous to placing the plants in the bulb, in order that they may become familiar with the method and test the ac- curacy of the same. We prefer very small apertures in the two- way stop-cock ; this makes the apparatus much easier to work, and there is less opportunity for leakage. The special bulb burette is made by E. Greiner, of New York.
When it becomes necessary to make experiments with potted plants, we have used for some years the apparatus represented in Fig. 2. This consists of a bell glass set in a paraffined wooden trough filled with mercury. The potted plant to be experi- mented with is covered tightly with thin rubber sheeting, which permits only the leaves and upper portions of the stems to be exposed. There are two wide-mouthed tubes, one inside the bell glass, #%, and one outside, f, which contain water. These are connected with a U-shaped tube below, with clamps at a, @, and c¢.
In supplying the apparatus with carbon dioxide, the generator is attached to one of the inlet tubes at the top of the bell glass, and the inner tube, 2, which is completely filled with water, is
4
drawn off. This allows a certain amount of gas to enter, but the exact percentage contained in the bell glass must be determined by analysis. This is accomplished by passing a sample of the gas in the Winkler-Hempel burette, which necessitates allowing water to pass from / to / in order to counterbalance the air pressure. After exposure to light for a required length of time, other samples of air can be taken and analyzed as before. The
Fic. 2, Apparatus for determining the amount of carbon dioxide taken up by potted plants.
number of samples of air which can be taken depends entirely upon the capacity of the inner tube, , and also the amount of gas, or air, which is utilized each time as a sample for analysis. We have found it better to supply the plants with a considerably large percentage of carbon dioxide, as this renders the results
5) more marked. The principal feature to bear in mind, in the use of this form of apparatus, is to regulate the inflow and outflow so that the pressure of the air under the bell glass coincides with ‘that outside of it. The amount of carbon dioxide which plants absorb is sufficiently large so that with the use of either of these appliances a slight error in the determination does not prevent their being utilized for demonstration purposes. Such experi- ments may well precede those with the Pfeffer gas-balloon, in which case more careful details in regard to pressure and tension
have to be insisted upon. MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, AMHERST, MAss.
OBSERVATIONS ON PHALLUS RAVENELII By Howarp J. BANKER
In the fall of 1900, several beds of Phallus Ravenel were found in piles of sawdust at Williamsport, Pa., with the plants in all stages of development. ‘‘ Eggs’’ were found in abundance from the size of a mustard seed to that of a walnut. Ina space less than three feet square over a hundred and fifty were gathered, all larger than a pea while hundreds of smaller ones were to be found. The sawdust was penetrated in every direction by long strings of cord-like mycelium. Most of the smaller “eggs” failed to mature, being checked by the frost, but the plants per- sisted in coming up until the middle of December or until the ground actually froze hard.
One of the beds was located under a pile of lumber, where it was more shaded and more moist. The /hadd in this bed were larger and of more vigorous growth than those in the open. Tempted by their size, the writer made an effort to crawl under the lumber pile to them. The sawdust was found to be remark- ably full of what was taken to be masses of ‘eggs’”’ and un- usually matted together by the mycelium, but it was too dark to see clearly of what the material consisted. A quantity was therefore gathered and on returning to the light proved to be very different from what was expected. There was a dense mass
6
of mycelium forming a tangled net-work and filled with very irregular tubercular masses, ranging in size from .5—5 cm. in diameter.
These tubercles or sclerotia appeared to be enlarged portions of the mycelial threads and were twisted, lobed and convoluted in a very irregular manner. On making sections of these it was found that they consisted of two distinct parts, an outer wall about 2 mm. thick and an inner cavity which either contained only air or was filled with a gelatinous substance. This cavity was observed at this time, in the fall, to be in a state of negative pressure. Those tubercles which had their cavities filled with air would float in water while those containing the gelatinous substance would sink. It was therefore easy to determine, with- out injury, the character of the different tubercles in this respect.
The wall of the tubercle consisted of a dense weft of mycelium forming apparently a pseudoparenchyma. This was most com- pact toward the outer surface and became more open toward the interior, terminating at the surface of the interior cavity in numer- ous free ends. These hyphal ends were about 7 » wide and quite irregular in form. When the cavity contained the gelati- nous substance, this was found to be everywhere penetrated by fine branching threads about 3 y wide, of uniform size, and run- ning in nearly straight lines. These threads, easily distinguished from the hyphae previously mentioned, seemed to have their origin in the outer wall of the tubercle but just how could not be made out.
There was also observed in the jelly-containing tubercles, cer- tain peculiar bodies which were supposed from their appearance to be crystals of calcium oxalate. These were not numerous and were developed chiefly among the free hyphae on the inner sur- face of the wall. A portion of a hyphal thread would be en- larged into a globular form about 40 wide and would contain within it a spherical body about 22 » wide and marked with fine radiations,
The larger tubercles in many cases had the appearance of being made up of a fused mass of smaller ones. One such con- elomerate mass measured over 8 cm. in width.
The place was not again visited until spring. In April, the lumber pile having been removed, the place was made easy of access and was again examined more thoroughly. All external signs of the Pali had disappeared, but the bed of sawdust was found densely matted together with mycelium which covered a space of several square feet and penetrated the sawdust toa depth of 12 to 15 inches. Throughout the mass there was an abundance of tubercles. They as well as the mycelial cords were now observed to be white in color where not exposed, but when uncovered quickly turned bluish-purple. This change of color was very marked and always occurred first in the finer threads of the mycelium where it would take place so quickly on exposure that it was very difficult to catch sight of the natural white color of the threads before the blue color appeared. For this reason the mycelial threads of P. Ravenel are usually ob- served to bebluish-purple in color. Ina few seconds the blue color would appear on the more exposed prominences of the tubercles, rapidly deepening in color and spreading over the surface, but not at first extending into the depressions between the prominences, owing apparently to the retention of some moisture in these piaces. The side of a large tubercle which remained in contact with the moist sawdust also underwent no change. This suggested that the change of color was due in some manner to a superficial dry- ing resulting from contact with the air, which appeared to be confirmed by the fact that if the tubercles of the mycelium were immersed in water as soon as removed from the sawdust not only was further change of color checked, but after a few minutes the color which had already appeared faded out and the material soon became entirely white as at first.
By very long exposure to the air, that is, for several hours or days, the color gradually undergoes a further change, becoming a dark reddish-brown and spreading over the entire surface even into the deepest depressions, and this is more uniform and com- plete in the living plant remaining in contact with its substratum than when removed and dried.
This color change in the tubercles is confined strictly to a very thin layer of the surface and does not penetrate the inner sub-
8
stance. Even if the tubercle be cut through, the cut surface thus exposed undergoes no change in color, but remains of the same uniform white, and this distinction remains even when the tuber- cles have become very dark brown or have been thoroughly dried. The brown color is slightly soluble in water.
Specimens of this material have been preserved at the New York Botanical Garden. I have been hoping to have an oppor- tunity to investigate further this color change in the mycelium of P. Ravenelii and determine if it was of the same character as the blue color that appears in certain Bo/edi when injured and which Schonbein has shown is due to the action of ozone.* Removal of residence and failure to find such a remarkable growth of these plants elsewhere has prevented my carrying the investigations
further. SOUTHWESTERN STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, CALIFORNIA, PA.
JOSEPH HINSON MELLICHAMP
By WILLIAM M. CANBY
Dr. Mellichamp —an excellent botanist of South Carolina — died on James Island in that State on the second of October last.
Joseph Hinson Mellichamp, the son of the Rev. Stiles and Sarah Cromwell Mellichamp, was born in St. Lukes Parish, South Carolina, on the 9th of May, 1829. His father was for many years Preceptor of Beaufort College and afterwards was pastor of St. James Church on James Island. Being a lover of out- door life and of natural objects, he gave his son a taste for the same and especially for botany, which continued throughout his life. In 1849 he graduated from South Carolina College and in 1852 from the Medical College at Charleston. He then spent some time in Europe, studying in the hospitals of Dublin and Paris. On his return he established himself as a physician at Bluffton, South Carolina, and here he remained most of his ife —the exceptions being the time when he was a surgeon in
* Cf. De Bary, Comp. Morph. and Biol. of the Fungi, 15.
9
the army of the Confederate States and when, during his last years, much of his time was spent with his daughter and only child in New Orleans. It was during this period that, to his great delight, he accomplished a visit to California and its ‘‘ big trees.”’
Notwithstanding the diligence required to fulfil the responsi- bilities of a large practice among the planters and their depen- | dents, he found time for much botanical research and collecting. In the interesting floral region around him were many of the rarer species described by Walter, Michaux, and Elliott. Speci- mens of these were much prized by the botanical fraternity and, through his correspondents, were largely and freely distributed and are now valued samples in many of the best herbaria.
His good judgment in making observations and clear state- ments of the results brought him the correspondence and esteem of Doctors Gray, Engelmann, and other masters of the science. For Dr. Engelmann he investigated the flowering and fruiting of some species of Vacca, the peculiar oaks of his region, and especially Pinus Elliottii, which he practically discovered and, in the excellent notes he furnished, adequately described. Very acute observations on the insectivorous habits of Sarracenia variolaris were published in the Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In this paper he recorded his discovery of the lure by which insects are tempted to the fatal pitcher of the leaf; of the fact that the secretion therein is more or less of an intoxicant ; and the curious fact that the larva of a certain insect was able to resist the secretion and to feed upon the decaying mass. Dr. Sargent, in his Sylva of North America, acknowledged his services in the studies of the oaks and other trees. Dr. Gray so esteemed his assistance that he named a Mexican Asclepiad in his honor JMe/lichampia. De- sirous of helping others, he was one of those useful men who, diffident and retiring
g, and not caring to advance their own fame,
always willingly give to others the benefit of the knowledge they have acquired. It is not too much to say that but for him, considerable of value would have remained unknown of the flora of his district; grateful acknowledgments of this have come from European as well as American botanists.
10
Dr. Mellichamp was an ardent lover of nature, with a poetic and artistic spirit, and his letters teem with fine descriptions of the various objects which attracted him in his professional drives about the country. He was wont, as the spring approached, to speak of the exceeding beauty of the young flowers of Punus Ethottii, as they expanded their cones over the trees, crowning their robes of green with a haze of purple. His letters show the keenest sense of the loveliness and delicious warmth of a spring in the pines with flowers opening everywhere, the fragrance of the woods, of jessamine and of magnolias filling the air made vocal with the songs of mocking-birds.
But best of all, he was a man to be loved for his qualities of heart and mind. A magnetic and attractive man, his friends and correspondents cannot forget his ready kindness and words of cheer and will cherish his memory. He was beloved by the poor people of his district who, in a touching way, mourned the loss of their ‘old doctor’”’ as his body was borne to the grave. As might have been supposed he was intensely southern in his feelings and in his love for his native State. He now rests in her bosom ; and the well-known lines, slightly altered, may well be applied to him, ‘ Little he'll reck if they let him sleep on in the grave where a southern has laid him.”’
SHORTER NOTES
PRIMARY VENATION IN CINNAMOMUM.—JIn discussing the proper generic affinity of Czunamomum affine Lesq., F. H. Knowlton * makes the assertion that ‘“‘ The joining of the secon- daries to the midrib at some distance above the base is distinctly a character of Cinnamomum, and all known species possess it.” The italics are mine.
In view of the variability of leaves in this respect such sweep- ing statements should be made with great caution. Both Schim- per and Lesquereux + in defining the genus particularly mention
* Knowlton. Flora Montana Form, U.S, Geol. Surv. Bull. 163: 43. 1900. +Schimp. Pal. Veget. 2: 839; and Lesq. Tert, Il. 218.
1]
the triple nerves from the base, and an examination of the pub- lished figures of fossil leaves referred to this genus shows several species which have the basal secondaries (lateral primaries) in- serted at the base of the midrib * and several additional species in which these secondaries are subbasal in some of the leaves. An examination of the existing species contained in the her- barium of the New York Botanical Garden shows many leaves with basal secondaries in the following species: Cznnamomum pedatinervium, Javanicum, obtusifolium, pauciflorum, Sieboldi, nitidum, eucalyptoides, albiflorum, pedunculatum and Zeylanicum.
EDWARD W. Berry. Passaic, NEW JERSEY.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CLUB
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1903
This meeting was held at the New York Botanical Garden at 3.30 Pp. M.; Professor Underwood in the chair; 18 persons present.
The appointment of Professor Burgess to fill the vacancy on the membership committee was announced.
Dr. Britton presented a memorial on the life work of the late Mr. Cornelius Van Brunt, which by vote of the Club was ordered spread on the minutes and printed in ToRREYA.+
The principal paper on the scientific program was by Mrs. Britton, entitled ‘‘ Notes on further botanical Explorations in Cuba.” The party, consisting of Dr. and Mrs. Britton and Mr. Percy Wilson, went to Cuba by way of Tampa, Florida, going direct to Matanzas, which point was reached on August 27, 1903. Extracts were read from her diary, giving an interesting account of the daily happenings during the exploration of the region about Matanzas, Cardenas and Sagua. Many photographs were shown illustrating the regions visited and specimens of some of
* See Lesq. Cret. Fl., /. 30. f. 7. 1874; Tert. Fl., pf. 76. f. 425 pl. 37.f- 4 5
1878; Fl. Dak. Group, p/. z7.f, ¢. 1892; Newb. Fl. Amboy Clays, f/. 29. /. 6, 7. 1896.
+See TORREYA, 3: 177. ortrait. 22 D 1903.
12 the more conspicuous plants were exhibited. As the herba- rium material secured’ by the expedition has not yet been studied, no detailed account of the botanical features of the region was attempted. All of this part of the island has been devas- tated by war. There is no primitive forest and comparatively few large trees are left standing. On the return, a few days were spent in Havana visiting the botanical institutions of that city.
Dr. Britton exhibited specimens of what seem to be two species of hackberry. The common Ce/tis occidentalis of the eastern states is a small tree seldom exceeding 40 feet in height, having smooth, slightly acuminate leaves and globular orange-colored fruits. On an excursion of the Torrey Club to the Delaware Water-Gap some years ago, some much larger trees were observed growing in moist locations and having long acuminate leaves and oval fruits. This seems to be the Ce/ts canina of Rafinesque. It is somewhat widely distributed, its range overlapping to some ex- tent that of C. occidentalis, but it always occurs on moister, richer lands and grows to be a much larger tree.
F. S. HARE Secretary.
TuEsDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1903
The Club met at the College of Pharmacy at the usual hour ; 18 persons present ; Dr. Rusby in the chair.
Dr. C. A. King, Mr. J. A. Shafer and Mr. Frederick H. Blod- gett were elected members of the Club.
The resignation of Mr. B. D. Gilbert as a member of the Club was accepted.
A proposition from the Scientific Alliance was submitted by Dr. Britton, suggesting the weekly publication of notices of society meetings and other items of scientific interest in place of the monthly Bulletin now published. After some discussion the suggestion was unanimously approved.
The scientific program consisted of a paper by Mr. W. T. Horne on “The Vegetation of Kadiak Island, Alaska.” The paper was illustrated by a large number of botanical specimens
and by numerous photographs, showing the topography of the island and the characteristics of the different plant formations. Kadiak Island is 58° north latitude and 155° west longitude and is 30 miles from the mainland. It is 90 miles long by 50 wide and has a very irregular coast line. The surface is much diver- sified and broken. A fresh-water lake about 20 miles long is situated in the northwestern part of the island. It is connected with the sea by the Karluk river and furnishes an ideal breeding- ground for the red salmon. One of the most important fishing stations and canning plants in the world is located near the mouth of this river. The winters are very long, beginning early in Octo- ber, but they are not intensely cold. The lowest temperature during the two years of Mr. Horne’s stay was— 10°. There is much mild weather and frequent thaws. The soil freezes only to a depth of from one to two feet, and the frost is out of the ground early in June. The highest summer temperature noted was 72°. The Chinese laborers in the canning factory make gardens where they cultivate successfully many of the more hardy vegetables.
The principal plant formations discussed were those of the low-lying bogs, the comparatively level grass lands, the higher- lying peat bogs, and the alpine flora occupying the rocky hills. Marine plants are not particularly conspicuous though many brown and red seaweeds occur. Two species of Potamogeton are found in the river at the point* where the salt and fresh water meet. Above this point the river is comparatively free from vegetation. The country is well watered by small streams. These are often full of various green algae and they are fre- quently dammed by dense growths of mosses. Some of the smaller slower brooks are completely blocked by dense growths of species of Vaucheria which so retard the flow of the water as to form low wet bogs that are covered with a characteristic vege- tation. The earliest plant to flower in the spring in these law- cheria bogs is the small C/aytonia asarifolia. Other conspicuous spring plants are a species of Rumex, Caltha palustris, and various species of the Cruciferae. These bogs are the most showy in midsummer when filled with Polemonium acutifolium, several
14
species of Epi/obium anda handsome Mimulus. LEpilobium luteum in particular forms showy masses in the bogs and along the brooks. A large-flowered skunk cabbage (Lysic/iton) also occurs in wet places frequently marking the course of little brooks along the hillsides. Carex cryptocarpa forms a dense zone bordering portions of the river bank.
The drier and comparatively level grass lands are always com- pletely covered by layers of mosses and lichens so that they ap- proach the condition of the tundras. The first spring flowers of the grass lands are the abundant pink blossoms of the little Rubus stellatus, which also is a conspicuous plant in the fall on account of the rich coloring of its leaves. The turf consists mostly of Carex Gmelini. Scattered plants of species of Poa and Festuca are frequent, but the dominant grass is a species of Cad- amagrostis, A fragrant grass, a species of erochloa, called lo- cally ‘‘ vanilla grass,’ occurs, but it is not abundant. Other conspicuous plants are Zrienxtalis Europea arctica, two species of violets, Geranium erianthum, also conspicuous in the fall from its red foliage, a yellow Castilleia, Viburnum pauciflorum, Sanguis- orba latifolia, Galium boreale, and a large showy Lupinus. The salmon berry, Rubus spectabilis, is frequent and bears a large, delicious edible berry. In midsummer great patches of fireweed, Chamaenerion angustifolium, suddenly burst into bloom, giving a most striking color effect. Later in the season Solidago lepida becomes conspicuous. Lathyrus palustris was the only plant seen having a vine-like habit.
The peat-bogs occur at the foot of the hills. Among their characteristic plants are etu/a glandulosa, a shrub reaching two feet in height ; Empetrum nigrwm, with black fruits that are called ‘“‘blackberries’’ and are eaten by the natives ; and Ledum palustre, the leaves of which are used fora tea. Vaccinium ovalifolium grows along the upper edge of the grass lands. It furnishes an important economic fruit.
The Alpine flora on the rocky hills consists of a mat-like growth of mosses, Cladonias, Ampetruin, dwarf blueberries, etc. The first to bloom in the spring is Wazrania alpina. The fall foliage of this plant is very showy, forming intense red patches
15
on the hillsides. Other conspicuous plants are Aragallus arcticus, A, nigrescens, Chamaecistus procumbens, Diapensia Lapponica, Lloydia serotina, Campanula lasiocarpa, and various dwarf arctic willows. Vaccinium uliginosnm and V. Vitis-/daea are abundant and their fruits are of great economic importance to the natives.
The paper brought out an interesting discussion lasting till the
hour for adjournment. FS, ARLE.
Secretary.
NEWS ITEMS
Professor L. M. Underwood has been elected chairman of the Section of Biology of the New York Academy of Sciences.
Professor J. C. Arthur, of Purdue University, Lafayette, In- diana, is spending a month at the New York Botanical Garden, engaged in some special mycological researches.
Dr. D. T. MacDougal, director of the laboratories of the New York Botanical Garden, left New York on January 13 to visit the Desert Botanical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution at Tucson, Arizona. He plans also to visit Lower California and will probably be absent from the Garden for about six weeks.
Dr. Burton E. Livingston, instructor in plant physiology in the University of Chicago, and Miss Winifred J. Robinson, instructor in botany in Vassar College, who have been devoting, several months to studies in the laboratories of the New York Botanical Garden, returned to their respective institutions about the first of January.
The seventh meeting of the Society for Plant Morphology and Physiology was held at the University of Pennsylvania, Phila- delphia, December 29-31, 1903. Fifteen papers were presented and discussed. No presidential address was given on account of the absence of the president, Professor Roland Thaxter. The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: president, Dr. George T. Moore; vice-president, Professor Clara E. Cum- mings ; secretary-treasurer, Professor W. F. Ganong. A com- mittee of three was appointed to confer with committees from
16 :
other botanical societies upon the subject of union of the botanical societies of the country.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science held its fifty-third annual meeting at St. Louis, December 28, 190, to January 2, 1904. Papers represented by thirty-seven titles were read before Section G (Botany), the program occupy- ing four half days. Mr. F. V. Coville, retiring chairman of Section G, was absent and his vice-presidential address was accordingly omitted. A committee consisting of Professor C. E. Bessey, Dr. B. T. Galloway and Professor Conway MacMillan, was ap- pointed to consider the movements now under way looking to the preservation of the Calaveras groves. On Friday morning, January 1, the Section went as a body to visit the Missouri Botanical Garden on the invitation of the director, Dr. William Trelease. Among the officers.for the ensuing year, Professor W. G. Farlow was elected president of the Association ; Pro- fessor B. L. Robinson, vice-president of the Association and chairman of Section G; Professor F. E. Lloyd, secretary of Section G,
The tenth annual meeting of the Botanical Society of America was held at St. Louis, December 28 to 30, 1903, under the presidency of Professor C. R. Barnes. The address of the past- president, Dr. B. T. Galloway, was entitled ‘‘ What the Twentieth Century Demands of Botany ’’; this address was published in full in Science for January 1, 1904. In addition to the address, thir- teen papers were presented. Officers were elected as follows: President, Mr. F. V. Coville ; vice-president, Professor C. E. Bessey ; secretary, Dr. D. T. MacDougal ; treasurer, Dr. Arthur Hollick ; councilors, Professor B. L. Robinson and Professor J. M. Coulter. Grants of $150 to Dr. C. J. Chamberlin to aid a study of the spermatogenesis, oogenesis, and fertilization of Diom and Ceratozamia ; of $150 to Professor F. E. Lloyd to aid a study of the comparative anatomy, transpiration and sto- matal action of spinose and succulent plants, to be carried on at the Desert Botanical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution ; and of $50 to Professor J. C. Arthur to assist in making drawings of the Uredineae, were approved.
Vol. 4 No. 2
ORR EY A
February, 1904 LIBRAR’ NEW YORK
:
.
