THE PLANT WORLD 21 



period sometimes of eighteen months. I have a fine specimen which 

 was used as a table decoration on Christmas, 1901, the berries being very- 

 attractive. This plant still retains the first crop of berries and during 

 the past summer has grown a second and much larger crop, and was 

 made use of in decorating the past Christmas. One objection to this 

 plant is the frequent dropping of the lower leaves, thus giving it a 

 "leggy " appearance. It is said that a plant may be flowered in eleven 

 months from the seed, and as it is very easy to grow, it would seem 

 that it would become popular if more widely known. With the increasing 

 scarcity of holly for Christmas decoration it is suggested that Ardisia 

 crenata be grown to take its place in a measure, not, of course, as cut 

 branches, but as a pot plant. 



Calla Lily Disease. — A bacterial disease has been found attacking the 

 bulbs, and sometimes the roots and leaves also, of the calla lily in the 

 greenhouses around Washington, D. C. As a rule, the bulb shows the 

 disease most frequently near the top, in which case the bulb is almost 

 entirely destroyed before the leaves indicate that the plant is diseased. 

 The diseased plants have been treated with lime, sulphur and dilute 

 formalin with some success, but the best results were obtained by 

 changing the soil in the beds or in growing the plants in pots, and in the 

 proper management of the greenhouses. The organism causing the 

 trouble is described as a rod-shaped motile bacterium. 



The Water Hyacinth. — There has been a statement recently going 

 the rounds of the daily press to the effect that the hyacinth has run wild 

 on the rivers and other inland waters of Florida, covering the surface 

 with a solid mass of vegetation and sending their roots eight feet through 

 the water to the muddy bottom. It is expressly implied that this is the 

 hyacinth par excellence, the bulbous plant so prized for its fragrant 

 trusses of bloom on our lawns in early spring. As a matter of fact, this 

 is far from the truth. The plant in question is the so-called water hya- 

 cinth {Piaropiis crassipes), a member of the pickerel-weed family, and not 

 even remotely related to the true hyacinth, which is, of course, a member 

 of the lily family. It has leaves with curious inflated petioles, which form 

 a rosette on the surface of the water and a spike of handsome pinkish- 

 lavender flowers which are perfectly scentless. It is a native of India 

 and M^as introduced into Florida by a Mr. Fuller, who imported the 

 plants about fifteen years ago and had them growing in a lake on his 

 estate near Palatka. The plants increased so rapidly that to rid himself 

 of the superabundance he threw the surplus into the St. Johns River. 

 They increased with such astonishing rapidity that they finally covered 

 the surface for miles, impeding navigation and otherwise causing alarm, 

 but they disappeared as suddenly as they came. On this point Mr. A. H. 

 Curtiss, of Jacksonville, says in a former number of this journal (Vol. Ill, 



