1892.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 377 



As in the great dogwood, Corinis florida, some of the bracts are 

 shaded from iight-rose to deep pink, as appeared from some belated 

 flowering plants. 



The so-called "bracts" of these species of Conuts, as I have 

 noted elsewhere, are not true bracts but merely simulate them. 

 They are flower bud scales which have taken on renewed growth, 

 carrying along the earlier formation which, during the winter, acted 

 as a bud scale and which, in the spring season, gives the dark obtuse 

 ai)ex to the " bract." 



Aralia hispida. 



An interesting feature in many plants is that while the inflores- 

 cence, as a whole, may be centripetal the flowers themselves are 

 centrifugal. Aralia hispida is a good illustration. While the ter- 

 minal umbel is the first to flower, the flowers themselves in each 

 umbel are centrifugal. 



Of special interest in this species is the fact that while all the 

 male flowers have but five stamens, fully one-fourth of the female 

 flowers have six carpels. 



LUZULA CAMPESTRIS. 



The appendages at the base of the seeds in some species of 

 L%izula are well known. It occurred to me to endeavor to ascertain 

 their special function. No theoretical conception as to their func- 

 tion or place in the economy of plant life could be satisfactorily 

 formed. A novel point seemed to be that long after the flower stalk 

 had become dry, and the valves of the capsules expanded, the seeds 

 were held in place by the appendage, hanging loosely from side to 

 side as the capsule might be turned about. While so many plants 

 have arrangements for projecting seeds from the capsules, it seemed 

 remarkable that this should be specialized to retain them. 



CaKILE AMERICANA. 



The flowers being unexceptionally fertile led me to infer that they 

 were self-pollinate. Examining a large number at Atlantic City in 

 the middle of June, I found this to be the case. The anthers press 

 ao-ainst the stigma and cover it with their own pollen before the 

 bud expands. A remarkable feature in the Atlantic City flowers is 

 the comparatively small size of the petals, and in a large number 

 of flowers only a single pair of ])etals are produced, the flowers los- 

 ing in these cases their cruciferous form. At Seal Harbor, Maine 