RAY SLOLOGICAL APPLIANCES —IIL*
By GEORGE E. STONE
APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING AND DETERMINING THE AMOUNT OF OxyGEN GIVEN OFF BY AQUATIC PLANTS
The appliance shown in Fig. 3 has been used in the writer’s laboratory, to some extent, for collecting and determining the amount of oxygen given off by aquatic plants. It is based on the same principles as that shown in Fig. 1,f namely, either water or mercury is employed to force the collected gas into the ab- sorbent bulbs and return the same.
In setting up the apparatus the graduated burette and funnel are filled with water. As the gas is given off from the aquatic plants it is directed from the funnel to the burette, where it is re- tained, a corresponding amount of water being displaced through the tube, a, which should be below the water level in the cylin- der below. After a required amount of gas has been collected, the pinch-cocks at 6 and ¢ are closed, the funnel removed and the gas is forced over into a phosphorus or pyrogallic acid and potash bulb and then returned. The amount of oxygen absorbed is then estimated. The remaining gas can also be tested for car- bon dioxide and other gases if necessary. An appliance made on this principle, provided with a smaller caliber and more finely divided burette, has its advantages for closer work.
* Continued from page 5.
+ TORREYA, 4: 2. Ja 1904.
[Vol. 4, No. 1, of ToRREYA, comprising pages I-16, was issued January 27, 1904. ] iy
TANICA!
18
A much more simple apparatus, which answers the same pur- pose, is shown in Fig. 4. This method of demonstration we have
Fic. 3. Apparatus for collecting and determining the amount of oxygen given off by aquatic plants. required of our physiological students each year. It consists of a test-tube, either plain or graduated, placed over a glass funne
19
in a cylinder containing aquatic plants. ‘The test-tube is filled with water and, as the gas collects, the water is displaced. After 15 or more cc. of gas is collected, the
funnel is dropped into the cylinder
and a stick of phosphorus, fastened
toa bent wire, shown at the right, is
inserted into the tube containing the
gas. The phosphorus should be left
in the tube for some hours, and
after removing it the difference in BES
the water levels is noted and the
per cent. of oxygen is roughly de-
termined. In most experiments,
our students find that about 33 per
cent. of the gas is absorbed by the
phosphorus.
METHOD OF DETERMINING HOURLY
TRANSPIRATION Fic. 4. Method of collecting
; and testing the gas given off by The following method of deter- aquatic plants.
mining the hourly transpiration of rooted plants has been occasionally employed in our labo- ratory. The device consists of a calcium chloride jar, to which is attached a small tube, both of which contain water. See Fig. 5. A small light float of pith attached to a straw, carrying a wire on its upper end, registers on a blackened cylinder the variation of the water level due to transpiration. On the surface of the column of water inthe small tube there are a few drops of heavy paraffine oil, o. This oil prevents loss, of water, and serves as a suitable rider for the float. In our demonstration experiments we make use of willow cuttings which have developed roots and leaves. These cuttings are started in water and as soon as gath- ered they are fitted with a rubber stopper of suitable size to fit the calcium chloride jar. Rooted willow cuttings are far superior to fresh cut stems and leaves in this experiment on account of the ends of the latter becoming clogged with slimy material, thus preventing absorption and rendering the results of little value.
Fic, 5. Apparatus for determining hourly transpiration.
MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, AMHERST, MAss.
21
AN INTERESTING UNPUBLISHED WORK ON FUNGI *
By J. C. ARTHUR
It is not often that a work in systematic botany remains a hundred years without being given to the public in some form of the printer's art, if possessed of genuine merit. Yet this has been the fate of Hedwig’s ‘“ Descriptio et Adumbratio Microscopico-analytica Fungorum.” Every student of plant-rusts has noticed that many species of Uredinales first published in de Candolle’s edition of the Flore Frangaise, issued in 1805, with a supplementary vol- ume in 1815, are accredited to ‘‘ Hedw. f.,”’ often with citation of the work and of the particular plate bearing an illustration of the species. Even the genus Gymnosporangium was not evolved by the learned author of the great French flora, but by the ob- scure ‘“‘ Hedw. f.,” and its type species, G. conicum, is illustrated in ‘“ Hedw. f. Fung. ined. t. 2... It would seem that this inedited treatise, from which de Candolle secured such rich gleanings, must have been a work of superior value. I had often wondered who the author could have been, and why a work of such evi- dent merit had never been published, and about two years ago having an opportunity to call at the Candollean Library in Gen- eva, Switzerland, I made inquiry about the matter. I found, as I had correctly surmised, that the manuscript was in the library. Through the kindness of M. Casimir de Candolle, the present owner of the library, I was permitted to examine it. It is well preserved ; and I was enamored with the beauty and skill dis- played in its preparation. It is a small quarto, with pages of let- ter-sheet size. There are about fifty pages of text, and thirty-one pages of plates, the latter most exquisitely drawn and colored by the author. The work deals largely with the Uredinales, and is remarkable for the clearness with which the observations are made, and the discrimination which the author shows in present- ing the more important characters of the fungi which he de- scribes. The full title page runs as follows :
* Read before the Torrey Botanical Club, January 27, 1904.
22
Descriptio et adumbratio microscopico-analytica Fungorum Aliarumque plantarum cryptogamicarum ad eorum familiam pertinentium. Auctore
D. Romano Adolpho Hedwigio
Professori BotaSices in Academia literarum Lipsiensi ; multa- rumque societatum literarum socio.
‘This remarkable work has never been published,” wrote M. C. de Candolle recently, in reply to an inquiry sent from London, “ owing to various circumstances which you will find fully stated in my grandfather’s ‘ Mémoires et Souvenirs,’ page 143.” From this source part of the facts now to be presented, were taken, al- though ,the work is not so explicit as one could wish. Other published facts have been obtained from scattered sources, and for additional information I am indebted to M. Aug. de Candolle.
A strong friendship had sprung up between A. P. de Candolle, the first of that renowned family of botanists, and Adolph Hed- wig, fessor of botany at Leipzig, having succeeded his father, the dis- tinguished bryologist. It was in honor of the elder Hedwig that the journal /ledwigza was named. Hedwig, the younger,
who was of about the same age, and at the time was pro-
had begun a monograph of the ferns, and in exchange for speci- mens from the Antilles and elsewhere had sent to de Candolle an authentic set of mosses from the collection that had belonged to his father, which proved of great service in the revision of the Flore Frangaise. An interesting correspondence ensued, carried on in Latin.
In the meantime Hedwig had prepared a work on the parasitic fungi, and as de Candolle says, “ with a true talent.” He desired to have this published in Paris and intrusted the manuscript to his very warm friend, A. P. de Candolle. It was placed in the hands of Garnery, who was issuing de Candolle’s sumptuous work on succulent plants. For some reason Garnery did not take kindly to the new enterprise and delayed its beginning. De
23 Candolle says in his Mémoires that, not wishing to seem negli- gent to Hedwig, he asked Garnery to write to the author and state his reasons for the delay. This was promised, but not done. De Candolle became impatient, and threatened to give the publi- cation of the succulent plants to some one else if he did not soon comply. Garnery was piqued at this, but de Candolle remained firm, and the publication of the succulent plants came to an end. Shortly afterward Garnery went into bankruptcy.
With what sanction de Candolle used the most important of Hedwig’s deductions in his Flore Frangaise, which appeared in 1805, we are not told. But the failure to secure the publication of this fine piece of work and stripping it of its scientific treasures did not interrupt the friendship, if we may trust the statement in the Mémoires. Shortly afterward, in July, 1806, Hedwig died. The work was subsequently placed in the hands of Guillemin, of Paris, but was never published.
It is a pity that so admirable a piece of scientific work should have met such an untoward fate. Even after a hundred years its publication would be a distinct gain to science.
PURDUE UNIVERSITY, LAFAYETTE, INDIANA.
SHORTER NOTES
THE JUNCACEAE OF THE West InpD1Es. — Professor Buchenau contributed to the first volume of Professor Urban’s Symbolae Antillanae an account of the Juncaceae hitherto known in the West Indies. He there records three species, /. dichotomus EIl., from Jamaica, a widely spread species in the eastern United States, /. repens Michx. from Cuba, also a species of the eastern United States, and /. Guadeloupensis Buchen. & Urb., a new spe- cies from Guadeloupe.
J. arvistulatus Michx., another common species of the south- eastern: United States, may now be added to this list ; it was col- lected by me in meadows at Sagua la Grande, Cuba, growing along the edges of small pools, September 4, 1903 (Britton & Wilson, No. 286). N. L. Britton.
24
AGDFSTIS CLEMATIDEA Mog. & Sessé.—We found this beautiful white-flowered vine of Mexico and Central America in September climbing profusely over bushes on the playa of Matanzas, Cuba; it has evidently been cultivated in gardens there, but has made itself perfectly at home in the native tangles of shrubs and vines as a naturalized plant. The flowers and in- florescence are wonderfully Clematis-like, greatly resembling those of Clematis Vitalba of Europe and toa considerable degree those of our own Clematis Virginiana. But the most striking thing about the plant is its horrid odor, the flowers being, if anything, more fetid than those of the carrion-flower or skunk-cabbage, a fact which does not seem to be recorded in descriptions of the species. According to Professor Bailey, the vine has been culti- vated in California. N. L. Britton.
A NEW STATION FOR ARABIS GEORGIANA. — On December 30, 1903, while walking along the Oostanaula River in Gordon County, Georgia, near Resaca, I came upon a considerable quantity of an Arabs, which by reason of its long erect pods,
,pubescence, mode of branching, and other characters observable at this season, can be no other than A. Georgiana, a species de- scribed in TorreyA last June, and known hitherto only from a single station on the banks of the Chattahoochee River in the coastal plain. The new station is in the Palaeozoic region, about 167 miles from the type-locality and almost due north of it. Its altitude is about 640 feet. The rock at this point is what has been called Oostanaula shale, and is of Cambrian age.
The habitats of the Avadis at the two stations are very similar, and many of the species accompanying it on the Chattahoochee also occur with or near it on the Oostanaula, among those which were recognizable being Arundinaria macrosperma Michx., Hy- drangea arborescens L., H. quercifolia Bartr., Platanus occidentalis L., Geum Canadense Jacq., Rhus glabra L., Acer saccharinum L. (A. dasycarpum Ehrh.), and Sassafras Sassafras (L.) Karst. Some of these have rather a limited distribution in Georgia, and their occurrence together at two such widely separated localities is interesting. A visit to the new station in summer
») 5
would doubtless reveal a still larger number of species common to the two localities.
It would not be at all surprising if Arades Georgiana should turn out to be more common in the hill country than in the coastal plain, for the genus Avadis (and in fact the whole family of Cruciferae) is mainly a northern one, and at the type-locality the species under consideration is associated with many species which do not range much farther south.
Rotanp M. HaArpeEr. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF GEORGIA.
Notes ON EPIGEA REPENS L. — The lovely arbutus, as it is called in this region, is usually much sought after in the early spring when in flower. Even here, near our larger towns, it may disappear within a few years, if the wholesale collecting goes on.
It is a well-known fact that many of our. spring flowers may be found in flower in the autumn, particularly many of our vio- lets. The finding of Zpzgea repens in flower, October 14, 1895, was indeed a surprise ; and to others, to whom I have mentioned the fact. I became so much interested in this patch of plants, which grows under a white pine tree, in gravelly soil by a wagon road, that I have made observations yearly when possible or have had others do so. The plants in this patch never flower in the spring! Near by are patches which are spring-flowering. The later dates of finding the arbutus in flower are: Novem- ber 17, 1896; October 16, 1898 ; November 11, 1899; Novem- ber 1 and December 3, 1900, September 24, 1903. The flowers are as well developed as any to be found in April, often tinged with pink and as deliciously fragrant.
Later in October, 1895, while climbing the Putnam Mountain range, south of Lake George, I found other patches of arbutus in flower ; but these hardly could have been located again, if I should have desired to make observations. Hundreds of patches in other parts of our area have been searched over in vain ; al- though well-developed flower buds are almost always present in the autumn. Why has this particular patch of plants taken to flowering in the autumn, rather than spring ?
Vaucuns, New York. S. H. Burnuam.
26
A NEW LEMANEA FROM NEWFOUNDLAND.—Lemanea (Sach- eria) borealis. Sexual shoots evenly tufted, slender, 1-3 cm. or more long by 0.25-0.33 mm. in diameter: sterile base 0.5—I cm. long, slender, gradually tapering into the fertile por- tion, the transition very rarely abrupt: antherid zone when young prominently tuberculate with 2—5 antherid papillae, these disappearing in age so that the older shoots are plane: procarp zone usually cylindrical, rarely constricted in the middle, some- times slightly so near the apex, the result being that in age, with the disappearance of the antherid papillae, the shoots are nearly or quite cylindrical, the younger and middle-aged ones appear- ing slightly nodose: procarps arising in both the antherid zone and procarp zone, but not quite reaching the middle of the pro- carp zone: carpospores in tufts throughout the entire length of the shoot, not collected at the antherid zones as in L. fucina and _ its varieties, but not extending so closely to the middle of the procarp zone as in L. fluviatilis: carpospores elliptical to oblong, 25-45 “x 18-25 4: Chantransia stage represented only by fragments at season when collected, but threads 18-25 y in diameter, cells 35-45 » long, often slightly constricted at the septa: plants of a dull green color on drying, the spores some- times showing a tinge of blue, and darkening, but not blackening the shoots : species of a parasitic Chantransia (C. violacea) some- times present on the old shoots. .
On rocks in a_ waterfall, Bay of Islands, Newfoundland, August 9, 1901, no. 1108. C. D. Howe and W. F. Lang.
These specimens agree with those collected by J. B. Fowler in Nepisiguit River, N. B. ; and by J. Macoun in Pirates’ Cove, Nova Scotia, and listed as small specimens of Lemanea (Sach- eria) fucina Bory, var. rigida (Sirodot) on page 226 of my Monograph,* which forms should now be referred to this species.
GEORGE F. ATKINSON. 30 TANICAL DEPARTMENT, CORNELL UNIVERSITY.
REVIEWS The Grass Family as treated in Urban’s Flora of Porto Rico + The great interest taken of late years in the flora of the West Indies has made the appearance of the initial parts of the Flora * Monograph of the Lemaneaceae of the United States. Ann. Bot. 4: 177-229.
pl. 7-9. 1890. +Urban, I. Flora Portoricensis, Symb. Antill. 4: 76-109. 1903,
Ze
of Porto Rico, by Dr. I. Urban, a matter of considerable moment. The first instalment comes as fascicle I, Vol. IV, of his Symbolae Antillanae, and treats of the Pteridophyta, and of the Sperma- tophyta as far as the Chloranthaceae. The grass family is naturally the one of especial interest to the reviewer, the more so as he published a few months ago a preliminary enumeration of the grasses of the same region, basing his work upon the material in the herbaria of the New York Botanical Garden.
The material for the work here reviewed has been determined in the main by Professor E. Hackel, but some few of the genera have been revised by other students of this family : Arundinella, Cenchrus, Aristida, Bouteloua, Leptochloa, Phrag- mites and Eragrostis by Dr. Pilger ; and Panicum and Paspalum by Dr. Mez.
That this work will be of great value to students of the grasses of the West Indies, it is hardly necessary to state. There are accredited to the island 38 genera and 125 species, with a few subspecies and varieties. This must represent a large proportion of the entire grass flora of the island, and the size of this list but emphasizes a marked deficiency in the work, the entire absence of keys of any kind, not alone to the species, but also to the tribes and genera. This want seriously curtails the usefulness of the work to any but specialists and is to be the more regretted, as it is but intensified by contrast with other admirable features, notably the full citation of synonymy, localities, and specimens.
In the matter of nomenclature, the work is for the mest part up to date, and carried along on consistent lines, but one cannot but note such exceptions as these, and wonder at their retention : Setaria and Leersta, homonyms, are maintained, and Chaetoch/oa and Homalocenchrus, both available, are reduced to synonymy ; and #riochloa Kth., although published three years later than Monachne Beauv., is preferred to that genus.
In the matter of generic limitations a conservative course has been pursued, and as conservatism is often but another name for tradition, inconsistencies have crept in here and there. This is especially noticeable in the treatment of the Paniceae. Here C/ae- _ tochloa Scribn. (Setaria Beauv.,as they persist in calling it, although
28
a homonym) and /sachne are held as distinct from Panicum, while Syntherisma and Echinochloa, equally as valid genera, are merged in that polymorphic receptacle Panicum; and again, Paspalum: the line between which and Panicum is so frail at times as to be all but lost, is maintained, and is also made to include Axastrophus, which certainly is as distinct from Paspalum as that genus is from Panicum.
Most of the species published by the writer in his recent enumeration of the grasses of this same region * have been main- tained in this work. In some instances, however, these have been reduced to synonymy. As in one instance this is due ap- parently to a misunderstanding of the species involved, I cannot refrain from entering into it quite in detail. I refer to the reduc- tion of my Paspalum Underwoodii to the synonymy of Paspalum lentiginosum Pres]. It is difficult to understand how any one who has read the original description of P. /entiginosum can come to the conclusion maintained in the work under consideration, for P. Underwood is in no way related to that species. _Presl’s species was described from material collected in Mexico, a country from which I have not seen a specimen of Paspalum Underwoodii, which, so far as I know, is confined to the West Indies. In the tenth annual report of the Missouri Botanical Garden, in an article by Professor Scribner on the grasses of Haenke in the Bernhardi Herbarium, will be found a discussion of this species of Presl. Among these Haenke specimens was one labeled in Presl’s hand- writing, Paspalum lentiginosum, and from this a drawing was made, of which Plate 13 in the report referred to above is a re- production. Professor Scribner states that Palmer’s no. 1556, collected at Culiacan, Mexico, in 1891, is the same as this, and certain it is that this specimen agrees closely with Presl’s descrip- tion and with the plate referred to above. Haenke’s American specimens were from the Pacific coast, and Culiacan is on the west coast of Mexico. Paspalum lentiginosum Presl is clearly related to, if not identical with, /. hemisphacricum Poir., a relationship fully expressed in Urban’s Flora by placing the two in juxtapo-
* A preliminary Enumeration of the Grasses of Porto Rico. Bull. Torrey Club, 30: 369-389. 10 J] 1903.
29
sition, but unfortunately the specimens cited at that place do not belong there, but are Paspalum Underwoodii, a quite different plant, and a relative of P. dexsum Poir., a fact which I distinctly pointed out when publishing ?. Underwoodit.
Another inaccuracy is in making my Paspalum Helleri synony- mous with P. glabrum Poir. The writer saw the type of the latter species at Paris, and it is a much more slender plant with smaller and glabrous spikelets.
But perhaps the most curious case of reduction is by Dr. Urban himself when he makes my Jonachne subglabra a variety of Eriochloa punctata. No reason is given for this unless it be the words placed in parentheses, ‘‘ non vid.”’
Three new species are described, all by Dr. Pilger: Aristida Portoricensis, Eragrostis macropoda and Arthrostylidium sarmen- tosum. One of these, Eragrostis macropoda, must be reduced to synonymy, for it is the true Poa nitida Ell., Dr. Pilger’s remarks to the contrary notwithstanding. This is unfortunate, for the name #acropoda is most appropriate, as the distinguishing feat- ure is the long peduncle of the spikelets, a character mentioned by Elliott likewise when describing his foa xitida ; moreover, there is in the herbarium of Columbia University a specimen from Elliott, labeled in his own handwriting Poa nitida, which agrees with his own description of that species, so that the ques- tion is thereby taken out of the realm of uncertainty. Dr. Pil- ger remarks in a note that in Eragrostis nitida (oa nitida Ell.) the spikelets are almost sessile, a statement clearly at variance with the facts, as pointed out above. There is a species with almost sessile spikelets, closely related to this, and inhabiting the same region, and it is probably this which Dr. Pilger has mis- taken for the true Poa nitida Ell. I refer to the Poa refracta Muhl. [Zragrostis refracta (Muhl.) Scribn. }.
The work is a welcome addition to the literature bearing upon the grasses of the West Indies, for it brings together in a con- cise manner a large proportion of the species found in that region, and for this a grateful appreciation and congratulations are extended.
GEORGE V. Nasu.
530
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CLUB TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 1904
The Club was called to order at the usual hour, Dr. Rusby occupying the chair. There were sixteen members present. This being the-annual business meeting, no scientific program was presented.
Dr. Philip Dowell, 14 Albion Place, Port Richmond, Staten Island, and Mr. F. W. Kobbe, 142 East 18th street, New York City, were elected active members.
The next order of business was the report of officers and com- mittees. The recording secretary read his report, showing 15 regular meetings held during the year, with an average attend- ance of 20. The number of active members elected was 14, cor- responding members 2, resignations 12, deaths 2, thus leaving the active membership unchanged at 238, as shown by previous secretary's report. The number of papers and communications presented was 41. The report was accepted, but it was pointed out that the number of active members indicated was probably too large.
The treasurer read a preliminary report, which was received and referred to an auditing committee consisting of J. H. Barn- hart, M. A. Howe and F. S. Earle. This committee was in- structed to audit the completed treasurer’s report and to investi- gate the general financial condition of the Club and to report at the next meeting.
The editor-in-chief presented a report showing that owing to lack of funds no volume of the J/emoirs had been published. The volume of the /x/letin comprises 709 pages and 30 plates, with numerous text illustrations. The cost has exceeded the estimate made at the beginning of the year by only about $12. Eight meetings of the editorial board were reported. The publication of the issues earlier in the month has been secured. Certain changes, including a new cover design, have been adopted for 1904. The burden of preparing the index to current literature has been assumed solely by the editor-in-chief. The report was accepted.
The finance committee made a verbal report.
The editor of TorRREYA made a verbal report which was accepted.
The committee on local flora made a verbal report outlining the work done during the year and calling special attention to the need of much more active and critical work on the local flower- ing plants, and especially on the cryptogams, many groups of the latter having been almost entirely neglected.
The next order of business was the election of officers. By a unanimous vote the secretary was instructed to cast the ballot of the Club for the reélection of all the present officers, which was done and their election was declared.
On motion, the editor-in-chief and two other members of the editorial board to be selected by him were appointed a special committee to endeavor to place the publications of the Club in various libraries of public institutions where they are not now to be found.
A communication was read from the Outdoor Art League of California in regard to legislation now pending in Congress for the preservation of the Calaveras Grove of Big Trees, asking the endorsement of the Club for this measure. On motion the fol- lowing resolution was adopted :
Resolved: That the Torrey Botanical Club heartily endorses the action of the Outdoor Art League of California in trying to secure legislation for the preservation of the Calaveras Grove of Big Trees, and that it hereby urges the favorable consideration of such legislation by Congress.
There being no further business, adjournment followed.
F.. 5., EARLE,
Recording Secretary.
