86 Rhodora [May 
SIMILARITY OF COLOR IN BUD AND IN LEAF. 
HEYWARD SCUDDER. 
DurinG the last year I have noticed that the dominant color of 
the leaf-bud is the dominant color of the leaf after it has turned in the 
autumn. The most familiar examples of this are to be seen in the 
maples, particularly the swamp maple, and the willows. It is also 
true of the beeches, many of the rose family, and of the heath family 
as represented by the huckleberry and blueberries. The rhododen- 
dron, which is an evergreen, has green leaf-buds. In the case of the 
oaks the general color of the turned leaf is brown. But this varies so 
that the dominant color may be red (giving a red brown) or yellow 
(giving a yellow brown). So far as my observation goes the oak 
leaf-bud follows the principle just stated, varying as does the domi- 
nant color of the turned leaf. 
If this fact is not already known, it is worthy of further observation. 
The nature and cause of the change of color of the leaf in autumn are 
better understood at present than they were formerly. But, as is 
the case with many of the problems of animal and of vegetable life, 
there is a great tendency to draw conclusions which are really state- 
ments of the problem in another form, the use of new words concealing 
the lack of advance in knowledge. (I admit that this is true in other 
branches of chemical work, but in them it is easier to get some sort 
of check on the accuracy and value of the work, than it is in the case 
of the chemistry of the changes connected with animal and vegetable 
life.) 
There is no obvious reason why Penicillium glaucum in a mixture 
of dextro- and laevorotatory salts, should prefer one to the other, 
although able to use both, nor why one plant should use a consider- 
able amount of silicon, when most plants use very minute amounts. 
The generalizations are difficult to reach, both because of the great 
variations produced by small changes in environment (whether 
terrestrial or atmospheric) and because of the limited amount of 
knowledge we actually possess. 
While some plants are known to contain alkaloids, recent work 
makes it quite certain that these compounds are not fixed bodies, 
e. y. the alkaloid aconitine varies in composition, depending on the 
