318 



g1> 



do not embrace plants of any special rarity, yet they were of in- 

 terest to me, as being just what one would expect to find at such 

 an elevation. The absence of any shade whatever and of any 

 rich soil, to any extent, of course excludes many plants that other- 

 wise would be found. On the way up the mountain, in the rich 

 woods, I collected Ribes ruhruvi in fruit, and Strcptopus amplcxifo- 

 litis was very abundant. Its coral red berries make it a very 

 attractive plant. WALTER Deaxe. 



The Pinnatifid Leaves of Nasturtium Armoracla. 



In Gray's Manual, revised edition, the leaves of this species 

 are described as follows : " Root-leaves very large, oblong, 

 crcnate, rarely pinnatifid." My observations on the plant, con- 

 ducted during a long and bitter struggle with it in my garden, 

 lead me to conclude that the pinnatifid leaves are not rare, but 

 periodical in their appearance. The order of the foliation of the 

 plant, as noted by mc for the past three years, is as follows: 

 Early in the spring the leaves are small, dissected or dissected 

 pinnatifid. Those next in order are larger and have broader 

 lobes, and after a short time these in turn are succeeded by the 

 broad or summer leaves. Often a single plant will have a series 

 of leaves showing a complete gradation from the dissected to 

 the broad blade. The broad leaves are characteristic of the sum- 

 mer state of the plant, and I have never seen a pinnatifid leaf in 

 midsummer. Early in the fall the new leaves as they appear have 

 more deeply crenate-toothed margins, and as the season advances, 

 many of the plants send out truly pinnatifid leaves again. There 

 are indications that this would be the case with all if the season 

 of growth were longer, for the buds of all usually contain unde- 

 veloped pinnatifid leaves when the frost kills the foliage. In 

 October of the present year, every plant, in over forty which I 

 examined, had some of the leaves pinnatifid. As the plant ap- 

 pears in our gardens there is no assignable cause for so marked a 

 change of foliage. The history of the plant, so far as I can find 

 out, is silent as to Its habits in the wild state, but it prefers, in this 

 country, rich wet ground, rarely thriving on high and dry soils. 

 This fact, taken in connection with others, as the habits of allied 



