NOTES AND NEWS. /p 



A specimen of a very rare and beautiful Florida orchid was recently 

 received at the National Museum. It was discovered by Mr. James 

 A. Tait in a little-explored part of Citrus county, and proved to be 

 Habenaria Diacroceratitis Willd., a species named for the remarkable 

 length of the spur, which in some of the flowers of this specimen ex- 

 ceeds four inches. The flowers are greenish-white in color and rather 

 large. Chapman credits the species only to Sumter county, and it is 

 certainly rare in American herbaria. We should be glad to receive 

 notes from any readers of The Plant World who may have visited 

 Florida and made observations on any of the rare orchids of that 

 region. 



The regularity with which the flowers of the Water Lily open in 

 the early morning, and the provoking certainty with which they close 

 shortly after noon, are well-known characteristics of the plant, and it 

 was with considerable satisfaction that I learned of a way of cheating 

 the flowers into opening when desired, and at the same time proving 

 that the Water Lily cannot tell time, although it often seems able to 

 do so. It happened in this way: Some Water Lilies that were picked 

 in the morning, and sent home by express, did not arrive until the 

 afternoon of the next day. They were then rather wilted, but with 

 the intention of seeing what they would do, they were put into water, 

 and soon began to open, apparently considering the time they were 

 packed up as a long night. At five o'clock nearly all were open and 

 remained so for the rest of the evening, in this way very forcibly 

 reminding one of the Cactacece. — Willard N. Cliite^ New York 

 City. 



My attention has been called to a bit of West Virginia folk-lore 

 that may be of interest to Plant World readers. The man who 

 brought sod for the yard assured us that this sod had no weeds in it 

 because it came from beneath a walnut tree. Since then I have ob- 

 served that the ground under these trees is quite clear of weeds except 

 in cases where the tree grows on a very steep bank or hillside. Here 

 the weeds grow on the slope under the upper side of the tree. One 

 reason given is that the walnut tree grows only in very rich soil, 

 which produces such a vigorous growth of grass that the weeds are 

 crowded out. It was suggested that the acrid properties of the integ- 

 ument of the nut would destroy the growth under the trees, but would 

 not this prevent the growth of grass as well ? Perhaps some of your 

 readers can give a better explanation, or it may be the cases that have 

 come to my notice are exceptional ones, and the rule does not hold 

 good in a general way. Can any one tell us more about it ? — Myrtle 

 Zuck Hough, Washington, D. C. 



