Angewandte Botanik. 559 



that the palisade-cells of the latter are much shorter and form only 

 one Stratum. Theo Holm. 



Holm, T., Medicinal plantsof North America. 34. Comus 

 florida. L. (Merck's Report XVIII. p. 318— 321. fig. 1 — 15. Dec. 1909.> 



"Cornus" the drug obtained from the bark of C. florida L. con- 

 tains a bitter principle "cornine" and a small quantity of tannic and 

 gallic acids. The bark of the root, stem and branches is bitter, 

 astringent, slightly aromatic. It was used in intermittent fever, in 

 typhoid, and all febrile disorders. The flowers have the same pro- 

 perties, and are chiefly used by the Indian, in warm infusion for 

 colies and fevers. The seedling has a long, primary root, an erect, 

 tall hypocotyl, and the cotyledons are epigeic, elleptic. Characte- 

 ristic of the root is the thickwalled cork of pericambial origin, and 

 the absence of crystals. We notice in the hypocotyl a thinwalled 

 endodermis, and isolated Strands of stereome corresponding with 

 the four primary mestome-strands, which are collateral, and border 

 on a homogeneous, thinwalled pith. In the twigs the pith is, on the other 

 hand, heterogeneous, with large sclerotic cells in groups; calcium- 

 oxalate occurs in the twigs as large, Single crystals in the cortex. 



In the foliage of the tree the structure is bifacial, and the 

 cuticle wrinkled, and extremely thick above the midrib. Two types 

 of hairs occur: unicellular, pointed, and two-armed, densely covered 

 with cuticular granules. There is a Single, ventral layer of high 

 palisades and a very open pneumatic tissue. The mechanical tissue 

 is poorly represented, consisting only of a few hypodermal strata 

 of collenchyma accompanying the midvein, and of a thinwalled 

 collenchymatic sheath surrounding the same vein. Typical paren- 

 chyma-sheaths Surround the thin, lateral veins. Two mestome-strands 

 compose the midvein, while the lateral contain Single mestome- 

 bundles. In the leaves of the seedling the cuticle is much thinner, 

 and the midvein contains only one Strand of mestome; morover 

 the palisade-cells are short, and plump, and there is an isolated 

 Strand of stereome in the margin of the blade, which I did not 

 observe in the leaf of the mature tree. A much simpler structure 

 was observed in the cotyledons, in which the mestome-strands, 

 including the midvein, are embedded in the chlorenchyma, lacking 

 the collenchymatic support, but otherwise the structure agreed with 

 that of the first leaves of the plumule, except that they are per- 

 fectly glabrous. 



Cornus florida shows a striking, and remarkable regulär manner 

 of growth of the lateral branches, which are horizontal, and bifur- 

 cate. The inflorescence is central, and bears two pairs of small 

 bracts at the base of the peduncle, while the bud-scales enlarge in 

 the spring, and become snow-white, as if they were parts of the 

 flower. Theo Holm. 



Roberts, H. F., and G. F. Freeman. Deterioration of Red 

 Texas Oats in Kansas. (Bull. 153, Kansas Agric. Exp. Station 

 (Manhattan, Kans.), p. 147—164, pls. 1—5 and Vignette on title 

 page, Mar. 1908.) 



The variety known as Red Texas Oats has been found to become 

 contaminated with a black variety when grown in Kansas and so 

 rapidly as to necessitate the reimportation of fresh seed from Texas. 

 The two varieties are markedly different and in the experimental 



