658 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



BOTANY. 



GENERAL, 

 Including the Anatomy and Physiology of Seed Plants. 



Cytology, 

 including Cell-Contents. 



Poison of Lotus arabicus.* — W. E. Dunstan and T. A. Henry give 

 an account of the chemical and physical properties of the glucoside 

 lotusin which they have isolated from this plant. The plant has proved 

 fatal to many domestic animals in Egypt. Lotusin, like amygdalin, 

 gives prussic acid as a decomposition product. 



Structure and Development. 

 Vegetative. 



Germination of Carapa guianensis.j — J. W. Harshberger describes 

 the germination of seeds of this member of the order Meliacese. The 

 seeds begin to germinate before they fall out of the capsule. The coty- 

 ledons are conferruminate and never leave the seed, and the course of 

 germination is that which is usually observed in the case of seeds con- 

 taining a large store of reserve material. The protrusion of the radicle 

 is followed by that of the plumule, the stem elongates and develops at 

 first only scale-leaves, and then in succession leaves which gradually 

 assume the character of the adult form. The author contrasts the 

 germination of this species with that of C. moluccensis which is a man- 

 grove plant, while G. guianensis is a land plant. The germination is 

 somewhat similar in the two cases ; the chief difference lies in the 

 formation of a tuber-like radicle and pneumatode in C moluccensis in 

 association with its littoral mode of life. 



Peculiar Stages of Foliage in the Genus Acacia.f — C. E. Preston 

 discusses the development of the bipiunate leaf and of the phyllode in 

 species of Acacia, and suggests that the appearances described favour 

 Reinke's view of the existence of a great variety in the mode of origin 

 of the phyllode. 



Precocious Branching^ — ~D. G. Fairchild describes the production 

 of an early branch on a poplar, which arose from a wound. The wound 

 had healed and the branch originated near the callus. The author 

 suggests the possible importance of the phenomenon in the production 

 of earlier developing varieties of shade or fruit trees. 



Subterranean Organs of Californian Liliace8e.|| — A. Rimbach has 

 studied the method of penetration of the soil adopted by various species 



* Phil. Trans. B, cxciv. (1901) pp. 515-33. 



t Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., liv. (1902) pp. 122-6 (1 pi.). 



J Amer. Natural., xxxvi. (1902) pp. 727-34 (10 figs.). 



§ Bot. Gaz., xxxiii. (1902) pp. 461-2 (1 fig.). 



|| Tom. cit., pp. 401-20 (1 pi.). 