NEWS ITEMS The Botanical Gazette announces, with a regret which must be generally felt, that the Journal of Applied Microscopy and Labora- tory Methods will cease publication with the issue for Decem- ber, 1903. Mr. Otto E. Jennings, of the Ohio State University, has been appointed custodian of the botanical collections at the Carnegie
32
Museum, Pittsburgh, Pa., succeeding Mr. J. A. Shafer, now of the New York Botanical Garden.
We note in Sczence that Mr. E. W. D. Holway, of Decorah, Iowa, the well-known student of the Uredineae, has given his valuable botanical library and his extensive collections of fungi to the University of Minnesota.
The ninth annual winter meeting of the Vermont Botanical Club was held at Burlington, January 21 and 22. Twenty- four papers were presented. The annual address was given by Marshall A. Howe, of the New York Botanical Garden, under the title of ““ The Plant Life of the Sea,’’ with lantern-slide illus- trations. The attendance at the various sessions of the meeting ranged from about fifty to two hundred. Under the able leader- ship of President Ezra Brainerd and Professor L. R. Jones, this has grown to be one of the most active and enthusiastic botanical clubs in the United States.
Botanical visitors in New York City since October 20, 1903, not already mentioned in Torreya, include Professor A, §. Hitchcock, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Washington, D. C,; Dr. C. F. Millspaugh, Field Columbian Museum, Chicago; Dr, J. W. Blankinship, Montana Agricultural College, Bozeman, Mont. ; John G. Jack, Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Plain, Mass,; Charles Louis Pollard, Springfield, Mass. ; Professor Henry L. Bolley, Agricultural Experiment Station, Fargo, North Dakota ; Dr. Edgar W. Olive, Harvard University ;} Dr. Antonio Vaccari, Royal Italian Navy; Dr. John L. Sheldon, West Virginia Uni- versity, Morgantown, W. Va.; Professor William C. Coker, Uni- versity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C.; President Ezra Brainerd, Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vt.; Mr. H. L, Everett, Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Professor Alexander W. Evans, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
Vol. 4 No. 3
TORREYA
March, 1904
A SUMMER IN SALISBURY, CONNECTICUT
By A. VINCENT OSMUN
Occupying the northwest corner of Connecticut, the town of Salisbury is bordered on the west by New York State and on the north by Massachusetts. Mountains and valleys, lakes, swamps and brooks innumerable combine to make this not only a region of great natural beauty, but to the botanist one of the richest hunting grounds in southern New England. Here we find Con- necticut’s highest point of land, Bear Mountain, rising 2,355 feet above the level of the sea, while Lakes Washining and Washinee, “the twin lakes of the woods,’ and Lake Wononscopomuc are among her largest and most beautiful sheets of water. Along the eastern border of the town flows the Housatonic River. There are deep, cold, almost inaccessible swamps, and the botanist who has courage to penetrate their depths surely finds his reward.
In this region it was the writer’s good fortune to spend the greater part of the summer of 1903. A number of plants hitherto unreported as growing in Connecticut were collected, together with many rare or unusual in other parts of the State. That Salisbury should have a flora so different from other parts. of the State is probably due to the generally higher altitude, there being few points in the town below 600 feet, while at least ten, peaks rise above 1,400 feet.
Our collecting was confined chiefly to a large estate in the northern part, comprising about one thousand acres of land typi-. cal of the whole town, though a few of the plants here mentioned! were not found within this area. The summer's collecting by no means represents the complete flora of this region, but the following seem to deserve especial mention at this time :
[Vol. 4, No. 2, of ToRREYA, comprising pages 17-32, was issued February 25, 1904. ]
b+
Botrychium neglectum Wood. This species is abundant in leaf- mould on the wooded mountain slopes.
Pellaca atropurpurea (L.) Link is commonly met with on lime- stone ledges by roadsides. Fronds fourteen to sixteen inches long frequently are found.
Asplenium Ruta-muraria L. A ledge of limestone and gneiss fully one third of a mile long is literally covered with this dainty little fern. No other stations were found.
Filix bulbifera (L.) Underw. is mentioned because of its great abundance. Not only is it found upon limestone and other ledges, but in many places where one naturally would not look for it.
Pinus resinosa Ait. One tree found at an altitude of about 1,300 feet. This is several miles from the station reported in Bishop’s list of Connecticut plants, which, we are informed, was over the line in New York State.
Picea Mariana (Mill.) B.S.P. A large number of trees, vary- ing in size from seedlings to a foot or more in diameter at the base, were found at an altitude of about 2,000 feet.
Sparganium minimum Fries. The first known station in Con- necticut was found in Lake Washinee.
Poa nemoralis L. The finding of this grass in Salisbury ex- tends the range south from northern New England.
Sagittaria graminea Michx. was found thickly established in mud on the edge of Lake Washinee, where it is crossed by the C. N-ERR.
Cypripedium reginae WNalt. grows abundantly in some of the more inaccessible swamps. This most beautiful of the lady’s- slippers is gathered in great bunches by residents and is in danger of extermination.
Achroanthes monophylla (L.) Greene. A few plants found ina damp hemlock grove. No other station is known in Connecticut,
Corallorhiza multiflora flavida Peck. Three plants were found, one of which was deposited in the herbarium of the New York Botanical Garden. This variety has been observed only in New York State, and in 1903 in Maryland.*
* Waters, C, E. Plant World, 6: 264.
.
“ =i
Jt
Arenaria Michauxii (Fenzl.) Hook. f. is very common on limestone ledges.
Mitella nuda L. was first reported from this state in 1903.* It is abundant in several wooded swamps.
Lepidium sativum L. was found in a chicken yard and probably was introduced in grain.
Reseda lutea L. is frequent in fields and waste places.
Gentiana quinguefolia L. Though this cannot be termed a rarity, the extraordinary numbers of plants found growing in and about Salisbury, seem to entitle it to special mention. Except two stations it seems to be confined to Litchfield County, and so far as the writer has observed is nowhere else so abundant.
Houstonia longifolia Gaertn. Only one plant was found in a dry field, diligent search failing to reveal others.
Lobelia Kalmiu L. is another plant generally rare in other parts of the state, which here is very common in damp places, whole pastures sometimes being blue with it.
Petasites palmata (Ait.) A. Gray has not before been reported south of Massachusetts. It was frequently met with in a cold, wooded swamp, but no flowers were found.
Among the less noteworthy plants collected are the following :
Cinna latifolia (Trev.) Griseb. Avena striata Michx. Ather- opogon curtipendulus (Michx.) Fourn. oa debilis Torr. Poa alsodes A. Gray. Panicularia acutiflora (Torr.) Kuntze. Strep- topus amplexifolius (L.) DC. Betula pumila L. Sibbaldiopsis tridentata (Soland.) Rydb. Comarum palustre L. Oxalis Aceto- sella L. Rhamnus alnifolia L’Her. Moneses uniflora (L.) A. Gray. Slephilia ciliata (L.) Raf. Utricularia minor L. U. gibba L. U.cornuta Michx. Hieractum Marianum Willd.
Credit is due to Mrs. O. A. Phelps for the discovery of many of the above-listed specimens.
Most of the plants mentioned are to be found in the herbarium of Grasslands, belonging to Robert and Herbert Scoville, Salis- bury (P. O. Chapinville), Connecticut.
AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS.
* Phelps, O. A. ** An Hour in a Connecticut Swamp,’’ Rhodora, 5: 196.
36
THE SLIME-MOULDS OF PENNSYLVANIA By D. R. SUMSTINE
Of the 200 or more species of slime-moulds recognized in the United States, 103 or about one half have been reported from Pennsylvania. No doubt this number will be largely increased when the state is thoroughly explored.
The following list is necessarily incomplete but it provides a basis for future investigation of this interesting flora.
Arcyria cinerea (Bull.) Pers.* Craterium leucocephalum (Pers.)
denudata (L.) Sheld.* Ditm.+ digitata (Schw.) Rost. Cribraria argillacea Pers. encarnata Pers.* aurantiaca Schrad.* mncarnata nodulosa Macbr.t dictydioides Cke. & Balf.t magna Rex t elegans B. & C.F nutans (Bull.) Grev.* intricata (Schrad.) Rost. Oerstedtit Rost.+ mucrocarpa (Schrad.) Badhamia decipiens (Curt.) ‘ Pets.aee Berk.+ minutissima Schw.t lilacina (Fr.) Rost. purpurea Schrad.} macrocarpa (Ces.) Rost. tenella Schrad.+ orbiculata Rex ¢ violacea Rex || papaveracea B, & R.F Diachea leucopoda (Bull.) Rost.* Brefelda maxima (Fr.) Rost.* Splendens Peck + Clastoderma Debaryanum Dictydiacthalium plumbeum Blytt.+ (Schum.) List.* Comatricha aequalis Peck + Dictydium cancellatum (Vatsch) longa Peck + Macbr.* nigra (Pers.) Schroet.t Diderma cinereum Morg.t Persooni Rost.t crustaceum Peck* pulchella (Bab.) Rost.t reticulatum (Rost.) Craterium aureum (Schum.) Morg.t Rost.t stellare (Schrad.) Pers.
* Specimen in the writer’s herbarium,
+ Macbride, North American Slime Moulds. t Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1893. ¢ Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1891, || Proc. Acad. Nat, Sci. Philadelphia, 1889. " Proc, Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1890.
“_ ~I]
Didymium Clavus (A. & 3S.) Physarum caespitosum Schw.* Rabenh.*+ contextum Pers.+ Enerthenema papillata (Pers.) ellipsosporum Rost.* Rost.+ galbeum Wing.t Enteridium splendens Morg.* lateritium (B. & Br.)Rost.+ fuligo ovata (Schaeff.) Macbr.* leucophacum Fr.+ violacea Pers.* leucopus Link * Flemitrichiaclavata(Pers.) Rost.* nefroideum Rost.t entorta List.* nucleatum Rex || serpula (Scop.) Rost.* obrusseum (Berk. & Curt.) stipitata Mass.* Rost.+ vesparium (Batsch) Macbr.* penetrale Rex || Lachnobolus globosus (Schw.) psittacinum Ditm.+ Rost.* pulcherrimum B. & R.F Lamproderma arcyrionema rufipes A. & S.F Rost. + serpula Morg.t columbinum (Pers.) Rost. virescens Ditm.+ scintilians (B. & Br.) List. Stemonitis fenestrata Rex § violaceum (Fr.) Rost. Jusca (Roth) Rost.+ Leocarpus fragilis (Dicks.) maxima Schw.* Rost.* Morgani Peck * Lepidoderma tigrinum (Schrad.) nigrescens Rex || Rost.+ pallida Wing.* Licea minima Fr.+ Smithi Macbr.* variabilis Schrad.t+ Webberi Rex * Lycogala conicum Pers.* Tilmadoche compacta Wing.§ epidendrum (Buxb.) Fr.* viridis (Bull.) Sace. Mucilago spongiosa (Leyss.) Trichia botrytis Pers. Morg.* decipiens (Pers.) Macbr.* Oligonema brevifila Peck + Favoginea (Batsch) Pers.* Ophiotheca Wrightii B. &. C.+ enconspicua Rost. Orcadella operculata Wing.§ persimilis Karst.t Perichaena marginata Schw.+ scabra Rost.* guadrata Macbr.+ varia (Pers.) Rost.* Physarella oblonga (B. & C.) Tubifera ferruginosa (Batsch) Morg.t Macbr.*
Physarum atrum Schw.t
38
Specimens of the above species can be found in the Rex col- lection in the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, in the Wingate collection now in the possession of Prof. Thomas H. Macbride, Iowa City, or in the writer's collection.
Dr. George A. Rex and Mr. Harold F. Wingate collected extensively in southeastern Pennsylvania, especially about Phila- delphia. The writer has collected in Clarion, Armstrong and Westmoreland counties.
The nomenclature in Macbride’s North American Slime- Moulds has been followed. Our thanks are due to Prof. C. H. Peck for identifying one species, Dictydiaethalium plumbeum.
KITTANNING, Pa.
December 14, 1903.
THE CRATAEGI OF FORT FREDERICK, CROWN POINT, NEW YORK
By W. W. EGGLESTON
Two miles across Bulwagga Bay from Port Henry are the ruins of Fort Frederick. Crown Point is a long tongue of clay underlaid with limestone ; this is a typical place for the growth of Crataegi, lime appearing to be one of the essentials in the best development of the plant. The limestone soils of the Champlain and the St. Lawrence valleys show a wonderful development of the genus in numbers and variety and they follow so closely the limestone outcrops that one cannot help feeling that there are lime com- ponents in the soil wherever he finds Crataegi.
Our first attention was called to the thorns of Fort Frederick by F. H. Horsford in July, 1899. He had visited the Fort a few days before and although having but a few minutes to spare found six forms. ‘This at a time when Vermont was known to have but five forms, was very surprising to us; now that we know nearly one hundred forms in Vermont we should not be so easily moved.
We have more than doubled Horsford’s number and with more careful search will very likely find more. But the variety
Ov
of forms is not of so much interest to us, for we have several smaller areas in western Vermont where there are more than twenty forms ; we are more interested in the large tract practically given up to thorns. The grounds about the Fort and much of the rest of the Point are pastured and most of this region is a great thorn orchard and in many places a dense thorn thicket.
One is surprised to find the dominant species the southern Crataegus Crus-galli L., known in New England only at a few stations in Connecticut and along Lake Champlain in Vermont.
The northern Crataegus coccinea rotundifolia Sarg. is also abundant.
As yet none of the group Zenuzfoliae, the most common in New England, has been found there. All of the forms in the following list the writer has seen growing there excepting those accredited to Professors Brainerd, Peck, and Sargent.
Crataegus Champlainensis Sarg.; C. coccinea L., C. H. Peck ; C. coccinea rotundifolia Sarg.; C. Crus-galli L.; C. exclusa Sarg., C. H. Peck ; C. flabellata, Spach ; C. Holmesiana Ashe, Brainerd and Sargent; C. lobulata, Sarg.; C. macracantha Koehne (also a hairy form); C. praecogua Sarg.; C. Pringlet Sarg.; C. pruinosa Beadle ; C. punctata Jacq.; C. submollis Sarg. (?) C. H. Peck.
SHORTER NOTES
CRATAEGUS PoRTERI Britton. — Abundant flowering specimens and ripe fruits of this species (described in Bulletin of the New York Botanical Garden, 1: 448) recently received from Mr. Wm. M. Canby who has visited the region about Tannersville, Pa., where the type specimen was collected by me in 1896, en- able me to supply the following supplementary description of the plant :
A tree 6.5 m. high or less, with long flexuous straggling branches and a short trunk 1.5—-2 dm. thick, with light-colored and smooth bark. Leaves thickish, very smooth, rounded or abruptly tapering at the base, acute, with two or three sharp lobes on each side: cymes few-flowered, about 4 cm. broad ;
40
bracts narrow, glandular; pedicels 1-2 cm. long, glabrous ; stamens about, 20, with white anthers: pome pyriform up to the time of ripening, when fully ripe obovoid to spherical, but often drying pyriform, a little more than 1 cm. in diameter and a little longer than thick, dull red with green blotches.
The tree flowers about the middle of May, and the fruit ripens in early October. According to Mr. Canby’s observations, the plant is not un- common in the vicinity of Tannersville. N. L. Britton.
REVIEWS The Desert Botanical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution*
This volume contains the report of the advisory board, con- sisting of Mr. F. V. Coville and Dr. D. T. MacDougal, which was appointed to investigate the selection of a site for the Carnegie Desert Laboratory in the atid regions of the West. The report will be of unusual interest to botanists, not only because it deals with one ofthe most important botanical departures in this country and promises results of the highest biological importance, but also because the authors have given sufficient knowledge of the flora and conditions prevailing in these arid belts to reveal the wealth of material afforded for physiological and geographical study. The majority of botanists have not had the opportunity of visiting the areas covered by the report and to such and to people in general the diversity of climate, topography, mechan- ical, chemical and physical conditions which obtain in these desert districts will come with something of surprise. The information concerning the areas and distribution of these arid regions in the Chihuahua and the Sonora-Nevada desert belts, which occupy more than a million square miles of plateaus and plains east and west of the main Cordilleran ranges together with data upon the meteorology and other conditions controlling plant- life in these areas is an important supplement to the meager and often misleading current information upon this subject.
* Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication, No. 6. Pp. i-vi, 1-58. AZ. 1-39 +f. 1-4. oN 1903.”’ [ Issued J 1904. |
41
The committee in performing its work visited all the more im- portant arid districts in the west, noting the character of the vege- tation, and physical and soil conditions. This led them first into the siliceous sand hills of Chihuahua, Mexico, and thence to the drifting alkaline sand fields of the Tularosa Desert of New Mexico, which cover an area of about 10 by 40 square miles. From the extensive arid country about Tucson, Arizona, with its rich flora and varied conditions, they proceeded into the prov- ince of Sonora, Mexico, giving an interesting account of the vege- tation and the remarkable associations of forms occurring at Torres and especially at Guaymas. Continuing westward, detours were made at several points in the Colorado Desert, revealing the extreme diverse topographical and soil conditions which vary from mountains and hills to salt and alkali flats and sand-swept plains. The exploration ended with a journey through the Mohave Desert, concerning which Mr. Coville has given a very comprehensive report in the Botany of the Death Valley Expedition, and a trip to the Grand Canyon of the Colo- rado. The selection, as a result of this survey of the field, of Tucson, Arizona, as a site for the laboratory cannot be criticized. It is situated on one of the great transcontinental lines, rendering it easily accessible and the city of Tucson will furnish a con- venient and satisfactory base of supplies. In addition to this the large arid belt in this region presents a typical desert flora and with such a diversity of conditions that it is exceptionally rich in woody and annual species. It is to be hoped that the laboratory may not only furnish facilities for the investigation of plant life in the country adjacent to Tucson, but that it may have as one of its functions the equipment of expeditions to the numerous promising districts noted in the report.
The value of the report has been greatly enhanced by the in- troduction of thirty-nine illustrations of desert views. It is safe to say that these are the most remarkable scenes of desert plant- life that have ever been published. They bring very vividly before us the character of the vegetation and the atmosphere of the region.
The Desert Botanical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution is to be congratulated on having so favorable an introduction to the public. CaRLTON C. CurTIS.
Lexicon Generum Phanerogamarum *
Under this title has recently appeared a work which presents, in concentrated form, the results of a vast amount of careful and thorough work. There are here brought together, within the the compass of 750 octavo pages, an elaborate code of nomen- clature, a complete enumeration of the genera of flowering plants proposed from 1737 to 1902 (and a few in 1903), and a syste- matic arrangement of all those recognized as valid. It was ob- viously impossible for the authors to include full citations, but the date of publication is mentioned whenever it is of importance.
According to the title-page, the author is Tom von Post, the director of the seed-testing station at Upsala, and no doubt much of the value of the compilation is due to his labors; but there is the further statement ‘‘opus revisum et auctum ab Otto Kuntze,” and to a person familiar with Dr. Kuntze’s productions, his impress is discernible upon every page. His connection with the work lends to it a certain stamp of reliability which it would not otherwise possess, yet his unique view-point makes it impos- sible for any well-informed botanist to accept the results as in any manner authoritative.
Radical as are his views regarding nomenclatural reform, there is perhaps no more conservative living botanist than Dr. Kuntze, when it comes to the recognition of genera. This work admits only 8,333 genera of living phanerogams, while at Kew, where the influence of Bentham & Hooker’s masterpiece has led to what is commonly regarded as extreme conservatism, the num- ber recognized is not far from 9,000; the number allowed by the exponents of the Englerian system is nearer 10,000; and the principles followed by many continental and most American botanists would result in the recognition of a much larger num- ber. The reduction in the number of genera is readily under- stood when we observe that all the genera of Cacteae recognized by recent monographers are reduced to a single genus, Cactus ; incidentally it may be remarked that this treatment obviates the necessity of determining to which of the component genera the
* Post, T. v. & Kuntze, O, Lexicon Generum Phanerogamarum, inde ab anno MDCCXXXVII._ i-xlvili, 1-714. Stuttgart, 1904.
43
Linnaean name Cactus should be applied. The expression of sucherratic views of classification in a nomenclator intended for general use is unfortunate, almost as much so as the peculiar results which spring from the application of the code of nomen- clature adopted as a basis for the work.
This code, termed by Dr. Kuntze his ‘“‘ Codex brevis maturus,”’ and intended for presentation at the Vienna Congress in 1905, was published in advance of the Lexicon, with commentaries, from which extracts have already appeared in TorrEya.* By a
,
happy inspiration, these “inevitably polemic”? commentaries are here omitted, with the explanation that they “shall not be in- serted into the Lexicon to make it free from polemic . . . any- one who likes polemic can easily buy it.” The chief character- istics of the code which affect the nomenclature of the Lexicon are the adoption of the year 1737 as the starting-point for gen- era, and the freedom with which the spelling of generic names has been revised in accordance with elaborate and more or less arbitrary rules of orthography.
The Codex is marred by the presence of frequent index fig- ures, referring to the missing commentaries. It is printed in German, French and English, in parallel columns, the English version being expressed in the quaintly picturesque phraseology for which Dr. Kuntze is famous. For instance, there are pro- visions ‘‘to insure an uniform orthography and clear coordination of corrected homonyms instead of distant incorrected-ones, and to avoid the validity of several homonyms only differing by in- equal orthography,” and among the provisions for the represen- tation of botanical societies in international congress, is one to the effect that ‘‘these votes can only be represented by one or more orderly members of each society !”’
Typographically, the work is remarkably free from errors. The accepted genera are brought out clearly by the use of bold- face type, but the data accompanying these bold-face names run together with the cross-references in an annoying way that could easily have been avoided by the judicious use of italic.
This is not the place for an extended discussion of the peculiar nomenclatural views of Dr. Kuntze, as expressed in his latest
* TORREYA, 3: 154-157. O 1903.
44
code. Suffice it to say that he has few, if any, supporters in America, and it is doubtful whether he has any in Europe. Pos- sibly the vituperation poured upon all who disagree with him has prevented his ideas from receiving as serious consideration as they deserve. It is certainly unfortunate that he should regard himself as an infallible referee upon all points in dispute, and hurl anathemas at all who refuse to acknowledge his author- ity, characterizing their propositions as ‘“ dishonest,” ‘‘inexecu- table,” ‘“false’’ and “lawless.” JoHn HENDLEY BARNHART.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CLUB
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY, 27, 1904
This meeting was held at the New York Botanical Garden with Professor Underwood in the chair; thirty persons were present.
The treasurer’s report deferred from the last meeting was read and also that of the auditing committee.
The report of the auditing committee showed that there were 194 active members at the time of the last meeting, January 12.
The editor-in-chief as chairman of the committee for securing increased sale of the publications of the Club announced Miss Vail and Dr. Howe as the other members of the committee.
