342 
Reviews of Foreign Literature. 
Monographie des Especes du Genre Fraxinus. Alfred Wesmael. 
(Bull. Soc. Bot. Belg. xxxi. 69-117.) 
In this monograph of the Ashes the author recognizes twenty- 
three species, distributed among four sections of the genus based 
on floral characters. These sections are: I. Ornus, with her- 
maphrodite petaliferous flowers in a terminal thyrsus, represented 
in America by F. dip~etala, Hook. and Arn., and F. cuspidata, 
Torr.; II. Fraxinaster., having apetalous flowers in lateral pani- 
cles, not represented in America; III, Sciadantus, flowers apetal- 
ous hermaphrodite, in simple umbels, this section including only 
F. dimorpha, Coss. and Dur. of North Africa, and IV. Leptalix 
with polygamous flowers, including the American species F. 
Schiedeana, C. and S., & Greggiz, A. Gray, & Americana, L., 
F. nigra, Marsh. (F. sambuctfolia, Lam), to which F. Caroliniana, 
Mill. (7. platycarpa, Michx.) is referred as a sub-species, /. 
guadrangulata, Michx., and /. anomala, Torr., and two Asiatic 
species. 
The treatment of / Americana, L., is characteristic of the 
present tendency of several botanists of continental Europe to 
throw similar forms into a single species if possible, and recognize 
under the species a very large number of sub-species and varie- 
’ ties, without regard to geographical distribution or the constancy — 
of slight differences. So M. Wesmael groups under /. Ameri- 
cana, F. pistaciefolia, Torr., F. Nove-Anglie, Mill (F. viridis, 
Michx.), /. Berlanderiana, D. C., F. Pennsylvanica, Marsh. (F. 
pubescens, Lam), and F. Oregana, Nutt, all of which, in our opin- 
ion, had better be maintained as species. He has evidently seen 
but very few specimens of any of them. N. L. B. 
Kreidepflanzen von Niederschina. . Engelhart. (Sitzb. 
und Abhl. der Nat. Ges. Isis in Dresden, 1891, 79-105; Taf. ii.) 
This illustrated description of cretaceous plants, found near 
the village of Niederschona, Saxony, is of interest to Ameri- 
can palaeobotanists, inasmuch as many of the species identified 
are well recognized from our own horizons of the same age— 
such as Eucalyptus Geinitzi, Heer, Liriodendron Meehkii, Heet, 
Pa tt the Oe ee ae iy 
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