094 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Vegetative Propagation of Erythronium.* — Mr. F. H. Blodgett 

 has studied the development of Erythronium americanum from the seed. 

 The cotyledon is at first a store-house of food-material ; but, after this 

 is exhausted, it forces its way above the soil and functions as a leaf. A 

 flowering bulb cannot be produced from seed in less than four or five 

 years. The seeds germinate the second year and produce " plumule- 

 bulbs." From each of these a single leaf appears in the third year, and 

 the first runners are produced, bearing " runner-bulbs" at their distal 

 ends ; and a further period of two years at least elapses before these 

 blossom. 



Influence of Oxygen on Germination.^ — From a series of experi- 

 ments on the seeds of the pea, lupin, Arachis, and maize, M. P. Maze 

 concludes that the non-germination of submerged seeds is due to in- 

 sufficient aeration. Seeds when placed under water, while preserving the 

 condition of latent life, are the seat of numerous diastatic transformations. 

 The hydrolysing diastases, in particular, and zymase, maintain com- 

 parative activity ; while the oxidising diastases are unable to perform 

 their function, and to supply the embryo with food-material. Minute 

 seeds, like those of crncifers, may devclope slowly under water; starchy 

 seeds soon lose their germinating power under this condition ; oily seeds 

 retain it longer. The development of the plant, at the expense of the 

 reserve-materials of the seed, is the resultant of a number of diastatic 

 processes, whose equilibrium cannot be disturbed without causing, in a 

 short time, the death of the individual. 



Influence of Salts of the Fatty Acids on Germination and Growth. $ 

 — Herr O. Lovinson gives the result of a series of observations on the 

 germination and growth of Pimm sativum, in solutions containing formic, 

 acetic, and propionic acids, but no mineral acid. Three nutrient solu- 

 tions were employed, which he calls normal formic, normal acetic, and 

 normal propionic solutions, the composition of which is given in detail. 

 Among the general conclusions arrived at are the following : — These 

 normal solutions penetrate in a short time into the interior of the seeds 

 without killing the cells, but they check germination ; this inhibition 

 being due exclusively to the salts of the fatty acids, not to the phos- 

 phorus or to the sulphur carbide ; the latter even facilitating germination. 

 The solutions have also an unfavourable influence on growth, due again 

 entirely to the salts of the fatty acids. The injurious effect consists 

 chiefly in a disorganisation of the root-cells. A copious bibliography is 

 appended. 



Poisonous Effects of Salts of the Alkalies and Alkaline Earths on 

 the higher Plants. §— M. H. Coupin gives a series of tables illustrating 

 the degrees to which salts of the alkalies and alkaline earths exercise a 

 poisonous effect on the growth of flowering plants. The salts of sodium 

 are, as a rule, less poisonous than those of potassium. Salts of the 



* Bull. Torrev Bot. Club, xxvii. (1000) pp. 305-15 (3 pis.). 



t Ami. Inst. Pasteur, iv. (1900) pp. 350-68. 



J Bot. Centralbl., lxxxiii. (1900) pp. 1-12, 33-43, 65-75, 97-106. 129-38, 185-95, 

 209-24 (4 figs.). 



§ Comptes Rendus, exxx. (1900) pp. 791-3. Rev. Ge'n. de Bot. (Bonnier), xii. 

 (1900) pp. 177-93. 