The following resignations of members of the Club were read and having been approved by the treasurer were accepted: Miss Amy Schussler, Mr. Ewen MacIntyre, Mr. Marshall Bright, Dr. Alexander P. Anderson, Miss E. W. Kornman, Dr. L. Schoeney and Mr. E. G, Buttrick.
The announcement was made that President Brown had reap- pointed all the standing committes with the same membership as last year, viz.,
Committe on Finance: H. H. Rusby, J. I. Kane, C. F. Cox.
Committee on Admissions: EI. S. Burgess, Delia W. Marble, J. K. Small.
Committee on Local Flora:
Spermatophytes: N. L. Britton, E. P. Bicknell, H. H. Rusby, Fanny A. Mulford.
43)
Cryptogams: L. M. Underwood, M. A. Howe, Elizabeth G. Britton,
Committee on Program: N. L. Britton, M. A. Howe, L. M. Underwood.
Committee on Field Excursions: Eugene Smith, G. V. Nash, Miss M. L. Sanial, Miss L. K. Lawall, E. W. Berry.
The first paper on the scientific program was by Dr. J. K. Small on ‘‘Some recent Explorations in southern Florida.”’ Dr. Small was accompanied on his trip by Mr. J. J. Carter of Pennsylvania and for a part of the time by A. A. Eaton, who paid. special attention to the orchids and ferns. From Miami as a base, expeditions were made. in different directions. One trip was made to the northward in the direction of Ft. Worth. Four strikingly different plant formations were noted in this region : (1) sand ridges covered with gnarled and stunted trees and shrubs mixed with cacti with almost no grass or herbaceous vegetation ; (2) low-lying moist lands covered with grasses and sedges but destitute of trees and shrubs ; (3) the pine lands ; and (4) the hammocks filled with broad-leaved evergreens and decidu- ous trees. The country south of Miami is just being opened up to settlement and is still.in a primitive condition. Most of the excursions were in this direction, explorations being made for a distance of 45 miles. The region consists of low coral-limestone ridges with no appreciable soil but still supporting a dense pine forest. The lower levels are filled with water and constitute arms of the everglades. The pine lands are interspersed with occa- sional small hammocks. An exceedingly interesting flora was found, and over a thousand numbers were collected, which in- clude an unusual proportion of new and interesting things. So far as the collections have been studied the plants from the ham- mocks show a close relationship to the Cuban flora and include a considerable number of West Indian species not heretofore known from the mainland. The pineland species on the contrary are largely endemic and include many undescribed species.
In the discussion which followed the reading of the paper it was stated that the expedition would probably add at least a hundred species to the known flora of the United States.
46
The second paper was by Dr. J. C. Arthur on “ An interesting unpublished Work on the Fungi.’”’ This paper was printed in the issue of TorreEyA for February.
The third paper was by Dr. N. L. Britton on “ The Birch Trees of North America.’’ Recent study in arranging the den- drological exhibit in the Museum, has shown the necessity for a further investigation of our arborescent flora. In some genera, notably in Fraxinus, too many species are now recognized and some reductions will be necessary. In the birches on the con- trary, it is necessary to recognize at least four new species. One of these is in the Alleghany region, and the others are north- western. FE. Sy HARES,
Recording Secretary.
FEBRUARY 9, 1904
The following persons were elected to active membership: Miss Margaret H. Stone, 254 West 93rd St., N. Y. City; Miss L. A. C. Howard, University Heights, N. Y. City; Miss Marion E. Latham, 417 West 148th St., N. Y. City; Miss Aurelia B. Crane, Scarsdale, Westchester Co., N. Y.
The committee on field excursions presented its annual report for 1903. It was received and ordered placed on file with the minutes.
The first paper on the scientific program was by Mr. Homer D. House on “ The Influence of some Aluminium Salts on Plant Growth.” The paper was a preliminary report on some experi- ments with aluminium sulphate, aluminium potassium sulphate, aluminium nitrate and aluminium chloride to test their effect on plant growth when used in very weak solutions of varying strength. The seedlings of Lupinus albus were used in these tests as being best adapted to the purpose on account of their rapid vigorous growth and also because they have been pre- viously used in similar tests with other toxic salts. The results obtained with all four of these salts were entirely parallel but those with aluminium sulphate were most marked. All were very poisonous and entirely inhibited growth till very dilute solutions were reached. When the point of dilution was reached
47
that permitted growth to take place, it still greatly retarded it. With further dilution the amount of retardation decreased until a point was reached when the action became stimulative and the rate of growth was considerably above the normal. This was to be expected, as sufficiently dilute solutions of many toxic salts are known to have a stimulating effect on plant growth. With still more dilution the stimulative effect became less marked until the normal rate of growth was again reached. Very unexpectedly, however, it was found that when dilutions were carried still further, instead of remaining at the normal, a distinct retardation of growth was again observed. As the dilution still increased another point was reached where the effect was stimulative though less strongly so than in the first case. Some of the series of dilution cultures showed as many as three distinct succeeding waves of depression and stimulation following each other with decreasing strength. Further experiments in this interesting field are in progress.
The second paper was by Mr. G. V. Nash on “ A Collecting Trip to Haiti.” It was illustrated by a large number of photo- graphs and herbarium specimens and gave a graphic account of the experiences of a botanical collector in this interesting but little known country. The difficulties of travel are very great. No one is allowed to travel in the interior at all without thor- oughly satisfactory letters to the authorities. Even with govern- ment permission secured, no accommodations for the white traveler could be found except for the unfailing hospitality of the priests, who are nearly all educated Frenchmen. They are very often the only white men in their districts.
The flora of the sea-shore is much the same as in the other West Indies, but as one goes toward the interior the character of the vegetation soon changes and a large proportion of inter- esting endemic species is found. FE. S, EARLE,
Recording Secretary.
NEWS ITEMS
Professor F. S. Earle, of the New York Botanical Garden sailed on February 25 for a few weeks’ visit to Cuba.
48
Dr. William C. Sturgis, formerly mycologist of the Connecticut: Agricultural Experiment Station, has been appointed lecturer on botany in Colorado College, Colorado Springs.
Dr. C. J. Chamberlain of the University of Chicago started for Mexico late in February to obtain material for use in his study of the spermatogenesis, odgenesis, and fertilization of the cycads Dioon and Ceratozamia.
Dr. H. N. Whitford, of the University of Chicago, is expecting to sail from San Francisco for Manila on March 26, to engage in botanical work under the direction of the United States Phil- ippine Commission.
Professor L. R. Jones, of the University of Vermont, is enjoying ~ a half-year’s leave of absence from his collegiate and experiment station duties. He is now at the University of Michigan, but will go a little later to Europe.
Dr. D. T. MacDougal returned to New York on March 6 from a botanical expedition to Lower California and Arizona. He has brought back a large quantity of living and dried plants from the little-explored regions about the Gulf of California.
Two able and suggestive papers on eastern violets have recently been published, one by Mr. Witmer Stone under the title of ‘‘ Racial Variation in Plants and Animals, with special Reference to the Violets of Philadelphia and Vicinity’ printed in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- delphia for October 1903 (issued December 4), and the other by President Ezra Brainerd under the title of ‘‘ Notes on New Eng- land Violets” in Rhodora for January. Both are based on much continuous observation of colonies of living plants representing various species and forms, Dr. Brainerd emphasizes the diag- nostic value of the mature capsules.
Vol. 4 No. 4
Terk Ey A
April, 1904
4
THE EARLY WRITERS ON FERNS AND THEIR
COLLECTIONS—II. J. E. Smits, 1759-1828; cw Swartz, 1760-1818; WILLDENOW, 1765-1812 BOTA
By L. M. UNDERWOOD
Aside from minor changes in the generic arrangement of Lin- naeus * and occasional additions to the number of species by various writers, notably Thunberg, Forskal, Forster, Lamarck, and Cavanilles, the principal generic changes as well as the more extensive additions to fern species up to the end of the first decade of the last century were made by Smith, Swartz, and Willdenow. Sir James Edward Smith is not to be confused with the less eminent, but so far as fern lore is concerned, more dis- tinguished John Smith who flourished a half century or more later. Smith published in 1793 an important paper + which was one of the first attempts at a natural classification of ferns. He established the genera Woodwardia, Vittaria, Davallia, Cyathea, Hymenophyllum, Gleichenia, and Danaea. While some of these, like Cyathea,{ for example, were highly unnatural groups, the
* Theodor Holm (TORREYA, 3: 187-188) has taken exceptions to my state- ment regarding the types of Linnaeus. It is well known that Linnaeus’ one- line descriptions of ferns are worthless, and in many cases he gives only citations. As I have shown, among the ferns at least, his types are equally so, and Mr. Holm says even worse things about them. There is therefore nothing left on which to de- pend for identifying his types but his citations and, on these, rational interpreters of Linnaeus have hitherto depended for identifications. If now, as Mr. Holm avers, these are not to be regarded as typical of his species but merely as giving ‘‘ some idea of their general habit or aspect,’’ Linnaeus becomes from a systematic stand- point even more useless than we have given him credit for being.
We examined the specimen preserved under Osmunda Lunaria in herb. Linnaeus last summer and it was labeled as before stated,
+ Tentamen Botanicum de Filicum generibus dorsiferarum. Mem, Acad. Sci. Turin, 5: 401-422. f/. 9. 1793 (also sep. pp. 22). Smith also published various articles on ferns in Rees’ Cyclopaedia, which was published between 1802 and 1819.
¢ Cyathea besides containing three genera of tree ferns as now understood included also two of our delicate bladder ferns ( /7/zx)!
[ Vol. 4, No. 3, of TORREYA, comprising pages 33-48, was issued March 12, 1904. ]
50
generic arrangement was far in advance of anything that pre- ceded it.
Smith was president of the Linnean Society (London) for many years and after his death his collection was purchased by the society, at whose rooms it is now easily accessible for exami- nation. The plants are well preserved, but, as in many of the early collections, many ferns are represented by tips of leaves only and some of these have served as types of new species.
Olof Swartz issued the first formal enumeration of all known ferns in his Syxopsis Filicum (1806) and presented the next general conspectus of fern genera. In this and previous works he described a large number of species and established the genera Marattia, Grammiutis, Aspidium, Diplazium, Lygodium, Botrychium, Cheilanthes, Anemia, Mohria, and Psilotum. His Synopsis recognized thirty-eight genera and his work is usually regarded as the first real datum-line for the systematic study of ferns. To show how clearly he outlined the system so long familiar to fern students in the later Syxopsis Filicum of Hooker and Baker (1868, 1874) we give an outline of his classification :
I. GYRATAE Sorts nudis AcRosTICHUM (46*), MEniscium (3), Hemionitis (8), GRAM- MITIS (13), TAENITIS (1), PoLypopiuM (102). Soris indusiatis AsPIDIUM (93), ASPLENIUM (75), CAENOPTERIS (9), SCOLOPEN- DRIUM (2), DipLazium (9), Loncuitis (4), PTERIS (79), VITTARIA (6), ONOCLEA (12), BLEcHNUM (14), Woopwarpia (8), LinpsAEA (14), ADIANTUM (32), CHEILANTHES (16), DAVALLIA (29), Dick- SONIA (16), CYATHEA (10), TRICHOMANES (21), HYMENOPHYLLUM
(28).
Il. SPURIE GYRATAE Capsulis rimatis ScHIZAEA (6), Lycopium (11), ANEMIA (17), Monria (1), OsmunpDA (6), TopEA (1), MERTENSIA (7), GLEICHENIA (3), ANGIOPTERIS (1).
* The numbers in parentheses indicate the number of species of each genus described in the Synopsis.
51
Il], AGYRATAE Capsulis multilocularibus Marartria (4), DANAEA (2). Capsulis bivalvibus OpHioGLossuM (9), BorrRycHIUM (7).
Besides the above genera Swartz also treated under the Ly- copodineae the genera Lycopoprum (65), TMESIPTERIS (1), and PsILOTUM (2).
Swartz’ work is of special importance to us at this time since many of his species were based on collections he made in the West Indies when he visited Jamaica and Haiti in the years 1784-1786. His collection, which we have not yet seen, is pre- served at the Academy of Sciences at Stockholm and is said to be in a most excellent state of preservation. Various writers on West Indian ferns, notably Jenman, have referred to various types of Swartz as being found in the British Museum. Itis true that some of the earlier botanists occasionally distributed their type material during their lifetime, and it is also true that some specimens of ferns came to the British Museum from Swartz, but there seems to be no warrant or at least no certainty that any of his types ever came there ; in fact all the probabilities are against it, and his types must be sought in his native country. Swartz also published shorter papers on ferns, the last being published in 1817, only a year before his death.
The next enumeration of ferns was made by Willdenow in 1810 * in the fifth volume of his edition of Spectes Plantarum, although his work on ferns had commenced in 1802 with his publication of the genera Zodea and Hydroglossum (Lygodium) followed in 1804 by Mertensia, and in 1809 by Struthiopterts and Lomaria. His enumeration included 43 genera of ferns and 1008 species, enriched by the collections of Humboldt and Bonp- land in meridional America, as well as by those of Bory and others mostly described here as new. Willdenow’s collection is
*An enumeration of the known ferns was commenced by Lamarck in the Z7cy- clopédie Méthodigue in 1783 and was completed by Poiret in 1808. This however
contained only 444 species in contrast with the 716 described by Swartz in 1806, and 1008 described by Willdenow in r8ro.
52
maintained by itself in the Kgl. Bot. Museum at Berlin. Each specimen is numbered serially and all is thoroughly indexed so that the collection is more readily accessible that any other of the historic collections. The sheets enclosed in covers tied with tape after the usual continental method, are arranged in volumes of convenient size and stand side by side in a special case in the room used until recently by the late Professor Schumann for a study. The sheets are a trifle larger than foolscap paper and the plants are mostly in an excellent state of preservation. There is sometimes a little doubt about his ‘‘ types” being the originals on which he based his species, as he is said at times to have given away his originals in those species of which he afterwards secured better material. Our own Muhlenberg was a correspondent of Willdenow so that his collection includes many species from the United States.
WILLIAM MARRIOTT CANBY By H. H. Ruspy
Mr. William Marriott Canby, one of the foremost citizens of Wilmington, as indeed of the State of Delaware, died on March 10 at Augusta, Georgia, to which place he had gone to recover from the effects of a series of colds from which he had been suffering during the winter. In his death, the botanical fraternity of America loses one of its most genial associates, as well as one of its keenest and most judicious discriminators of plant forms.
Mr. Canby was born in Philadelphia, on March 17, 1831. His early education was obtained in the schools, mostly private, of Wilmington, whither his parents moved during his early childhood. He afterward attended a Quaker institution at Chadd’s Ford, on the Brandywine. After his graduation, the state of his health apparently demanding an out-of-door life, he engaged in agri- culture, near Coatesville, Pa. This country life was chiefly responsible for the development of Mr. Canby’s very great love of plant-life, although inheritance, and an early association with students of botany, had already given him a predilection for that study. He studied and collected the local flora of Coatesville and vicinity, and in 1858 indulged in the great pleasure of a
- —
botanical excursion to Florida. Mr. Canby always spoke of this trip as one of the most delightful of his botanical experiences. The excursion is of public interest because it was very influential in extending Mr, Canby’s interest in the North American flora, of which he afterward accumulated such an excellent representation.
Two years later, he made extensive collections in the north- eastern United States and in Canada, afterward using this mate- rial for exchange purposes, in building up his herbarium. In the succeeding years he made a number of similar more or less ex- tended collecting tours in different portions of the country, and accumulated a large amount of exchange material. Among his exchange correspondents were Doctors Gray and Engelmann, through whom his exotic herbarium was largely acquired, although he arranged a number of similar exchanges during a brief trip to Europe in 1859(?).
In 1866, Mr. Canby abandoned farming, and took up his resi- dence in Wilmington, where he quickly laid the foundation for a broad and highly successful business career ; fairly successful in his own interest, more so in the sterling honesty and punctilious honor with which he guarded the interests which others confided to his keeping. He was for a time President of the Delaware and Western Railroad and, upon its absorption by the Baltimore and Ohio, he became a Director of the latter company, a position which he held up to the time of his death. In 1880, he became President of the Wilmington Savings Fund Society, which posi- tion, also, he held at the time of his death. He was connected with various other financial enterprises and was especially active in conducting or advising in the finances of various benevolent organizations, especially the Home for Friendless and Destitute Children. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church and was active in church and Sabbath-school work. Probably no other of the numerous public enterprises with which he was con- nected interested him more, or yielded greater or more permanent results, than the admirable public park system of his city, of which he was one of the designers. He continued active in the administration of these parks as long as he was able to work, and the preservation of their features of natural beauty, the liber- ality of their treatment, and the development of their scientific
54
value, were largely due to his influence. Mr. Canby was an earnest member of the Republican party, though never narrow or partisan in these relations.
It is not a very rare occurrence for active business men also to pursue some scientific avocation with activity and success ; but it must always be regarded as remarkable that one with such numerous and varied interests in financial, religious, charitable and social life, and in city government, and who devoted to them all sufficient time and energy to have left a strong impress upon them, should have also found time to perform the vast amount of herbarium work for which Mr. Canby was noted.
As a botanist, Mr. Canby was a contemporary, and an honored correspondent and beloved associate, of Torrey, Gray, Watson, Engelmann, Thurber, Sullivant, Porter, Traill Green, Vasey, Hall, Bebb and many others of their day, and he was a typical representative of their school. For most of these men, Botany, so far as their active interest in it extended, meant the accumula- tion of a herbarium and the study of generic and specific relation- ships. The amazing activity of the last quarter of a century in the investigation of plant anatomy, morphology, physiology and chemistry, could scarcely have been conceived of by them, and those who, like Mr. Canby, lived to witness it, were not qualified, either by taste or training, to participate in it. To these men, moreover, Gray’s Manual represented about the exact facts of their science, so far as the local flora was concerned. That the systematic botany of that day was radically wrong in its concep- tion of specific limits; that every township abounded in valid species which had been loosely aggregated with others; that Gray’s Manual required expanding by about twenty per cent., and Chapman’s by fifty: are ideas which would have been scouted by most of them, were, indeed, almost bitterly resented by some, upon the merest suggestion. Yet the general correct- ness of this modern view is now recognized by nearly all, and Mr. Canby had been able, before his death, largely to accept it. It is upon the basis of the then prevailing views that his herbar- ium-work must be judged ; and it can be said that he was accus- tomed to notice and to note the forms, though he did not fly in the face of prevailing custom in their interpretation.
or or
Besides the above-mentioned exchange resources employed by Mr. Canby in enlarging his herbarium, he was a liberal pur- chaser of collectors’ sets, especially of American plants. In 1892 his herbarium comprised 30,000 species and not less than five times that number of specimens. An outline of its composition has been published by the writer (Bull. Torrey Club, 19: 336). Its cases had increased in number until they entirely outgrew the accommodations of Mr. Canby’s home. Room after room, and finally the halls, had been invaded; alterations had even been made for it, and again its quarters had become crowded, until at length Mr. Canby decided to dispose of it, and it was purchased by the College of Pharmacy of the City of New York in the year named. Here it has been carefully preserved but, unfortunately, the conditions have not been favorable for its continued growth. With his own herbarium off his hands, Mr. Canby at once applied himself to developing that of the Society of Natural His- tory of Delaware, which before the time of his death, had come to number more than 13,000 species.
All Mr. Canby’s herbarium work was performed with the most scrupulous care, as to both mechanical and scientific details. All specimens were mounted with his own hands, on the best of paper and with such a display as to admit most perfectly of their study in this position. At frequent intervals thereafter they were brushed over, to remove dirt and exclude vermin. All inscriptions were made in a clear and beautiful hand, and are remarkably full, both as to records and opinions. The genus-covers are equally well inscribed, bearing the number of the family, according to the Benthamian arrangement, the number, name and author of the genus, and the page reference to Bentham and Hooker’s Genera Plantarum.
Like most of the botanists of his day, Mr. Canby studied botany because he loved plants. To him plants were living individuals, and herbarium specimens derived their interest from the fact that they were the best obtainable representatives thereof. While the botanical studies of that time lacked the scientific value, and ulti- mately, the economic value of those of the present, they embodied a grace and conferred a delight as unknown to a host of unfor- tunate laboratory slaves of the present generation as is the scent
56
of fresh clover to a city car horse. That good-fellowship which was promoted by the botanical ‘‘clubs”’ of Mr. Canby’s genera- tion is now of historical interest, and the new regime has not yet supplied anything that can be compared with it. The death of Mr. Canby reminds us of how few of his former associates still remain with us.
NOTES ON EVENING PRIMROSES By KENNETH K. MACKENZIE
One of the most noticeable and common plants along the line of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad on both sides of the boundary line between Virginia and West Virginia is an evening primrose with unusually large yellow flowers. Growing on open sunny clay banks, and along the rivers in loose, rocky soil, it forms one of the characteristic plants of the country, and almost entirely replaces the common Oenothera biennis L. It may be described as follows:
Oenothera argillicola sp. nov. Biennial, withnumerous stems ascending from the same root, 5-15 dm. high. Stems puberu- lent, but otherwise without pubescence: leaves of the stemless plant of the first year rosulate, 6-15 cm. long, the blades oblan- ceolate, 15 mm. or less wide, sinuate, acute, puberulent on both sides, the mid-nerve strongly developed, tapering at the base to a long, rather narrowly winged petiole ; cauline leaves of the flowering plants of the second year with narrowly linear-lanceo- late blades, the well-developed ones 6-8 cm. long, 7 mm. or less wide, remotely sinuate-dentate, acute, glabrous or slightly puber- ulent, tapering to a petiole-like base and often strongly decurrent on the stem, forming well-developed ridges : calyx-tube 3—4 cm. long and longer than the sepals, perfectly glabrous, as also are the sepals, the tips of the latter free, spreading, often 3-4 mm. long: petals bright yellow, obcordate, crenulate, 3-4 cm. long, so that the open flower is often 6-8 cm. across: capsules per- fectly glabrous, 2—3 cm. long, sessile, gradually tapering upward from the broad base and often strongly curved, somewhat quad- rangular, strongly ribbed: seeds angled, 1-1.5 mm. long.
This plant with its ascending, non-hirsute stems, narrow leaves, large flowers, glabrous calyx and glabrous, long-tapering cap- sule is one of the most distinct species of this section of the genus, and is well worthy of cultivation.
Type collected by myself near White Sulphur Springs, West
DT
Virginia, August 27, 1903, No. 373. There are no specimens referable to this species in the collections at the New York Bo- tanical Gardens. Botanists believing in the validity of the genus Onagra would call this plant Onagra argillicola.
In view of the abundant literature which has appeared within the last few years on variations produced in Oenothera biennis under cultivation, the inquiry naturally suggests itself whether the species above described may not be such a variation only. Of course, it is now impossible to determine how or when it arose, but as it exists now it is as true a species as could be desired. Locally it is a plant of great abundance, and technically it has numerous distinguishing features, as shown above.
