Angewandte Botanik. 335 



latifoUa L. (Merck's Report. XXI. p. 240—242. f. 1 — 12. Septb. 

 1912. New York.) 



The leaves contain arbutine, and are said to be poisonous to 

 sheep, but not to deer, goats, and grouse; severe and even fatal 

 poisoning has been produced by eating grouse that have fed upon 

 the leaves. The seedling, the mature plant, and the internal structure 

 is described and figured. The remarkably small seedling shows 

 numerous, capillary ramifications of the primary root; the cotyledons 

 are elliptical, and about three pairs of leaves develop during the first 

 season. No fungal hyphae were observed in the mature roots, and 

 no local thickenings of the cellwalls in the cortex, otherwise com- 

 mon to a number of the Ericaceae. The stem has a thick cuticle, 

 and is hairy from short pointed hairs, as well as glandulär. 



According to Solered er collenchj'-ma has not been observed 

 in Ericaceae, but in Kahnia latifolia L. this tissue does ex ist in 2 

 to 3 layers inside epidermis, covering a cortical parenchyma with 

 Wide lacunae. The evergreen leaves of the mature plant are hairy 

 like the stem; the stomata are confined to the dorsal face, and 

 many of the cells of the ventral epidermis are unusuallj^ large, 

 enter deeply into the chlorench5''ma, and their inner walls are mu- 

 cilaginous. Several strata of palisade-cells cover a very open pneu- 

 matic tiseue, and the midrib represents a stele with a narrow pith. 

 The leaves of the seedling show a much more simple structure 

 lacking the mucilaginous cells, beside that the midrib contains only 

 a Single, coUateral mestome-strand. Theo Holm. 



Holm, T., Medicinal plants of North America. 65. Henchera 

 Amevicana L. (Merck's Report. XXI. p. 266—269. f. 1 — 11. Oct. 

 1912. New York.) 



The drug Heuchera is yielded by this plant, the Alumroot, and 

 the rhizome with the roots is the part used The plant including 

 the internal structure is described and illustrated. Two types of 

 secondary roots were observed: some that are slender in their entire 

 length, and others that are distinctly smaller; both types are mainly 

 storage-roots, and the thickness of the latter depends upon the greater 

 width of the cork, of the secondary parenchyma, and of the stele. 

 The apical internodes of the rhizome possess hypodermal collen- 

 ehyma, a broad cortex, and a heterogeneous pericycle of 5 to 6 

 layers of stereids, and of 2 to 3 strata of thinwalled parenchyma; 

 no endodermis was observed. The floral scape is cylindric, hoUow, 

 and densely covered with glandulär hairs, of which the head is 

 globose with cuticular, minute spines. A thinwalled endodermis, 

 and a closed sheath of pericyclic stereome surrounds a stele of 

 several, isolated, collateral mestome-strands. Stomata occur on both 

 faces of the leaf-blade, while the chlorenchyma shows only palisade- 

 cells on the ventral face. The midvein contains only a Single, col- 

 lateral mestome-strand with a barely stereomatic pericycle on the 

 leptome-side. Theo Holm. 



Holm, T.. Medicinal plants of North America. 66. Impatiens 

 fulva Nutt. (Merck's Report. XXI. p. 297—300. f. 1 — 17. Nov. 

 1912. New York.) 



Formerly this plant was in common use for jaundice and 

 asthma, as a tea; the flowers and leaves dye wool sa'ffran color 



