380 Floristik etc. — Angewandte Botanik. 



Stephens, F., Shreve, Forrest, F. B. Summer, J. Grinnell, 

 G, D. Louderbock. Excursion Impression s. (Trans. San 

 Diego Soc. Nat. Hist. II. p. 77—97. 5 pl. 1916.) 



Under the above title are collected five separate papers pu- 

 blished as the results of the third excursion of the newly organized 

 Ecological Society of America. This excursion visited the border 

 of the Colorado Desert by a two-day trip with automobiles in 

 August 1916.) Harshberger. 



Taylor, N., A White-Cedar Swamp at Merrick, Long 

 Island, and its Significance. (Mem. New York Bot. Garden. 

 VI. p. 79—88. Aug. 1916.) 



After a Statement that seventy-six per cent of the shrubs and 

 vines in the Merrick Swamp are of southern origin and seventy- 

 seven per cent of the herbaceous Vegetation is northern rather 

 than southern, the author emphasizes the fact that these herbs have 

 migrated subsequent to the establishment of the cedar swamp trees 

 and shrub. A study of the same swamp where it touches typical 

 saltmarshes reveals the fact that a dififerential sinking of the sea- 

 ward side of the cedar-swamp has permitted in the course of time 

 an encroachment of saltmarsh plants. Harshberger. 



Visher, S. S., The Biogeographyo.f the Northern Great 

 Piain s. (The Geographical Review. IL p. 89 — 115 with 13 figs. 

 Aug. 1916.) 



The author describes the general geographic conditions of the 

 steppe, or Great Piain s. He enumerates the more conspicuous 

 plants and animals and the adaptations of the life of the steppe to 

 geographic conditions. The account closes with remarks concerning 

 the several associations comprising the steppe. Harshberger. 



Holland. J. H., Brazil Wood. (Kew Bull. Mise. Inform. N« 9. p. 



210—225. 1916.) 



The dye obtained from this wood has long been known from 

 the East, and the tree producing it may be properly attributed to 

 Caesalpinia Sappan. Owing to its abundance, however. it is not 

 conclusive that this was the only source of supply, and a descrip- 

 tion of the traveller Marco Polo suggests Movinda citrifolia. Pte- 

 rocarpus santalinns also yields a red dye, similar to, but distinct 

 from „brazir'. When in 1500 Brazil was discovered the country 

 received this name owing to the large quantities of a red-dye wood 

 found growing there. It seems probable that this wood, being of 

 superior quality superseded that of Caesalpinia Sappan, while, in its 

 turn the Brazilian wood has been replaced to a large extent by 

 "Camwood" {Baphia nitida) from West Africa. 



The paper concludes with füll descriptions, references to lite- 

 rature, etc., of eight trees which seem the more probable sources 

 of brazil wood. These trees are: Caesalpinia Sappan, Linn., C. echi- 

 nata Lam., C. bvasiliensis , C. hahamensis, Lam., C. bicolor, C. H. 

 Wright, PeUophorum hvasiliense, (Sw.) Urban, Haematoxylon Brasi- 

 letto, Karst., H. cantpecheanum, Linn. E. M. Cotton. 