Field botanists naturally get well acquainted with variations in Oenothera biennis, and know within general lines what may be looked for, but in addition to the above plant (of whose specific rank, I feel sure) I have collected another form of Oenxothera, which for the present must be referred to O. dzennis, although often very distinct. This plant, which grows in sunny situations in low grounds along the Missouri River around Kansas City, Missouri, in many respects bears a strong resemblance to Oevo- thera cructata Nutt. of the east, and I have often been tempted to refer it to that species. It differs, however, in having (1) an abruptly narrowed capsule, (2) short buds, (3) shorter, less acu- minate sepals, (4) inconspicuous sepal tips, (5) less pubescent capsules, and (6) broader, more obcordate petals. I cannot resist the belief that this form may be a mutant produced natur- ally in much the same manner as Prof. de Vries secured mutants in cultivated plants. This belief is based upon its distinct and largely constant characters, while at the same time it seems always to occur in the vicinity of more typical plants. If this belief is well founded, it answers an inquiry propounded by authors as to the occurrence of these mutants in nature, and in this light points to an interesting field for observation.
Less noticeable variations in O. diennis are of common occur- rence around Kansas City. Indeed, as a whole the species seems to be in a very variable state in that neighborhood, and certainly a long-continued series of observations on plants pro- duced from seeds collected there would yield interesting results.
=
58
SHORTER NOTES
MutTAaTIONS AND Forms. — For nomenclatural purposes, I have found occasion to divide variations (not subspecies) into two groups, designated mutations and forms. There is nothing new in this idea, but as it has not always been understood, some ex- planation may be desirable.
Mutations are variations in kind, probably always congenital, and frequently (at least) atavistic.
Examples are :
Viorna Douglasu (Hook.) * mut. rosea (Clematis Douglasit rosea
Ckll. West Amer. Scientist, 5:5. 1888), in which the
__ flowers are pink instead of blue.
Sambucus microbotrys Rydb. mut. xanthocarpa and mut. oino- carpa (S. racemosa xanthocarpa and otnocarpa Ck\l. Bull. Torrey Club, 18: 170. 1891), in which the fruit is of colors different from that ordinarily found.
Lilium montanum Nels. mut. pulchrum (L. Philadelphicum pulchrum, Aldrich, Science Gossip, Au 1889), in which the usual spots on the flowers are absent.
Forms are variations in degree, frequently induced by external conditions, and not usually atavistic. Examples are found in the polymorphic species of Batrachium, the Polygonum-group, etc.
Mutations, as here understood, are not adaptive, unless acci- dentally. Forms usually are adaptive. Just how far the charac- ters of any given form are congenital cannot easily be ascertained ; in one sense they always are, that is to say, the plant has the in- herited power of responding in a given way to certain stimuli, if it does not inherit what may be termed obligatory characters.
Subspecies differ from the above in that they occupy different environments (geographically or ecologically) and only connect with the species in certain places, and then by intermediates. The existence of numerous subspecies as here defined (e. g., in mammals) seems to constitute a strong argument against the mutation theory of species. On the other hand, polymorphism shows how characters which in themselves are good enough to base species (or even genera) upon may arise within specific limits,
* Viorna Douglasii = Clematis Douglasii Hook. F\. Bor,-Am. 1:1. fl. 7. 1830.
59
and if one phase should finally separate from the other (¢. g., by the disappearance of one phase in one locality, and of the other in another, or by some Mendelian process), species would arise without any subspecies, as defined above, being developed. Changes in the colors of flowers might become specific in this way (cf. the white-flowered C/eome, forming a race in Arizona), and albinism in snails, which certainly begins as a mutation, has in some instances become a valid specific character.
Race might be used to designate local varieties originating as last indicated, and not connected by intermediates.
Variety is a general term to use only when the classification of the plant or animal under one of the above categories cannot be determined.
TDA. COccERELE,
A new Hypxnum.— Hydnum Earleanum. Resupinate: sub- iculum closely adnate, scarcely separable, broadly effused, thin, 1-2 mm. thick, golden yellow: spines 3-6 mm. long, crowded, awl-shaped, slender, golden yellow : spores subglobose, colorless, smooth, about 4 x 3. Growing on under side of decorticated log (Ostrya Virginiana ?).
The beautiful golden yellow color will easily distinguish this plant. A small tree about six inches in diameter had been cut down but not entirely severed from the stump. The bark had been stripped off and on this smooth surface the Hydnum was growing. It covered a space two feet long and three inches wide It could easily be seen at a distance of 75 feet. I have never seen any other fungus with such a beautiful yellow color. This color however disappears in drying, fading to a pale flesh-brown.
Type locality: Mud Lick Hollow, Armstrong County, Pa.
Type specimen in writer’s collection, Carnegie Museum, Pitts- burg, Pa. ;
This plant has been named in honor of Professor F. S. Earle
of the New York Botanical Garden. D. R. SuMSTINE. KITTANNING, PA.
60
REVIEWS How and Why the Sugar Maple Bleeds
For several years the botanists and chemists of the Vermont Experiment Station, assisted by sundry students of the Univer- sity of Vermont, have been studying certain phenomena associated with maple sap flow. The details of this work are available in a bulletin recently issued.* Some of the more interesting facts and conclusions follow, but only a small portion of these can here be mentioned.
Maple sap is practically a solution of sugar in water with traces of mineral and flavoring matters. The sugar content averages nearly 3 per cent., but this varies with tree and season. Seasonal variations are related to foliage development and climatic condi- tions. Foliage variations may be considerable. Thus the same tree which carried 8,846 square feet of leaf surface in 1899 developed 14,930 feet in 1900. The variations in sap composi- tion between individual trees is even more noteworthy, extremes varying from 1.33 per cent. to 8.20 per cent. being recorded. The trees having larger tops and fuller exposure to light yield richer sap asa rule. There are however large differences where conditions and vigor of the trees appear identical and one must believe that there is individuality in the productiveness of maple trees much as there is in that of milch cows. The average yield per tree in a good season is about three pounds of sugar, which probably represents less than 4 per cent., of the entire sugar content of the tree.
The time and rate of sap-flow are directly related to seasonal conditions and temperature variations. Whenever during late winter and early spring sudden fluctuations occur in temperature in the vicinity of 0° C., sap flow begins. Flow develops with rise of temperature above this and ceases with its fall. These interrelations between sap movements and temperature variations were closely followed by attaching pressure gages, such as are commonly used on steam boilers, to gas pipes screwed into maple trunks. The flow of sap into such pipes develops pres-
* Jones, C. H., Edson, A. W. and Morse, W. J. The Maple Sap Flow. Vt.
Exp. Sta. Bull. No. 103. December, 1903. Obtainable from the Experiment Station, surlington, Vt.
61
sure which corresponds to the rate of flow in tapped trees. By employing self-recording gages and thermometers complete seasonal records have been obtained which reveal a striking parallelism in the fluctuations of pressure and of temperature. This has led some to explain the phenomenon of sap pressure and flow as due simply to the expansion with rise of temperature of the gas imprisoned within the woody tissues ; but the fluctu- ations observed in pressure and suction are far greater and more sudden than this physical explanation can account for. Thus variations are frequent in these gage records of ten or fifteen pounds pressure with a change of but a few degrees in tempera- ture. Extreme fluctuations are recorded of nearly thirty pounds to the square inch, within twenty-four hours, viz., from 5 pounds suction to 22 pounds pressure. A rise of over twenty pounds in pressure was observed with a rise in air temperature of only two degrees, which would mean even less increase in tree tem- perature. The conclusion is that sap-flow in the sugar maple is a true bleeding phenomenon, attributable to the vital activities of living cells. The pressure shown by the gage is simply a partial expression of the energy of the countless living, working proto- plasts of the maple stem.
There is little evidence of ‘ root-pressure’”’; in fact on good “sap days”’ the flow into the tap hole comes chiefly from above downwards. We must regard the stem tissues as chiefly active, the cells in the vicinity of the tap hole operating alternately as suction and force pumps, so to speak, sucking the sap from root and remoter stem tissues and forcing it out through the tap hole.
It is not difficult to conceive how a rise of temperature past a critical point for their vital activities should arouse or stimulate the bleeding activities of the cells and how a fall below this point should check them. The suction thereupon developed would seem to be due to osmotic reabsorption of the exuded sap by the same cells. L. R. Jones.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CLUB
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, I904
This meeting was held at the New York Botanical Garden ; Professor Underwood in the chair ; sixteen persons present.
62
The minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved.
Dr. Britton referred to the opportunity of members to become applicants for a grant of fifty dollars from the John Strong New- berry Fund, which this year is available for botanical or zoologi- cal research.
The announced paper of the scientific progam was by Mr. Percy Wilson under the title of ‘Remarks on some Economic Plants of the East Indies.”’
In the spring of 1901, Mr. Wilson was commissioned by the New York Botanical Garden to accompany the Solar Eclipse Expedition to the East Indies, organized by Professor Todd of Amherst College, the chief purpose of Mr. Wilson’s visit being to obtain collections of native plants and plant-products for ex- hibition in the museum of the Garden. Most of his collections were made on the island of Singkep, which is a two days voy- age southward from Singapore. This island is about 25 miles in length and 16 in greatest width. Two-thirds of it is covered with a dense tropical jungle, the remainder having small scat- tered native villages. Various fiber-products, starches and sugars, manufactured and used by the inhabitants of these vil- lages, were shown. In discussing fiber-products, examples were first exhibited in which a whole leaf or a considerable part of it is made use of. Of these leaf-fibers, one of the most extensively utilized is from the leaves of the screw-pines, whose generic name, Pandanus, is a Latinized form of the Malay word ‘“ pan- dan,” a named applied to many species of the genus. In many of the East Indian islands, large tracts are covered by these Pandanus trees or shrubs, growing in such profusion as to form impenetrable masses of vegetation ; while species growing singly or a few together abound principally in the vicinity of the sea. The latter bear many thick aerial roots, which at a distance have the appearance of supporting the plant in the air. The leaves and roots are the parts of the chief economic importance. The leaves are gathered in large numbers, tied into bundles, are car- ried by the men to the villages, where the women remove with a large knife all spines from the margins of the leaf and the under surface of the midrib. Each leaf is then exposed to fire, after which it is cut with a sharp four-bladed knife into strips
63
of uniform width. After several days of soaking in water and bleaching in the sun, each strip is separately drawn between the thumb and a thin bamboo stick. By this treatment they become flexible and can be wrought into any desirable shape without injury to the fiber. Two plants in particular, ‘ pandan tikar’’ (Pandanus Samak) the mat screw-pine and “ pandan laut” (Pandanus fascicularis), the sea-shore screw-pine are con- sidered as yielding the best grade of leaves for mat- and basket- weaving. Other species bearing larger and coarser leaves are regarded as inferior. Of these, the ‘‘mengkuang” (P. atro- carpus), an arboreal form, is commonly found in swampy places. The leaves of this are made into hats, and into large mats which often serve for the entire sides of houses or for the covering of carts. Styles and designs in weaving differ in the different islands. In some places highly colored mats with red, green, brown, and purple strips interwoven are to be found. The dyes used are said to be chiefly of vegetable origin. A red dye is extracted from the leaves of the teak, a green from the shoots of the banana, while brown or chocolate color is obtained by burying the strips in mud and water for several weeks. In some regions where species of Pandanus abound these thick aerial roots are used for corks; sections of these roots several inches in length are beaten out at one end and thus made to serve as brushes. Leaf-fibers from the leaflets of the ‘“‘nipah’”’ (ipa fruticans), a low stemless palm, are woven into large shingles known as “ attaps.”’
Fibers derived from the vascular bundles alone are obtained from the leaf-stalks of a common fern, Déicranopteris linearis. After the long bundles are split out from the stalks, they are drawn separately through a series of holes of gradually dim- inishing sizes punctured in a piece of tin. With the strong fiber thus obtained fine hats are made which are worn by the Malay men at their various festivals. The stems of the bamboo, or strips and fibers obtained from them, are put to a great variety of uses by the natives.
Various food-products of vegetable origin were then discussed. An important starch is sago, under which name are understood starches derived from several kinds of palms and cycads. Most
64
of it, probably, comes from the trunk of J/etroxylon Sagu, the true sago palm, which inhabits many of the islands of the Malay Archipelago. This palm grows to a height of forty feet or more and has a large comparatively smooth trunk, from the interior of which the starch is derived. In the preparation of the sago a full-grown tree is selected just before the expansion of the in- florescence, the trunk is felled and cut into sections three or four feetin length, which are thrown into water and soaked for several days. Afterward, the outer fibrous portion is removed and the interior is reduced to a coarse sawdust by means of a crude grating apparatus. This sawdust-like powder is then put into a large vessel where the starch is crushed out with the aid of water and the feet of a native. It is then drawn off suspended in the water and is finally dried and shipped away for refinement.
Palm sugar is derived chiefly from the sugar palm (dArenga saccharifera) and the cocoanut palm (Cocos nucifera). The sugar is obtained from the Avexga by binding the numerous branches of the pendulous inflorescence into a compact cylinder, without removing them from the tree, and then chopping off the ends and making several incisions along the sides of the branches. The sweet sap is caught in a vessel made from a bamboo-stem ; it continues to flow for several days, is collected every twenty-four hours, and is boiled down over a crude oven.
The paper was brought to a close with remarks on mastica- tories such as the betel-nut —the fruit of the Areca palm (Areca Catechu) — and on some of the edible fruits, such as the durian and mangosteen.
Mr. G. V. Nash showed flowering species of Melastomaceae from the conservatories of the New York Botanical Garden, including one of Heterocentron elegans from Mexico and one of Medinilla magnifica from the Philippines.
Dr. N. L. Britton exhibited specimens of two apparently undescribed species of poplar from Wyoming, one allied to . Populus tremuloides the other to P. augustifolia.
MARSHALL A. Howe, Secretary pro tem.
Vol. 4 No. 5
Torre h tT ¥ A
May, 1904
Peon DRIP ON “HE Sl. FRANCIS) RIVER. NORTHERN MAINE
y ? ~
, By W. W. EGGLESTON
iter week in August, 1902, found a small gathering of New England botanists at Rivicre du Loup, Quebec, although the meeting was all unplanned on their part.
When I left the St. Lawrence steamer the hotel porter said “two men have just taken the steamer with packs like yours ; they are coming back in a couple of days.’’ The register showed M. L. Fernald and E. F. Williams. The next steamer brought Judge J. R. Churchill, who was easily persuaded to stay over a day when he found that Dryopteris fragraus Schott could be seen at Riviere du Loup Falls.
The next night I was routed out about eleven o'clock, but one could easily forgive Merritt Fernald when he proposed a trip on the St. Francis. This stream was first explored by C. G. Pringle in the 70’s. In Pringle’s time the only railroad in the country was the Intercolonial on the St. Lawrence; now the Temiscouata railroad runs from Riviere du Loup to Edmunston on the St. John River and then up the St. John to the mouth of the St. Francis.
This was the route Fernald and I took. At St. Francis we secured canoes and guides and were carried ten miles to the foot of Glazier Lake, the end of wagon roads.
The expedition started very favorably, for what New England botanist would not have good luck with William Oakes as principal guide. Such was the fact, and a good guide, canoe- man and cook was W. Oakes.
Our trip from the foot of Glazier Lake up the St. Francis was to include about fifteen miles of lakes and twenty-five miles - of ‘‘ strong water,’’ as the guides called it, to Boundary Lake,
[ Vol. 4, No. 4, of TORREYA, comprising pages 49-64, was issued April 28, 1904. ]
66
Quebec. We were now entering a great wilderness. The St. John river valley is cleared up to St. Francis and there is one village, Allegash Plantation, fifteen miles above St. Francis; out- side of the St. John valley proper one may go from twenty-five to two hundred miles to the nearest house.
On the St. Francis, at the foot of Glazier Lake, there are two or three farms, at the head of the lake two more ; ten miles up the river, at the head of Beau Lac, are three more settlers; and thence twenty-five miles to Boundary Lake are no settlers. Most of the settlers, both on the St. Francis and the St. John, have come in since Pringle’s time.
By our landing at Glazier Lake was plenty of Salix lucida entonsa Fernald. This salix would be easily mistaken for a very large Salix candida Willd. On the Maine side is the type station for Carex intumescens Fernald: Bailey ; here also we saw Carex atratiformis Britton, four feet high.
We left Glazier Lake at noon, making Glazier Lake, Cross Lake and Cross Lake Rapids before supper, paddling up the six miles of Beau Lac and reaching the head of the lake after dark. We pitched our tent on the sands, rolled up in our blankets, and most of us went to sleep, but the greenhorn, wedged in be- tween friend and guide, found a hole and hummock that would not let him sleep. The next day at noon we were at the foot of the Kelly Rapids, which are three miles long and full of boulders. The guide gave us an invitation to walk ; we accepted and bota- nized the Maine shore to the head of the rapids, finding great quantities of Peramium ophioides (Fernald) Rydb., P. tessellatum (Lodd.) Rydb., Lysied/a obtusata (Pursh) Rydb., Lystas orbiculata (Pursh) Rydb., ypopitys Hy popitys (L.) Small, Petasites palmata (Ait.) A. Gray and my first Lestera auriculata Wiegand.
We camped early this night, pitching our tent on the Quebec shore in a thicket of evergreens.
The next morning all about our camp we found Pyro/a asari- folia Michx. and P. minor L. and ina spring bog Listera auricu- lata Wiegand (in flower).
On a Maine blueberry barren we found Pyrola rotundifolia L., Aster junceus Ait., and great quantities of Vaccinium Cana-
67
dense, blackflies, and midgets ; we soon decided that the latter had preempted the region and made a hasty change of base. By noon we were at the foot of Boundary Lake and the iron boundary post, the most northern point of Maine.
Here we found Eatonia Pennsylvanica (DC.) A. Gray, Panicu- laria laxa Scribn., Graphephorum melicoideum (Michx.) Beauv., Chaetochloa viridis (.) Scribn., Carex atratiformis Britton, Strep- topus amplexifolius (L.) DC., Sangutsorba Canadensis L., Cap- noides sempervirens (L.) Borck., Mentha Canadensis glabrata Benth., Viola septentrionalis Greene, Tetragonanthus deflexus (J. E. Smith) Kuntze, 7. deflerus heteranthus (Griseb.) Britton (one plant), Virburnum pauciflorum Pylaie, Erigeron acris L., Solidago luspida Muhl., Euphrasta Canadensis Townsend, and 7Zanacetum FHluronense Nutt.
We hoped to find /soetes hieroglyphica A. A. Eaton, Selaginella selaginoides (L.) Link, and a red-flowered Castalia. , The wind was so high that afternoon and the next day that botanizing on the lake was out of the question.
Boundary Lake extends north and south about nine miles. In Pringle’s day from the foot of the lake five miles up the west shore was an unbroken forest ; now it is all cultivated land, and the ‘“‘mossy shore under cedars”? where Pringle found Se/agz- nella selaginoides is now the location of a thriving saw mill, saw- ing the cedars. Incidentally, all of the logs driven in the St. Francis and the upper St. John and most of the timber used in houses is the white cedar, Thuja occidentalis L. The next morn- ing, turning our backs on the wind-swept shores of Boundary Lake and red pond lilies, we started down the river. This was the most delightful part of the trip. Running along noiselessly and using the paddle but for steering, we saw several deer but no moose, although we had seen many of their tracks.
Down the river a few miles on the Maine shore were some quite large lagoons anda great marsh; here were Carex arcta Boott, Mymphaca advena variegata, Nymphaca hybrida Peck, Nymphaea Kalmiana (Michx.) Sims, Rhamnus alnifolia L’Her., Hippurus vulgaris L., Myriophyllum alternifiorum DC., etc. Thus far, trout-fishing had been very poor but this morning we had some fine sport.
68
At night we were at our old camp at the head of Beau Lac. In the alluvial woods Aster hirsuticaulis Lindl. was abundant. The lake in lower water would have been fine botanizing, but Lsuetes that ought to have been near the surface was in three or four feet of water. I spent over an hour wading up to my neck in the cold water, supposing I was getting /soetes hieroglyphica A. A. Eaton, but Eaton tells me that out of some three hundred specimens all but about a dozen are /svetes echinospora Braunit Engelm.
The marshy shores gave us Listera convallarioides Nutt. and Carex intumescens Fernaldi Bailey, and near Cross Lake Rapids was Asarum Canadense L. Our guide thought he could show us the red water lily in Glazier Lake. It proved to be Polygonum amphibium L. growing with Sparganinm simplex angustifolium (Michx.) Engelm. and JZyriophyllum verticillatum L. The little rocky islet in the St. John at the mouth of the St. Francis had Poa glauca Vahl., Juncus Dudleyt Wiegand, /. Vaseyi Engelm., Adfiam Sibiricum L., Astragalus alpinus L., Lathyrus palustris L., Ara- gallus Johannensis Rydb., Vaccinium caespitosum Michx., Gen- tana acuta Michx., G. linearis Froel., Castilleja acuminata (Pursh.) Spreng., Aster longifolius Lam., A. longifolius villicaulis A. Gray, A. radula Ait., Solidago squarrosa Muhl., Tanacctum Huronense Nutt., etc. This proved the best botanizing ground of the trip.
RUTLAND, VERMONT.
SHORTER NOTES
Notes ON THE LocaL FLora.—Specimens of Dyryopteris sunulata and of Woodwardia angustifolia were found in abundance near Quogue, L.I.,last summer. This is the fifth station in New York for the first and the sixth for the second. Very near these stations were found plants of Ca/tha radicaus. This may be the West Hampton station of Britton’s Flora for the division be- tween the towns was not more than a third of a mile away.
In a swamp at West Hampton were found specimens of Lyco- podium alopecuroides. This is the third station for Long Island.
A few plants of Asplenium pinnatifidum were found by a friend, Mr. Huntington, a few summers ago at Sharon, Conn.
61)
This may be of interest in connection with the article, ‘A Sum- mer in Salisbury, Connecticut’ (Torreya, March, 1904), Sharon being not very far distant. This station was noted some time ago in The Fern Bulletin.
I am sure all these plants are correctly identified. Dryopteris stmulata has been seen by Mr. Clute and Asfplentum pinnatifidum by Mr. Bissell.
FREDERICK Wm. Kospse. 142 East 18TH STREET, New York Ciry.
ViBURNUM MOLLE Michx.— Mr. Rehder's recent remarks on this species (Rhodora, 6: 58. Mr 1904) finally clear up the interesting question of the application of the name, and solve it in the way Dr. Small and I have both suspected to be correct, but without a definite knowledge of Michaux’s type specimen, we had been unable to improve upon the conclusions of Dr. Gray. Mr. Fernald’s photograph of the type sheet in the Paris herbarium has supplied Mr. Rehder withthe desired information. In addi- tion to the synonym V. Demetrionts Deane and Robinson, cited by Mr. Rehder, should be added IV’. pubescens petiolatum Fitz- patrick (Man. Flow. Pl. Iowa, 140. 1899), and the range extended northward to Johnson and Jefferson counties, Iowa, where the shrub grows in rocky woods.
Michaux’s subspecies semtomentosum is taken up by Mr. Rehder for the . mol/e of Gray and more recent authors, the citation being l semitomentosum (Michx.) Rehder, and_ the range given as from Kentucky to Florida and Texas. Mr. Harper's collections show that the plant occurs in Georgia. In Manual, p. 871, I indicated that it might extend northward to southern Pennsylvania ; this suggestion was based on specimens with leaves but without flowers and fruit, collected by Dr. Small at Smithville, Lancaster County, in September, 1897 ; these, in their stellate pubescence and blunt teeth seem almost identical with those of specimens from the south,
N. L. Britton.
70
REVIEWS Howell’s Flora of Northwest America*
The seventh fascicle of Howell’s Flora of Northwest America has now appeared. This finishes the first part, ‘‘ Phanerogamae.”’ The title is perhaps a little misleading, as the flora does not cover the western part of the British possessions, or Alaska. It would have been more appropriate if the title had been a “‘ Flora of the Northwestern United States,’ as it is a manual of the botany of Washington, Oregon and western Idaho. Only those who have been actively engaged in writing manuals of systematic botany can imagine what such an undertaking means, what difficulties are met with and what an amount of work is needed. If the fact is taken into consideration that Mr. Howell had to work far away from our large collections and botanical libraries with scarcely any other facilities than those afforded by his private library and col- lections the excellence of the work is really surprising. The pre- liminary work on the flora was begun as early as 1882 and in 1896 the manuscript of the first fascicle was ready. A new difficulty now presented itself. He could not find in Portland a type-setter who could set the type for such a book, and Mr. Howell learned the trade and set the type himself. The first fascicle was issued in 1897 and the others at intervals of a yearor two. The book contains 792 pages of compact descriptions and an index of 24 pages.
It is evident that Mr. Howell began the work with the inten- tion of giving descriptions drawn by him from actual specimens, where it was posssible. When such were not found in his her- barium he tried to borrow from fellow botanists. In this he did not always succeed and had to reprint the original description. This method of course meant an enormous amount of corre- spondence and was delaying the work. It appears as if the method was partly discarded towards the end of the work, as it there seems to be more of a compilation. This may be said
* Howell, T. A Flora of Northwest America. Vol. 1. Phanerogamae, 8vo.
Pp. 1-792 +-Index. Portland, Oregon. 10 Au 1903. [Issued in seven fascicles, 1597-1903. |
71
especially of the difficult family Gramineae, where the last mono- graph is more or less closely followed. In many cases this was a very commendable way, but in others not, as, for example, in the treatment of oa, where he follows Professor Beal. One improvement he has made on the latter’s work, viz., in retaining Poa Buckleyana and P. Fendleriana and their allies in Poa. He places them under a subgenus A/vopfis, copying Beal’s characters of the genus Advofis (which name however does not belong there but to Puccinellia), but not noticing that scarcely one half of the species referred there by Beal agree with the definition ; nor did he know that Azropis Lettermannt Beal (Poa Lettermanni Vasey) and /oa Lrandegei described in Beal’s work are the same species and that the types of both were collected at the same station.
As no work has been published before on the flora of the region, Mr. Howell had to draw his information from a thousand and one scattered publications. We know that many times the same species has been described under different names by differ- ent authors (one Aster from Idaho, A. /essicae, has received not less than four names). A good deal of sifting had therefore to be done and it is remarkable how well Mr. Howell has succeeded without having access to the types. It would be surprising, however, if he had not gone amiss sometimes. One such case we have noticed: Sporobolus graciliimus and S. filiformis were both based on l/fa depauperata v. filiformis Thurber, and hence the same.
The numerous publications and segregations of recent date have of course caused considerable trouble. Some of our contempo- rary phytographers have a custom of describing species without indicating the relationships. The author of a monograph or manual, if he does not have the chance of seeing the types, must be a very good guesser if he happens to place the species in the right section of the genus. Mr. Howell guessed well as a rule, but missed occasionally, as, for example, when he placed Gev- tiana anisosepala Greene, next to G. affinis. It should have been placed with G. tenella and G. acuta.
Another kind of difficulty arises when one of the modern splitters breaks up a species, supposed to be transcontinental,
(2
into several geographical species and does not give exact limits of their ranges. How cana botanist without access to all or most of the larger herbaria know if he is to include or exclude the original species, if he has not authentic material himself? The “ Flora of Northwest America”’ therefore happens to con- tain several species not growing within a thousand miles of the region covered, z. ¢., as far as can be judged from specimens in the collections of the New York Botanical Garden and Colum- bia University. Such species are, for instance Scrophularia Mar- wandica and Polygonum erectum, not found west of Nebraska ; Eriogonum corymbosum and Graphephorum Wolfii, not north of Colorado ; Salix saximontana and Geranium Fremonti, not north or west of Wyoming ; Jofieldia glutinosa, Poa glauca and P. /axa, only found in the northeastern part of the continent.
With regard to nomenclature, Mr. Howell has been progres- sive, following the Rochester Code with slight modification and using in most cases the generic names adopted in the second edi- tion of Heller’s Catalogue. As to the limitation of genera he has been somewhat radical, adopting most of the segregations made in later years. As to the limitation of species he has on the contrary been rather conservative, ignoring many of the newer finer splits and proposing very few new ones himself. Thase that he has proposed are well founded. He has admitted very few varieties. Those that he has admitted were probably not well known to him. In most cases he has raised the varieties to species if they could be well recognized; if not they have been ignored.
Whatever smaller defects the work may have, it will be of great value to the student of the botany of the Columbia Valley region. It will be for that region what Chapman’s Flora has been for the South, Coulter’s Manual for the Rockies and the Botany of California for the southern portion of the Pacific Slope. We need now a flora of the southwestern United States and the Great Basin.
P. A. RYDBERG.
~! ‘. —_
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CLUB Marcu 8, 1904
This meeting was held at the College of Pharmacy, with Vice- president Rusby in the chair; there were seventeen persons present. The minutes of the preceding meeting were read and approved.
The first paper on the scientific program was by Professor Francis E. Lloyd on ‘‘ Recent Investigations on the Pollen-tube,” and was an interesting exposition of the parallel results of Longo’s investigations on the behavior of the pollen-tube in Cucurbitaceae and Professor Lloyd’s work on Rubiaceae.
Longo finds that in Cucurbita Pepo L., the ovary is provided with a special conductive tissue reaching to the neck of the flask-shaped nucellus by means of which the pollen-tube follows a completely intercellular course from stigma to embryo-sac. In other species of Cucurbita and in Citrullus vulgaris, the neck of the nucellus is not long enough to reach to the conductive tissue, so that for a short distance the tube must .move through a cavity. On reaching the neck of the nucellus, the pollen-tube forms a bulla that produces lateral outgrowths which Longo believes are for the purpose of reaching out’after food materials, as their size seems to depend on the amount of starch present. This view is rendered somewhat questionable by the phenomena observed by Wylie in 4/odea, where pollen-tubes may produce similar ‘‘cystoids’’ in the free space of the locule but never produce them in the tissues where food substances must be more abundant.
Longo supports his conclusion that the intercellular course of the pollen-tube is followed not because of inability to grow in open space, by showing that pollen-tubes may be produced in moist air from such normally endotropic forms as Azszdus Lupulus L., Picea excelsa, etc. He interprets chalazogamy as a physiological fact having no bearing on phylogeny. In plants having endotropic pollen-tubes, he considers the direction of their growth to be determined chemotactically.
74
The main points in Professor Lloyd’s independent conclusions from work on Rubiaceae are: (1) The form of cells in the con- ductive tissue does not determine the course of the pollen-tube, for in Richardsonia and Diodia teres the cells are elongated at right angles to the path of the tube. He believes the chemo- tactic stimulus which determines the direction to be differentially distributed from the egg cell. (2) The ectotropic or endotropic behavior of the pollen-tube is a physiological character.
The second paper of the evening, by Mr. Edward W. Berry was entitled ‘‘Some Monotypic Genera of the Eastern United States and their Ancestors.’ The phylogeny of Lztodendron, was briefly sketched, from its first appearance as a narrow simple- leaved form in the mid-cretaceous of the Atlantic coastal plain, its spread to Europe and Asia, its development into large lobate- Jeaved forms, and its final extinction except for the existing species of eastern North America and a waning variety in east- ern Asia. Drawings of all the fossil species were shown, and numerous blue-prints of the leaves of the existing species, show- ing their parallelism and range of variation.
Sassafras was the second genus considered. It was pointed out that while the described fossil species were numerous, many of them are not allied to Sassafras. The species which were considered as positively identified were discussed, as well as the peculiar characters of the leaves of the existing species, both ancient and modern forms being abundantly illustrated.
The third genus discussed was Comptonia. Its former range and development were described and drawings of a number of the species were shown.
All three genera were considered to have taken their origin from simple-leaved ancestors which flourished during the closing days of the lower cretaceous, and to have originated in America, becoming dominant and widespread in pre-glacial times, finally becoming restricted to their present habitats chiefly through the agency of the glacial conditions of the Pleistocene period.
The paper was discussed by Professors Rusby, Underwood, and Lloyd and Dr. Howe. Adjournment followed.
Tracy E. HAZEN, Secretary pro tem.
=~I or
MARCH 30, 1904
The Torrey Botanical Club met in the morphological labora- tory at the New York Botanical Garden with about 20 persons present. Dr. D. T. MacDougal called the meeting to order; Dr. C. C. Curtis was elected chairman and Mr. W. T. Horne secretary.
The first paper on the scientific program was ‘ Notes on the Cytology of the Aquatic Fungi’? by Dr. Cyrus A. King. Schroeter’s classification of the Phycomycetes was reviewed and attention called to the fact that the conidia of the Peronosporineae resemble sporangia since they germinate by forming internal zoospores. In the Saprolegniaceae, according to Trow, the eggs are at first multinucleate, all except the sexual nucleus in each egg being disposed of by digestion. Dr. King's researches have shown that in the Leptomitaceae, as far as known, the odgonia are at first multinucleate and the supernumerary nuclei are dis- posed of by migrating to the periphery of the cell where they are cut off in a distinct periplasm. In Arazospora the peripheral nuclei surround themselves with cell walls in such a way that the ooplasm is surrounded by a layer of periplasmic cells. In Sapromyces there is also a periplasm in which the nonsexual nuclei are cut off; it is however reduced to a very thin layer. The formation of a body in the center of the egg of Avaiospora by the coalescence of several small cytoplasmic patches from various parts of the odplasm was described. The body probably is an attraction center for the sexual nuclei. A similar structure was not found in Sapromyces. Rhipidium was also briefly described. The presence of a periplasm and the migration of the nuclei from the developing egg indicates that the Leptomi- taceae are more closely allied to the Peronosporineae than to the Saprolegnineae. Photomicrographs were shown from Dr. King’s preparations showing the facts brought out and showing also indirect nuclear division in the odgonium and zodsporangium of Sapromyces.
An interesting discussion followed.
The second paper was by Mr. B. C. Gruenberg and was en- titled ‘‘ Chemical Investigations on Haematoxylon.’’ Haema-
76
toxylin is one of the most valuable of commercial dyes and the business of supplying the wood from which it is made forms an important industry in some of the West Indies. Considerable annoyance has been caused by the fact that some of the logwood or Haematoxylon trees contain little or no dye, whole shipments even having been condemned on this account. The so-called ‘bastard logwood ”’ is not always to be distinguished at the time of cutting. It is either lighter in color or if dark at first it can be recognized by not becoming still darker on seasoning for some months as does the good wood.
Professor Earle investigated the disease in the field and con- cluded that the lack of pigment was not due to external condi- tions, or to disease, or to immaturity, but that the logwood is a variable plant and the bastard form is a variety or subspecies.
The percentage of carbon in the ash-free material was deter- mined for different samples with somewhat varying results but showing that the good wood contains a slightly higher percen- tage, due probably to the carbon in the pigment.
Analysis of leaves, stems and roots of one-year-old plants showed that the bastard plants contained slightly more ash and water, but the difference was very slight.
Extracts of the pigment were made with a number of different solvents from varying samples of wood. The extracts with dif- ferent solvents did not give parallel results as indicating the amount of pigment. In diluting the extracts chemical changes occurred, Alkalies increase the color of extracts of the good wood but not extracts of the bastard wood. Acids havea parallel effect.
Results on the soluble substances in the wood were not satis- factory on account of decomposition on drying. There are prob- ably several pigments.
After a discussion of the paper the meeting adjourned.
WitiiAM T. Horne, Secretary pro tem. NEWS ITEMS Dr. H. C. Cowles, of the University of Chicago, devoted a
large part of the month of April to field studies in plant ecology in the vicinity of Miami, Florida.
=~] =~]
Miss Mary Perle Anderson, supervisor of nature study, Uni- versity School, Chicago, has been appointed instructor in botany in Mt. Holyoke College for the coming year.
Dr. John K. Small and Mr. Percy Wilson, of the New York Botanical Garden, are spending a few weeks in making collections in the extreme southern end of the peninsula of Florida,
Mr. Homer D. House, recently assistant in botany in the Columbia University, has been acting instructor in botany in Rutgers College, New Brunswick, New Jersey, since April 1.
Mr. C. W. Hope, who had published extensively on the ferns of northern India, and many of whose specimens are in the her- barium of the New York Botanical Garden, died on February 16, at Kew, England.
Prof. Dr. Karl Schumann, of Berlin, died early in April. He was best known for his extensive studies upon the Cactaceae, and the fact that this family is almost wholly American makes his work of particular interest to American botanists.
Mr. Le Roy Abrams, author of the recently published ‘ Flora of Los Angeles and Vicinity,’ has been appointed fellow in botany in Columbia University. Mr. Abrams received the degree of A. B. from Stanford University in 1899 and that of A. M. in 1902.
Dr. José Ramirez, chief of the section of natural history of the Instituto Medico Nacional, died in the City of Mexico, April 11, 1904. He was the author of “‘ La Vegetacion de Mexico”’ and of various other works on the flora and materia medica of Mexico,
Dr. Hans Hermann Behr, for many years professor of botany in the California College of Pharmacy, died in San Francisco on March 6, in his eighty-sixth year. Dr. Behr was the author of the “ Flora of the Vicinity of San Francisco,” published in 1888, and of several shorter papers on the Californian and Australian floras. He was also an entomologist, a linguist, and a man of very marked general ability.
In the prize essay competion of 1904, conducted by the New York Botanical Garden, from a portion of the income of the Caroline and Olivia Phelps Stokes Fund for the Preservation of Native Plants, the first prize, of twenty-five dollars, has been
78
awarded to Miss Mary Perle Anderson, of Chicago ; the second,
of fifteen dollars, to Miss Jean Broadhurst, of Trenton, N. J.; and the third, of ten dollars, to Mr. George Gordon Copp, of New York City.
Dr. and Mrs. N. L. Britton and Dr. Marshall A. Howe spent three or four weeks in March and April in making botanical col- lections in southeastern Florida, with Miami as a base, and on New Providence, Bahamas. Afterwards, Dr. Howe, in company with Dr. C. F. Millspaugh, of the Field Columbian Museum, Chicago, made the return trip from Nassau to Miami in a sail boat, taking ten days for the voyage and making collections on the Joulter Cays, Gun Cay, the Cat Cays and the Bemini Cays.
Fascicle I of Dr. Janet Perkins’ ‘‘ Framenta Florae Philippinae ”’ has recently been published by the Gebrider Borntraeger. This first fascicle is devoted chiefly to an ‘‘ Enumeration of some of the recently collected plants of Ahern, Jagor, Lohor, Merrill, Warburg, and others.” The author, whose work is being car- ried on at the Botanical Museum of Berlin, has the collaboration of Doctors Brand, Lindau, von Seemen, Graebner, Schlechter, Beccari, Warburg and Radlkofer in the treatment of certain families.
Professor Hugo de Vries, of Amsterdam, has engaged to de- liver a course of lectures on ‘‘ Mutation”’ at the summer session of the University of California in June and July. He is also to ive a series of five lectures at the University of Chicago, August 2-26. Professor de Vries expects to reach New York on June 6. He will spend a few days at the New York Botanical Gar- den, and on June 11 will deliver the address at the dedicatory ceremonies of the Station for Experimental Evolution of the Car-
oe > 2
negie Institution at Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y.
The course of popular lectures offered by the New York Bo- tanical Garden for the spring of 1904 is as follows: April 30, ‘Japan, the Land of Lacquer and Bamboo,” by Dr. C. F. Millspaugh; May 7, ‘‘ The Form, Habits and Relationships of the Cactuses,’”’ by Dr. N. L. Britton ; May 14, ‘‘ The Vegetation of the Delta of the Colorado River, and of Baja California,” by Dr. D. T. MacDougal; May 21, ‘‘ Explorations on the Yukon
79
River, Alaska,” by Dr. Arthur Hollick ; May 28, ‘ Arctic and Alpine Plants,”’ by Professor F. E. Lloyd ; June 4, ‘‘ Carnivorous Plants,”’ by Professor H. M. Richards.
Dr. James Hyatt, the last of the original members of the Torrey Botanical Club, died at Bangall, Dutchess Co., N. Y., on February 27, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. Dr. Hyatt’s special work as a lecturer and writer was in the field of chemistry, but like many others of his generation he enjoyed a wide interest in the natural sciences as a whole. Members of the Club will remember the ‘‘ Reminiscences of John Torrey,” contributed by him to the exercises of Torrey Day, celebrated in New York June 27, 1900, in connection with the proceedings of the Botanical Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The Fifteenth Annual Report of the Missouri Botanical Garden contains in addition to reports for the year 1903 and library con- tributions the following scientific papers: “An ecological Com- * by Samuel Monds Coulter (24 plates); ‘‘Two Fungi growing in Holes made by wood-boring Insects,” by Perley Spaulding (3 plates); ‘An ecologically aberrent Begonia,” by William Trelease (2 plates) ; ‘Aberrant Veil Remnants in some edible Agarics,’’ by William ° Trelease (10 plates). The number of species and varieties in
parison of some typical Swamp Areas,’
actual cultivation at the Garden as shown by an inventory taken at the end of 1903 is given as 11,357; the number of books and pamphlets in the library, 42,262; the number of mounted specimens in the herbarium, 465,205 ; the number of visitors to the Garden in 1903, 79,039.
Professor F. S. Earle, who has been assistant curator of the New York Botanical Garden since the autumn of Igo!, has resigned his position to accept the directorship of the newly organized Estacion Agronomica Central de Cuba. Professor Earle spent the month of March and the early part of April in Cuba, engaged inthe preliminary work of locating and organizing the Estacion, which is to be at Santiago de las Vegas, about twelve miles from Havana. The staff is to include Mr. C. F. Baker, for the past year assistant professor of biology in Pomona
SO
College, Claremont, California, as botanist; Mr. Percy Wilson, of the New York Botanical Garden, as assistant botanist, and Mr. William T. Horne, now fellow in botany in Columbia Uni- versity, as assistant pathologist. Professor Earle sailed from New York for Cuba with his family on April 30.
«Alaska, Volume V. Cryptogamic Botany”’ is the title of a handsome octavo volume of 424 pages and 44 plates lately pub- lished by Doubleday, Page & Company, of New York. The subject matter is concerned with the results of the Harriman Alaska Expedition and comprises the following papers : “ Intro- duction,” by William Trelease ; ‘‘ The Fungi of Alaska,” by P. A. Saccardo, C. H. Peck and William Trelease; ‘‘ The Lichens of Alaska,’ by Clara E. Cummings ; “ The Algae of the Expe- dition,’ by De Alton Saunders ; ‘‘ The Mosses of Alaska,” by J. Cardot and I. Thériot ; ‘‘ Alaskan Species of Sphagnum,” by William Trelease (determinations, by Warnstorf) ; ‘‘ Hepaticae of Alaska,’ by Alexander W. Evans; ‘‘ The Ferns and Fern Allies of Alaska,’ by William Trelease. The papers on the Algae, Hepaticae and mosses were originally published in the Proceed- ings of the Washington Academy of Sciences and are here reprinted from the same electrotype plates, bracketed figures indicating the original pagination.
Vol. 4 No. 6
TORREY A
June, 1904
RESISTANCE OF DROUGHT BY LIVERWORTS By DouGLas HOUGHTON CAMPBELL
We are accustomed to consider the archegoniates in general as moisture-loving plants, and this is, to a certain extent, true. But it readily may be shown that there are many exceptions to the rule, even in regions of abundant moisture ; while in more arid districts it is becoming clear that many species have developed special contrivances for surviving long periods of drought.
In moister regions, like the eastern United States, many species of rock-haunting or epiphytic mosses occur which can survive a certain amount of desiccation ; and among the Hepaticae may be mentioned various foliose Jungermanniaceae which share this peculiarity with the mosses. How far this power of resisting drought is found among the eastern thallose Jungermanniaceae and Marchantiaceae, so far as the writer is aware, has not been investigated.
For a number of years the writer has been interested in the archegoniates of California, especially the hepatics, and his attention has been directed repeatedly to the power shown by nearly all the species of resisting the long dry season which regularly prevails each year. In the region around San Fran- cisco Bay, the dry season generally lasts from about the middle of May until late September or early October. Sometimes for fully six months no rain at all falls. This was the case in 1903, when from mid-April until October there was no rain at all, and not until November was the rainfall enough to start vegetation. Nevertheless, the growth of Hepaticae during the present season has been very luxuriant, and there is no evidence of any harm having resulted from the unusually protracted drought. In the bay region, however, there is seldom the excessive summer heat
[ Vol. 4, No. 5, of TORREYA, comprising pages 65-So, was issued May 13, 1904. }
81
89
of the great central valley of California, and the heavy ocean fogs which prevail during the whole summer undoubtedly miti- gate to a very considerable degree the complete lack of rain. Nevertheless, during the dry season the liverworts remain abso- lutely dormant and apparently quite dried up.
The hepatic flora in the neighborhood of Stanford University is a very interesting one. There are types of most of the more important groups, and almost without exception the common species develop their reproductive organs in great numbers — indeed in most of our common species one almost never meets with sterile individuals. Besides the liverworts proper, several species of Anthoceros occur, two of which are extremely abun- dant. With the exception of the genus Sfhaerocarpus, which seems to be annual, all of the species in this neighborhood that have been examined remain alive during the summer, and resume growth promptly with the advent of the autumn rains.
Among the most abundant liverworts of this region are several species of Ricca, some of which, like R. trichocarpa,* grow in very exposed places, subject tothe full force of the sun. Of the higher Marchantiaceae, the commonest species are /imériaria Calt- fornica (Asterella Californica) and Targiona hypophylla. Less common are /imbriaria Bolanderi (Asterella Lolanderi) and Cryptomitrium tencrune.
In the moist forests of the outer coast ranges, and sometimes straying down the banks of the streams, occur the cosmopolitan Marchantia polymorpha and Fegatella conica (Conocephalum con- icum). Itis doubtful, however, whether either of these species can survive such complete drying up as that which the characteristic species of the valley regularly undergo.
The number of leafy liverworts is relatively small. The com- monest species are Porella Lolanderi and Frullania Bolanderi, both of which are abundant.
Two species of Sphacrocarpus and one of Fossombronia — F. longiseta — represent the thallose Jungermanniaceae.
The Anthocerotaceae comprise two common species of Azitho- ceros, A. fusiformis and A. Pearsoni.t Both of these species,
* This is 2. Airta of the writer's ‘* Mosses and Ferns.”’ + A. laevis of ** Mosses and Ferns.”’
85
like the other liverworts, regularly survive the summer in a dor- mantstate. A former erroneous statement (‘‘ Mosses and Ferns,”’ p. 117) that they are annuals, was due to a failure to examine the plants early enough in the season,
Having observed how soon after the first rains mature repro- ductive organs were present, it was thought advisable to investi- gate the condition in which the plants pass the dry season. The matter was intrusted to one of our students, Mr. H. B. Hum- phrey, who has made a careful examination of /ossombronia lon- giseta and fimbriaria Californica (Asterella Californica), as well as a less complete examination of a number of other species.
It was found that a surprisingly large amount of the thallus remains alive, and within a few hours after the dried plants are supplied with water, the forward part of the thallus has assumed its active condition and begins to grow. In both Fossombronia and fimbriaria (Asterella) the first antheridia were mature in about two weeks. This early development of the reproductive organs at once raised the question whether they might not begin their development before the close of the growing period in the spring. To determine this point, dried plants were collected and placed in water and were examined as soon as they had revived. In Fossombronia both archegonia and antheridia were found in advanced stages of development, while in the dioecious Fzmdriaria (Asterella) the male plants showed large antheridia, but the female plants had not yet formed archegonia. It is highly probable that the reproductive organs are present also in all the species of Aeccza, and not unlikely in some of the other genera, but as yet none of these have been critically examined for this point.
That the liverworts can endure much greater desiccation than that to which they are normally subjected was shown by remov- ing by artificial means a large part of the water held in the dried thallus. The plants so treated showed no apparent loss of vitality, and promptly revived when supplied with water.
In all the forms examined, more or less perfect devices for pre- venting excessive loss of water have been noted. The growing point is protected by hairs or scales, sometimes secreting mucil- age, and the mucilage cells within the thallus of certain species
84
are probably concerned with water storage. How far the absorp- tion of atmospheric moisture from fog takes place during the dry season has not been tested, but to judge from the behavior of the lichens of this region, shown by Professor Peirce’s experi- ments, it may well be considerable.
The development of tubers has been observed by various stu- dents of liverworts.* A very perfect case is that of the re- markable liverwort, Geothal/us, discovered some years ago by the writer. This liverwort comes from southern California, where the rainfall is much less than in middle California. In this spe- cies the inner tissue of the thallus becomes filled with reserve food, and the surrounding cells become dark and thick-walled, forming a sort of rind protecting the central tissue. These tubers are more or less completely buried in the earth, where they re- main during the long dry season. Only a very small amount of tissue about the growing point remains alive, and no signs of the young reproductive organs are visible when the tubers begin to germinate. <A similar condition, but much less pronounced, is sometimes found in Fossombronia, this being decidedly more marked in specimens from the southern part of the state.
Goebelt mentions the formation of tubers in several species of Anthoceros, and they have also been observed in some Cali- fornian species.{ The thallus of Azthoceros develops an unusual amount of mucilage within its tissues, and this undoubtedly is an important factor in their survival of the dry season. Whether the association of colonies of Vostoc, which always are present, is of service in water storage has not been determined ; but it is by no means unlikely.
Some of the Californian pteridophytes behave much as do the liverworts. Such species of Sclaginella, as S. Bigelovii, and S. lepidophylla, dry up during the greater part of the year, but absorb water through their leaves, and resume the active condi- tion very promptly. The latter species is the “ resurrection-
* See Howe, Hepatice and Anthocerotes of California, Mem. Torrey Club, 7: 69. 1899.
+ Organographie der Pflanzen. Zweiter Theil. Heft. 1, p. 293.
t Howe, /. ¢.
Pa Ea)
plant,” occasionally offered for sale asa curiosity. S. rapestris probably behaves in the same way.
In the neighborhood of Stanford University, a common fern is Gymnogramme triangularis, commonly known as “ gold-back fern,” from the yellow powdery secretion on the lower side of the leaf. This fern dries up in summer without the leaves dying down as they do in most ferns during the resting season. If a leaf from Such a dried-up specimen is placed in water, it will in a short time absorb water through its superficial cells, and soon becomes fresh and active. That this absorption of water is by the lamina of the leaf, and not through the petiole, may be shown by placing the dry leaf in water with the cut end of the petiole completely out of water. The leaf will soon become turgescent although it is quite impossible that any water could have been taken up through the cut end of the petiole. Large prothallia of this species (and perhaps of some other ferns) are often met with in the autumn, before there possibly can have been a development of these from germinating spores. To test the ability of the prothallium to endure complete drying up, Dr. Peirce made a culture from spores of Gymnogramme in the laboratory, and the prothallia thus grown were allowed to remain entirely dry during the whole summer of 1903. These were given water in the fall and proved to have survived the summer perfectly, numerous young plants developing later from these prothallia of the former season.
Goebel* has recorded from an allied fern Anogramme, of Southern Europe, perennial prothallia which develop tubérous structures not unlike those of certain liverworts. Whether any of our native ferns develop similar structures remains to be seen.
Some years ago, the writer received from San Diego, plants of a Selaginella — probably S. Ligelovit — with the earth in which they had grown. The latter contained a good many spores that had fallen from the plants, and earth, which had been kept dry through the summer was well watered and in a very short time young plantsappeared. Unfortunately, none of the ungerminated
*7. c., p. 426.
86
spores had been kept, so that it was impossible to determine be- yond doubt, whether germination had begun and the embryo had been already partially developed before growth had stopped in the spring. In view of these later observations on fern pro- thallia, this is by no means improbable, and if this should be the case, heterospory in Se/aginella would be advanced one step further in the direction of seed-formation.
It is certain that further examination of the archégoniates of our arid and semi-arid regions will reveal other adaptations quite
as interesting as those already recorded. STANFORD UNIVERSITY, March, 1904.
THE POLLEN TUBE IN THE CUCUREIT AGHA AND RUBIACEAE
By FrRANcIs E. LLoyp
In a recently published paper * Longo has given us the very interesting results of his later investigations on the behavior of the pollen tube in the Cucurbitaceae. The close similarity of the facts presented by Longo to those which have been observed by myself in Rubiaceae,} and the parallelism of our conclusions, will, perhaps, warrant a brief comparative statement of our results.
According to Dr. Longo, the ovary in Cucurbita Pepo L. is provided with a special conductive tissue which arises, by tan- gential cell-division, ‘‘ from the epidermis of the placental ridges and extends uninterruptedly from the style, through the three central laminae, to the ovule.”” The placentae, of course, fuse along their surfaces with one another, so that the layer of con- ductive tissue between any two of them is derived from two epi-
* Longo, B. Ricerche sulle Cucurbitaceae e il significato del percorso inter cellulare (endotropico) del tubetto pollinico. R. Accad. Lincei, Va, 6: 523-547. pl. 1-6. 1903. [‘ Presented in December, 1902.’’ Bot. Centralb. g5: 114. 1904. ]
+ Lloyd, F. E. The Comparative Embryology of the Rubiaceae. Memoirs Torrey Botanical Club, 8: 27-112, fp’. 5-75. 15 F 1902.
87
dermal cell-layers, and is continuous transversely, as well as longitudinally.
The tissue consists, moreover, of small sub-isodiametric cells, rich in contents, and xot lengthened in any direction in partic- ular. They lack, therefore, the anatomical characters found gen- erally in stylar conductive tissues, and are in form, at least, like the cells which lie in portions of the path of the pollen tube in Casuarina, certain Amentiferae, A/chemil/a and ina number of other plants.*
The conductive tissue is further extended between the ovules, being interrupted by their funicles, and comes ¢o abut upon their nuceli. This is brought about by the circumstance that in Cucurbita Pepo the nucellus has the shape of a flask, the long neck of which extends through and protrudes beyond the micro- pyle, its end coming into contact with the conductive tissue. It thus comes about that there is, in this species, xo free locular space, but rather a continuous stretch of conductive tissue from the stigma to the embryo sac. What would be inferred, namely, that the pollen tube must therefore have a completely intercel- lular course, is indeed the case, as Longo has demonstrated.
In the other genera studied, on the other hand, ¢. ¢., Cztru/lus vulgaris, Schrad. (which Longo figures), the nucellus has but a short neck, which leaves open a micropylar canal of considerable extent. From these, too, is absent the conductive tissue de- scribed for Cucurbita Pepo, there being instead an ovarian space. Through this, and through the micropyle, the pollen tube grows freely in its path to the nucellus, where, however, as in many other plants, it must enter upon a short intercellular course in order to reach the embryo sac. It thus appears that, 7x scwo closely related genera in the same family, and indeed in different spectes of the same genus, the pollen tube differs in its behavior, in that, in the one case its course ts throughout intercellular, while in the other it moves freely in a cavity.
In every other species of this genus, Cucurbita, the nucellus is too short to reach quite up to the conductive tissue (¢. 2, C maxima, ficifolia, foetidissima) and in these, the pollen tube
* For citations of the pertinent literature, see either of the papers above indicated.
88
moves freely in the cavity thus formed in reaching the nu- cellus.
There are, in addition to the above, some further details of in- terest in regard to the pollen tube. Its path, as described by a number of observers for other plants, lies between the cells of the conductive tissue in all cases. In Czcurbita, upon reaching the base of the neck of the nucellus, it enlarges to forma “bulla” of considerable size. Furthermore, this bulla in some cases pro- duces lateral cul-de-sacs, which extend into the surrounding tis- sues, after the manner of the lateral suspensor tubes in certain orchids * and in the Galieae among the Rubiaceae.t It further appears that the production of these lateral outgrowths of the ‘‘bulla”’ is correlated with the supply of starch in these sur- rounding tissues, since, when starch is absent, none are formed, and when abundantly present, the tubes are most extensively developed. Their use, therefore, according to Longe, is to reach out after food materials, which he believes are then passed on to the embryo, as a nutritive supply for its growth.
The conclusion that there is a correlation between the growth of the bulla and the presence of starch, the extent of the former being in direct proportion to the presence of the latter, appears to be supported by Longo’s observation that, when pollen grains are grown upon gelatine, bullae are formed, while, when they are allowed only moist air, they fail. These results are anal- ogous to those of van Tieghem obtained for Ricinus and Symphy- tum. Nan Tieghem, however, used gum arabic instead of gela- tine. In £lodea Canadensis, however, according to R. B. Wylie, t the pollen tubes which enter the ovarian cavity sometimes fail to reach the micropyle, and these produce ‘ cystoids”’ which are usually found to be quite free in the locule. Wylie further notes
”
that these ‘‘ cystoids,”’ which, it would seem, so far as we can at present see, are not different from the structures observed by
Longo and van Tieghem, are never produced in the tissues,
*Treub, M. Notes sur l’embryogénie de quelques Orchidées. Naturk. Verh. K. Akad, 19: —. 1879.
+ Lloyd, F. FE. Of. cit,
t The Morphology of £/odca Canadensis, Bot. Gaz. 31: 1-22. Ja 1904.
89
where, without doubt, food materials occur in greater abundance, however little their actual amount, than in the ovarian cavity. We must therefore conclude, in the absence of further evidence that this behavior may not wholly be determined in the manner asserted by Longo.
In discussing the facts above outlined, Longo draws the follow- ing conclusions :
1. The behavior of the pollen tube in following an intercellular path is not connected with its inability to grow freely in an open space. This is to be inferred from the fact that in closely related species the behavior in this respect is different according to the continuity of the conductive tissues. Longo has completely demonstrated the truth of his contention, by showing that the pollen of Humulus Lupulus L., and of Cannabis sativa L.,* in all of which the pollen tube has an endotropic course, germinates in humid air, and pollen tubes are produced. Experimental evi- dence was obtained in the case of the pollen of certain gymno- sperms (Picea excelsa, three spp. of Pius) which also germinated and produced tubes in moist air, from which he correctly inferred that the endotropic behavior in angiosperms cannot be due to an inheritance of this trait in the gymnosperms, as was pointed out by Murbeck.+ Clearly, we must, as Longo maintains, abandon the position that the phenomena of ectotropism and endotropism are quite distinct from each other.
2. Chalazogamy is not primitive in the angiosperms, and this, or in general, the intercellular behavior, is a later phenomenon, and in this, Longo differs from Treub and Nawaschin, but agrees with Murbeck, who regards such behavior as a physiological peculiarity, and of no meaning from a phylogenetic point of view.
3. In plants in which the pollen tube is endotropic, the direc- tion of its growth is determined by the presence of a special sub- stance to which it responds chemotactically. This, Longo adds, is developed within the tissues when the course is endotropic
“whongo;ets., (Op. cv, , p. 20.
t+ Murbeck, Sv. Ueber das Verhalten des Pollenschlauches bei Alchemilla ar- vensis. Lands. Univ. Arsskrift, 36: 9. I9go01I.
t Murbeck, Sv. O¢. cit.
90
and on their surfaces when the course is superficial. This con- clusion is drawn from the circumstances that the pollen tubes of Humulus and Cannabis, when growing upon a cover-glass in humid air, are indeterminate in the direction of their growth.
We may now turn to the facts concerning the behavior of the pollen tube in the Rubiaceae. The plants which offer these are Richardsonia pilosa, Diodia teres, and D. Virginiana. The ovary in Aichardsonia is trilocular, in Diodia, bilocular. dn all three there is a single ovule in each locule, and this is inserted at the top of the basal element of the partition which separates the locules. This partition reaches to the middle height of the ovary, and the separation of the locules from this point on is completed by the stylar elements. The latter has a conductive tissue of elongated cells, which extends to its point of fusion with the basal element of the partition. Up to this point in all three the course of the pollen tube is direct and endotropic. After this, however, it is quite different, in Richardsonia and Diodia teres on the one hand, and DY. Virginiana on the other. The ovule in Diodia Virginiana has a tract of epidermal conductive cells which are cubical in form, on the outer surface of which is secreted a mucilaginous substance. On the surface of these cells, the pollen tube moves freely till it reaches the micropyle, which it enters and traverses till it reaches the embryo sac. The con- ductive tissue is confined to a strophiolar outgrowth of the ovule.
In Richardsonia and LD. teres, however, the ovules are provided with a conductive tissue of deeply columnar epidermal cells, with den§$e protoplasmic contents, and thick but soft and yielding walls. There is, however, no mucilaginous secretion to be found upon their exposed ends. In these plants, the course of the pollen tube is always (Diodia teres) or nearly always (Richa d- sonia) completely endotropic. The pollen tube grows between the epidermal cells, as in the Cucurbitaceae, and follows a direct path toward the micropyle at right angles to the direction of least resistance. Aside from the latter fact, we have, it is seen, ¢zwo closely related genera, and two species of one of these, in which the behavior of the pollen tube ts different, in that, in one species the course is ectotropic, and in the two others, distributed in different genera, the course ts endotropic.
91
The following conclusions have been inferred by me from the above observations :
1. The form of the cells which compose a conductive tissue can have no importance in directing the pollen tube, though they may deflect it here and there in its course. This is clear from the circumstance that we have in two of the species studied, a conductive tissue, the cells of which are elongated at right angles to the path of the tube. We must therefore conclude that the guidance of the pollen tube through the tissue is due to a chem- otactic stimulus, thus confirming the view of Molisch and with which Longo finds agreement. In order, however, to deter- mine direction, the stimulant must, I have maintained, be dis- tributed differentially, from a center toward which, therefore, the pollen tube must grow. I now believe that the egg cell is the origin of this substance.
2. The behavior of the pollen tube, whether ectotropic or endo- tropic, is a purely physiological character. When the mechan- ical conditions make it necessary, as, ¢. g.,in Cucurbita Pepo, and as I have shown in Diodia teres, the path of the pollen tube is wholly endotropic; when, however, there is a free space to move in, this may be used by the pollen tube, or if the distribution of the chemotactic stimulant is otherwise, the free space may be - avoided. By inference, the phylogenetic interpretation of endo- tropism advanced by Treub and Nawaschin is of no further importance,
For other facts and conclusions, less relevant to our present purpose, the reader may be referred to the original papers. It is of no small interest that almost precisely parallel facts have been brought to light independently by two different observers, and that, equally independently, the same significance has been attached to these facts.
SHORTER NOTES
EVENING PriIMROsES. — The evening primroses (Oxagra or Oenothera) are the center of an unusual interest at the present time because of the new species which have been seen to arise
92
from O. Lamarckiana by Professor de Vries. The undersigned wishes to secure preserved specimens and ripe seeds of any form with large flowers, growing wild or in cultivation, east of the Mississippi river. Any information or cooperation which will enable me to se- cure this material for experimental pur- poses will be gratefully received. D. T. MacDouGat. -
New YorK BOTANICAL GARDEN.
TERATOLOGY OF SEEDLING BEAN. — The seedling lima-bean figured is re- markable in that it possesses three cot- yledons with a dextral phyllotaxy, the unpaired one being the lowest. All are of the usual size and apparently perfectly functional. The hypocotyl is of the usual length and thickness. The first node is swollen and bears three equally developed and functional leaves with coalesced petioles which form a tube slit down one side, from which the growing point protudes at a right an- gle to the stem. The seedling shows the same relative proportions as nor- mal seedlings planted at the same time ; each leaf is just as large, and if any- thing the whole plant is more vigorous than usual. Abnormalities often offer morphological or phylogenetic hints
of value, the most obvious one in this case being that bot- anists in all probability have been attaching too much im- portance to the number of cotyledons. Three cotyledons have been previously recorded in this genus according to Coulter (1903) and Braun in his Pflanzenmissbildungen (1869) mentions numerous other dicotyledons which occasionally possess three
cotyledons. Epwarp W. Brrry. PASSAIC, NEW JERSEY.
93
Scirpus Coloradoensis sp. nov.— Annual, uliginous, similar to Scirpus nanus; culms tufted, filiform, 4 cm. high or less. Spikelet solitary, ebracteate, linear-oblong, acutish, 3-5 mm. long, about 2 mm. thick: scales lanceolate, acutish, the keel green, bordered by two brown bands, the margins scarious: stamens apparently two: bristles none: achene brown, obovate, I mm. long, trigonous, narrowed at the base, the apex scarred by the base of the deciduous style, the surface finely papillose, the papillae arranged in irregular transverse lines.
Shore Lake, Larimer County, Colorado, /. H/. Cowen, July 21, 1896.
This species differs from S. zazzs in the darker scales, the ab- sence of bristles, and the darker colored papillose achene, the achene of S. xanus being finely longitudinally lined.
N. L. Britton.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CEUB
APRIL 12, 1904
The meeting was held at the New York College of Pharmacy, with Dr. MacDougal in the chair. The name of Miss A. Irva Lee Kuter, 1264 Lexington Avenue, New York City, was pre- sented by the nominating committee and she was elected to active membership in the Club.
The first paper of the evening was by Professor L. M. Under- wood on “ Cyathea and its allies in Jamaica.’”’ One of the objects of Professor Underwood’s trip to Jamaica last year was to study the tree ferns in the field. Specimens usually show a single pinna without its connections or any part of the caudex. Such material has been used for types and one species has been described from a single pinnule. Although a species which is well known can often be recognized by a fragment of a good specimen, it should show as much as possible of a pinna, its con- nection with the main rachis, and part of the caudex.
The Cyatheaceae or tree ferns mostly have an elongated cau- dex or trunk but afew are herbaceous. The more distinctive family characters are furnished by the sporangia, which are rounded-triangular with complete ring and are sessile or very
o4
shortly stalked. There are six generain the West Indies, distin- guished by the character of the indusium, habit and cutting of the leaves.
Cyathea arborea is the oldest and best known of the West In- dian tree ferns, and the only one common to most of the islands, many of the species being found only on the islands on which they were originally described. It occurs at an elevation of 1,000 to 2,000 feet and forms a handsome tree with a spread of 14 to 18 feet. Above this it is replaced by a similar but larger species of A/sophila. Cyathea arborea and C. elegans are notice- ably distinguishable by the caudex, that of the former being smooth while that of the latter is very rough and shaggy. C. nigrescens is common to Jamaica and Cuba. C. zsignis is a handsome plant, but as only two were seen, and these repre- sented, perhaps, 200 years growth, they were not taken for specimens, but notes were made on the trunk characters. A fine specimen, brought by Professor Earle, is in cultivation at the conservatory of the Botanical Garden. Of the 16 species of Cyathea, which are not doubtful, 13 are endemic in Jamaica ; three are known only from type specimens. The sharp prickles of these and other species secrete a poison, and wounds from them are very painful, so that collecting on the steep hillsides is likely to be attended with considerable discomfort. The genus Alsophila has three species which are well known. A. armata, occurring at 4,000 to 5,000 feet elevation, has a usual height of 40 to 45 feet and is the most graceful plant of the island. It is armed only with weak bristles. A/sop/ila aspera, which is a lower tree, has smooth leaves but prickly petioles. It occurs at about 1,500 feet elevation. Two of the species are endemic. /fem- telia has one species described early in the last century, which is probably extinct and two others very little known.
A species of Lophosoria has a dense bloom on the under side of the leaves and is somewhat xerophytic in habit. It has merely a woody base.
Cnemidaria is distinguished by its habit and the cutting of its leaves. It has veins uniting near the midrib to form meshes.
vd
Amphidesmium, with one herbaceous species from Trinidad and South America, differs from all other ferns in that the veins bear a second or even third sorus.
Most of the species discussed were illustrated by herbarium specimens and by portions of their trunks.
The second paper was by Dr. P. A. Rydberg on “The Flora of Northwest America.’’ A general discussion of the manuals available for the identification of the plants of different parts of the United States was given, and a review of Mr. Howell’s flora of the Columbia River region. The paper is soon to be published.
WitiiAmM T. Horne ’ Secretary pro tent.
NEWS ITEMS
Guy N. Collins, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Washington, is in Jamaica, investigating and photographing economic plants.
O. F. Cook, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, is in Guatemala, engaged in studies of rubber and other economic plant-products.
Professor Francis E. Lloyd lectured on May 6 before the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia on ‘ The Me tation of the Island of Dominica.”’
Willard W. Eggleston, C.E., of Rutland, Vermont, has been appointed a museum aid at the New York Botanical Garden, be- ginning work on June 1.
William R. Maxon, of the U. S. National Museum, sailed for Jamaica on May 14 with the purpose of making collections, especially of ferns, in the John Crow Mountains.
At the May meeting of the Board of Managers of the New York Botanical Garden, Dr. W. A. Murrill was elected assistant curator in place of Professor F. S. Earle, resigned, and Dr. D. T. MacDougal was advanced to the rank of assistant director.
Marshall A. Howe, assistant curator of the New York Botanical Garden, expects to sail for England on June 4. He is commis- sioned by the Garden to visit European museums and _ herbaria with special reference to studying collections of marine algae. Until September 15, manuscript intended for publication in TorrEYA may be addressed to Dr. John Hendley Barnhart, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx Park, New York City.
96
An important and practical bulletin of the Bureau of Plant In- dustry of the U. S. Department of Agriculture has recently been issued under the title of ‘‘ A Method of destroying or preventing the Growth of Algae and certain pathogenic Bacteria in Water Supplies,” the authors being Dr. George T. Moore and Mr. Karl F. Kellerman. The following statements are quoted from the authors’ summary: ‘It has been found that copper sulphate in a dilution so great as to be colorless, tasteless and harmless to man, is sufficiently toxic to the algae to destroy or prevent their appearance. The mode of application makes this method ap- plicable to reservoirs of all kinds, pleasure ponds and lakes, fish ponds, oyster beds, water-cress beds, etc. It is also probable that the method can be used for the destruction of mosquito larvae. At ordinary temperatures 1 part of copper sulphate to 100,000 parts of water destroys typhoid and cholera germs in from three to four hours. The ease with which the sulphate can then be eliminated from the water seems to offer a practical method of sterilizing large bodies of water, when this becomes necessary.’’ Reservoirs have been successfully treated by towing the copper sulphate in a coarse bag from the stern of a row-boat. A solution of 1 part of the sulphate to about 50,000,000 parts of water has been found fatal to Sperogyra and a I to 4,000,000 sol::tion appears to be destructive to the blue-green algae.
The Philadelphia Botanical Club and the Torrey Botanical Club will hold a joint field meeting at McCall’s Ferry, Pennsylvania, in the valley of the Susquehanna River, July 2 to 9, 1904, which all botanists are cordially invited to attend. Excursions will be made from this point as a center, to points in the vicinity, return- ing each day ; botanists can therefore conveniently take part in the meeting by arriving at McCall’s Ferry any afternoon during the week. Informal evening conferences will be held for the discus- sion of topics that may be brought forward. Fares to McCall’s Ferry are as follows: Philadelphia to McCall’s Ferry and return, $3.36; New York to McCall’s Ferry and return, $6.96 ; Wash- ington to McCall’s Ferry and return, $4.06. Hotel charges at McCall's Ferry are $1.25 per day. Guides : Messrs. Stewardson Brown and Jos, Crawford.
Vol. 4 No. 7
TORREY A
July, 1904
PODITIONS: TO “THE FLORA OF LONG ISLAND” By SmirH ELY JELLIFFE
In the Flora of Long Island, published by me in 1899, I ex- pressed a wish that some students who were working on special branches might be able to fill out and complete the list that was then presented. I have been favored from time to time by con- tributions from various sources, and desire to express my sincere thanks to those who have thus assisted me.
In Torreya for April, 1902, Dr. A. J. Grout published a very full list of additions to those enumerated in my Flora, which very materially extended it. At the present time it gives me pleasure to report upon two contributions, one made by Dr. Hulst just before his death, containing some of the plants not included in Dr. Grout’s list, and some additions by Mr. D. N. Shoemaker found about Cold Spring Harbor. Mr. Shoemaker’s list is particularly valuable in respect to the lower plants.
It was confessed that the first list represented the lower forms very imperfectly, and it seems to me worth while to call the attention of botanical students to the interest that a study of such a restricted district might take on upon further investigation.
As noted in the former list the lichens are not at all repre- sented, and there is unquestionably a field for the study of rock and bark lichens which has not as yet been cultivated. Very few additions have been made to the algal forms, although there is little doubt that those enumerated in my Flora represent a very small proportion of those actually growing in the fresh and salt waters of the island.
[Vol. 4, No. 6, of ToRREYA, comprising pages 81-96, was issued June 8, 1904. ] 97
98
Myxomycetes (by Daniel N. Shoemaker)
Enteridium Rozeanum Wing. Didymium nigripes Fries.
Cribraria pyriformis Schrad. effusum Link. aurantiaca Schrad. Diachea elegans Fries. languescens Rex. Chondrioderma spumarioides
mucrocarpa (Schrad.) Pers. Rost.
testaccum (Schrad.) Rost.
reticulatum Rost.
minutissima Schwein.
tenella Schrad. Arcyria punicea Pers. Leocarpus vernicosus Link. flava Pers. Physarum nutans Pers. globuliferum (Bull.) Pers.
tenerum Rex.
Jerruginea Sauter. Triclia affinis de Bary.
Enerthenema elegans Bowm.
Lamproderma arcyrionema Rost.
Comatricha obtusata Preuss.
caespitosa Sturgis. lurida List.
bivalve Pers. viride Pers. leucopus Link. calidris List. virescens Ditm. nucleatum Rex.
Stemonitis Smithit Macbr. pallida Wing. Didymium farinaceum Schrad.
Badhamia lilacina (¥Fr.) Rost. rubiginosa (Chev.) Rost.
RHODOPHYCEAE (by D. N. Shoemaker) Chantransia virgatula (Harv.) — Halosaccion ramentaceum (L.) Thuret. J. Ae Ascomycetes (by D. N. Shoemaker) Hypocrea rufa (Pers.) Fries.
Geoglossum hirsutum Pers.
Lachnea coccinea Jacq. Bulgaria inguinans Fries.
esiza pustulata Pers. Flelotium subsessile Schum.
BasipiomyceTEs (by D. N, Shoemaker)
Polyporus dryophilus Berk. Stmblum rubescens Gerard, first pubescens Schum. described from Long flavo-virens B. & Rav. Island. —
Dictyophora phaltoidea Desv.
Hydnum sonatum Batsch. adustum Schw.
99
Musci
Fontinalis antipyretica gigantea (Sulliv.) Sulliv. Valley Stream,
Flulst. PTERIDOPHYTA
Botrychium obliquum Muhl. Betts Creek, Brooklyn, A/z/s¢.
Uvilaria grandiflora J. E. Smith. Betts Creek, Brooklyn, Hulst.
Narcissus poeticus L., found in woods on Shelter Island. Probably roots thrown out there. //w/st.
Coeloglossum bracteatum (Willd.) Parl. Wading River.
Rumex persicarioides L. Montauk.
Polygonum lapathifolium L. Maspeth.
P. littorale Link. New Lots, along Salt Marshes, /7/z/st.
Roubieva multifida (L.) Mog. Brooklyn, Hudst.
Atriplex patula L. Rockaway, Hulst.
Silene Cucubalus L. Forbells (escaped), Hz/st.
Delphinium Azacts . Woodhaven (escaped), Hz/st.
Brassica Napus L. Woodhaven, Hudst.
Barbarea stricta Andrz. Flushing, Hast.
Cardamine Pennsylvanica Muh). Forbells, /Yzdst.
Berteroa incana (L.) DC. Rockaway Beach, Milburn.
Rubus Americanus (Pers.) Britton. Cypress Hills, Awst.
R. setosus Bigel. Jamaica South, /7e/s¢.
R. Baileyanus Britton. New Lots, 2st.
Potentilla intermedia L. Flushing, Adst.
Rosa cinnamomea L. Jamaica (escaped), H72/s¢.
Pyrus communis L. Jamaica, often found, /7z/st.
Prunus Avium L. Jamaica, He/st.
Lespedeza frutescens (L.) Britton. Jamaica, Hz/st.
L. Nuttalla Darl. Cypress Hills, A/udst.
Acalypha gracilens A. Gray. Cypress Hills, -/2dést.
Buxus sempervirens L. Planted about old foundations, Ax/st.
Euphorbia maculata L. Brooklyn, Huds¢.
Mercurialis annua L. Common around Erie Basin and per- manent, //z/s/.
Vitis cordifolia Michx. Winfield, Ast.
Hypericum adpressum Bart. Hempstead.
100
Viola Brittoniana Pollard. Forbells, Az/s¢.
V. ovata Nutt. Woodhaven (?), /z/s¢.
Apium graveolens L. Queens County, Fud/st.
Apocynum hypericifolium Ait. Coney Island, Ha/s¢.
Asclepias decumbens L. New Lots, Hudst.
A. pulchra Eth. Forbells, Hudst.
Acerates viridifiora Ives Britton. Woodhaven, Hust.
Heliotropium EuropacumL,. Cultivated fields near Betts Creek, Hulst.
Limosella aquatica L. Cold Spring, Shoemaker.
Plantago eriopoda Torr. Brooklyn, Aalst.
Galium palustre L. New Lots, Audst.
Lonicera Japonica Thunb. Cypress Hills, etc., Haudsz.
Ficris echioides L. Brooklyn, Audst.
FHypochaeris radicata L. Cedarhurst, Milburn-Jahn, Aa/sz.
Leontodon hastile L. Milburn-Jahn.
Malacothrix sonchoides (Nutt.) T. & G. Milburn-Jahn, Hast.
Flicractum murorum L. Lioyd’s Neck, Northport, /adsz.
Acanthospermum humile (Sw.) DC. On ballast, Gowanus, //u/s¢.
Aster Lowrieanus Porter. Richmond Hill, Wud/s¢.
Lrauneria purpurea (L.) Britton. One specimen at Richmond Hill, accidental.
Other additions have been as follows :
Clitocybe Geotropus Bull. Glen Cove.
Polytrichum juniperinum alpinum Schimp. Jiss M. L. Sanied.
Centaurca Jacea LL. East Hampton, Mrs. L. D. Pychowska.
Rhexia Mariana L. East Hampton, dds. L. D. Pychowska.
This makes an addition of 180 plants, including Dr. Grout’s list, to those reported in my Flora, the total number now being
2,418 species, Further contributions would be welcomed. 64 WEST 56TH STREET, NEW YORK.
A COLLECTING TRIP TO HA By GEORGE V. NASH
During the past summer I spent about five weeks in the Re- public of Haiti, which occupies the western third of the island
101
of the same name. The population is estimated at about 1,300,- - 000, all negroes, with the exception of a few mulattos and white men.
The portion of the island visited by me, a small area in the northwestern corner, is the most inaccessible section. It can only be reached on horseback, and over roads that, at times, ap- pear almost impassable. They were but trails, and led through valleys, over mountains, and across rivers and brooks, which had to be forded repeatedly, for there are no bridges. It required being in the saddle from daylight to dark, and a day’s journey through such rough country made supper and an early bed most delightful.
We, my assistant and myself, were the guests of my friend, Mr. A. E. Casse, at Bayeux, a plantation about eighteen miles west of Cap Haitien, and located near the seashore. An island but a short distance from the shore and a projecting point of the main- land make a very good harbor, and here my friend keeps his motor boat anchored. This boat is used to communicate with the Cape, as Cap Haitien is locally called, and several trips are made each week. The only other means of communication is on horseback, a long and devious journey of about fifty miles, requiring about six hours for its accomplishment, if you ride fast. A cable to New York has its terminus at the Cape, but as the toll is $1.10 per word, including address and signature, any ex- tensive communication by this means becomes rapidly expensive. But having the cable so near at hand, only eighteen miles by boat, about three hours in time, made us feel that we could receive messages from the outside world and communicate with home if we so desired.
The plantation at Bayeux was made our headquarters, and from this place trips were made into the mountains of the interior occupying several days each — one trip required ten days for its completion. The country at and about the plantation is flat, with a few low hills in the rear, and the flora is, for the great part, that which prevails throughout the West Indies. The strand flora was of course that common on such shores. The beach morning-glory (/pomoea Pes-caprae), the sea-grape (Coc-
102
colobis Uvifera), a species of spider lily (AZymmenocallis), and one of prickly pear (Opuztia), prevailed.
Where the sea penetrated into the low flat lands, mangrove swamps were found. They are always weird, their great strag- gling roots, like vast spiders, clamber in all directions ; and this weirdness was but intensified by the almost absolute quiet on a still day, the silence only broken by the rustling of the crabs, as they grotesquely sidled along these roots, looking at one with their unwinking bead-like eyes, as if resenting this untoward in- vasion of their domain.
Several species of the genus Ficws are found in these low lands, and the star-apple (Chrysophyllum Cainito) was of common occur- rence, with its beautiful leaves upturned by the breeze, exposing the silky brown felt of the lower surface. It is a pity this tree is not hardy in our climate, for it would be a great addition to our arborescent decorations. Its fruit is edible and wholesome.
Banana fields were everywhere on the plantation, the bananas serving as temporary shade for the rubber trees (Casvzd/oa elastica) and the chocolate tree (Zheobroma Cacao). These are planted in rows, the chocolate trees predominating, the rubber tree, the much taller grower of the two, eventually forming permanent shade for its smaller neighbor. The bananas are planted in rows between. Their fruit is being largely used at present in the manufacture of desiccated bananas, which are being sent in con- siderable quantities to Europe.
Sugar cane is also grown and its juice manufactured into rum and tafia, a poor quality of rum. The intoxicating effects of either are vigorous in the extreme, and when it is understood that tafia can be had for a few centsa gallon, the ease with which a good sized debauch may be had can be appreciated. Mangos, avocado pears and other tropical fruits grow plentifully on the plantation, and rice is cultivated to some extent.
This region about the plantation was pretty thoroughly col- lected, and, as was to be expected, yielded but few things which were not of general distribution. But as one leaves this low country and ascends to the mountains in the interior, great changes are noted in the vegetation. All the characteristic plants
1038
of the coast are soon left behind and an entirely new flora takes their place. Ferns become more numerous the higher one ascends, and at about 2,000 feet tree ferns make their appearance, and in deep shaded places a few filmy ferns may be found. It is not until about 3,500 feet are attained that these become plenti- ful, and then they clothe everything, tree trunks, rocks, soil, all surfaces in fact, are covered with them; and to the beauty of these is added also the delicate tracery of the moss and hepatic. At this elevation everything is dripping moisture, for the sum- mits of all these mountains are bathed in clouds every afternoon and toward evening daily showers prevail, and such showers as they are! We were caught in one of them and for two hours we ploughed through mud and rain, soaked to the skin.
We traveled many miles through rank tropical verdure, and at last, away up in the mountains at a place called Marmelade, we came upon the pine forest, about which we had heard so many reports, and which was in fact our objective point on this long trip into the interior. To come suddenly, as we did, upon these trim stately pines, clothing the steep mountain side, was so great a change, that one could hardly realize that it was the same land, and that by turning ones back miles of tropical vegetation could be seen in the rear. The change in the character of the accom- panying plants was equally as marked. Shrubby composites, melastomads in great number, and even an agave, with flowering stems 6-8 feet tall, became the common order of things. The undergrowth in the portion of the pine land visited by us was very dense, and traversing it, other than by the trails, was an extremely difficult task and very tiresome.
As in the other villages in which we stopped, here at Marme- lade we were entertained by the Catholic priest. The lives of these men, frequently the only white men in the villages over which they preside, must be lonely in the extreme, and they seemed delighted to see us and urged us to come again. We were their guests everywhere, and their open hospitality was grat- ifying. At this little place many European vegetables are grown, including excellent potatoes, which we sampled ; peaches are also raised. The much cooler atmosphere, actually cold at times
104
we were informed, makes this possible. The air is much less humid and its bracing qualities are soon apparent. A prolonged | stay in the low lands during the summer time is very depressing, and we northerners greatly enjoyed the tonic qualities of the mountain air.
One cannot adequately convey the impressions received during a trip of this kind, only a personal visit will do this. The coun- try is a strange one, almost unknown, is dominated by the negro, a condition not existing elsewhere in America, and botanically it is practically a virgin field. It was my first visit to the tropics, so not only was my interest constantly aroused by seeing in their perfection plants which we strive with much care to raise in our conservatories, but added to this was the excitement engendered by exploring a country rarely visited by white men. The inhab- itants were generous in the extreme, and hospitable; child-like and simple we found the people of the mountains, as easily angered as a child, and as easily placated, and so with all the child’s uncertainties.
SHORTER NOTES
Two-BRACTED Docwoop. — The effect of the severe winter, just passed, on our native plants would prove an interesting study to one favorably located for its pursuit. The common dogwood, Cornus florida L., shows in a most striking manner that it did not escape unscathed. On all the trees examined by me, numbering about a dozen and growing in a variety of situ- ations, nearly all the flower-clusters are subtended by but two normal opposite bracts, the outer pair remaining simply bud- scales or perhaps showing white for a quarter or a half of an inch. In numerous clusters all four bracts have remained unde-
veloped. Epwarp W. Berry. Passaic, NEW JERSEY,- May, 1904.
Savia Bahamensis sp. nov. —A shrub about 2 m. high with ascending branches, similar to S. erythroxyloides Griseb. of Cuba. Leaves oblong-obovate, thick, obtuse and rounded at the apex, narrowed at the base, 6 cm. long or less, 1-3 cm. wide, dark green, shining and strongly reticulated above, pale green and in-
105
conspicuously reticulated beneath ; petioles stout, about 5 mm. long, about as long as the dense clusters of staminate flowers : fruit glabrous, depressed-globose, slightly and obtusely 3-lobed, about 8 mm. in diameter.
Thickets, West Street Road, near Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas, /ritton, no. 84, April 8, 1904 (type) ; New Providence, W. C. Coker, nos. 157 and 160, June 24, 1903; Deep Creek, Andros, Northrop, no. 610, June, 1890.
Savia erythroxyloides has leaves nearly equally dark green, shining and reticulated on both sides. N. L. Britton.
-
Nores oN CusAN PLANts. — Among the plants collected in Cuba by Dr. and Mrs. Britton and myself in March, 1903, or by me alone in April, are several introduced species that appear as weeds which, so far as I have been able to ascertain, have not heretofore been reported from the West Indies. Two of these are small composites, hailing from Mexico.
Calyptrocarpus vials Less., a low creeping, apparently peren- nial plant, although described as an annual, was first observed on the grounds surrounding the historic shrine, Monserrate, at Ma- tanzas. Here it was matted among the low grass on this promi- nent eminence, attaining its greatest perfection in the shade of the great spreading “laurel” (Ficus religiosa L.) but perfectly happy in the more sunny places. Later I found it at Havana, a common weed on vacant lots in the heart of the city, while at the beautiful ‘‘ Parque Colon” laborers were engaged, on their haunches, pulling it out from among the Bermuda-grass lawns. It was again collected the following August by Britton and Wilson at Cumbre near Matanzas, also from the Isle of Pines in April, 1904, where Mr. A. H. Curtiss collected two small plants in ‘‘ tobacco beds’ at Nueva Gerona.
Dysodia porophylla Cav. A small marigold-like plant with orange-yellow flowers was also first observed near Monserrate, in the taller grass more remote from the shrine and again in the thin soil over the coral rock on the north coast west of Havana, at Buena Vista. Britton and Wilson also collected it at Cumbre. In neither case was it abundant. It is probably of very recent introduction. J. A. SHAFER.
106
PROCEEDINGS OF THE Cig
THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 1904
This meeting was held in the museum building of the New York Botanical Garden; Dr. H. H. Rusby presided and twenty persons were present.
Mr. O. P. Medsger, 167 Laurel Avenue, Arlington, N. J., was elected a member of the Club.
A report of the committee on increasing the membership of the Club was asked for, and Dr. Rusby, chairman of the com- mittee, reported that the work was to be taken up more actively after the closing of the school year.
The Club voted to support the application of Miss W. J. Rob- inson for a grant from the Newberry Fund to aid her in the study of Jamaica ferns.
A communication from the organization committee for the International Botanical Congress to be held in Vienna, June 12 to 18, 1905, concerning the number of delegates the Club would send to the Congress was read by Dr. Barnhart. It was moved and carried that the Secretary be authorized to notify the com- mittee that the Club expects to send three delegates.
The first paper of the scientific program was by Dr. N. L. Britton, on ‘“‘ Explorations in Florida and the Bahamas.” This was illustrated by maps and specimens, and described the general features of the flora of the region of the part of subtropical Florida south of Miami, to which a visit of three weeks’ duration was made in March and early April with Mrs. Britton and Dr. M. A. Howe, in cooperation with Professor P. H. Rolfs of the U. S. Subtropical Laboratory. A detailed account of the flora was not taken up, inasmuch as Dr. John K. Small, who explored the same region last autumn, and who will again visit it in May, pro- poses to publish a complete account of the material secured. Two genera, new to the continent, both represented in Florida by a single species were discovered, Alvaradoa, in hammock lands, and Sacisia in pine lands, both of these genera existing also in Cuba and in the Bahamas.
Dr. C. F. Millspaugh, of the Field Columbian Museum, joined
107
the party early in April and the Island of New Providence in the Bahamas was partially explored. The distribution of plants of this island was described, the littoral zone containing many com- mon West Indian and Floridian species, of which the most char- acteristic are perhaps the shrubs /acguinia Keyensis, and Salmea petrolioides, the latter endemic in the Bahamas.
Between the littoral zone and the interior regions of the island there is in places a plant society, which may be termed an inter- mediate one, characterized by such shrubs as Luarus Lahamensis, Banara reticulata, Calhandra formosa.
The pine lands (Pixus Lahamensis) contain among other species, Preridium caudatum, Vernonia Bahamensis and Byrsonima lucida, as characteristic species. The palmetto lands (apparently Lnodes Palmetto) contain more herbaceous vegetation than the other regions, including Linum Bahamensis, Sachsia Bahamensis, and Sabbatia campanulata, though also having a considerable number of shrubs. The ‘‘coppets”’ or ‘‘ hammocks,” as they are called in Florida, are areas devoid of either pines or palmettos and often occupy isolated areas entirely surrounded by pine forests as in southern Florida; characteristic trees of these ham- mocks are Dipholis salicifolia, Lugenta confusa, Icacorea paniculata, and Coccolobis laurifolia, all of which occur in similar situations in Florida.
Dr. C. F. Millspaugh, who was with Dr. Britton and remained somewhat longer, was asked to discuss the paper. He reported that plants found in bloom at the center of the island were found in fruit at the west end, while at the east end, which is dry and rocky, the buds of the same