122 THE PLANT WORLD. 



Mr. A. A. Crozier died of consumption January 28, 1899, at his 

 home in Michigan. Mr. Crozier was first assistant botanist in the 

 Department of Agriculture from 1877 to 1888. — J. N. Rose. 



I found last July on Knight's Island, in the northern part of Lake 

 Champlain, Mr. Bicknell's recently recognized species, Scrophularia 

 aporella ; also the rare blackberry, Riibus argiitus, var Randii Bailey. 

 Both of these appear very distinct. — Er^ra Brainerd, Middlcbnry Col- 

 lege, Vt., Feb. 7, iSgg. 



Last summer a workman brought me a branch of the so-called 

 Water Hyacinth {EicJiornia elavipes Solms), which has so rapidly mul- 

 tiplied in Florida and the Gulf States. He collected it in a pond near 

 Nazareth, Pa., where it is no doubt an escape from cultiire. Growing 

 in favor everywhere as a house-plant, it may yet spread and take pos- 

 session of our waters, unless the winters prove too cold. That re- 

 mains to be seen. Pontederia cordata L., of the same family thrives on 

 the Pocono plateau, 2,000 feet above the level of the sea, and the 

 Indian Lotus {Nelunibo Neliimbo (L.) Karst.), also from a much warmer 

 climate, has established itself near Bordentown, N. J. — Thomas C. 

 Po7'ier, East on, Pa., Feb. p, i8gg. 



The Tertiary lake beds at Florissant, Colorado, are very rich in 

 fossil remains, since they have afforded fully 20,000 specimens of 

 insects and many thousand specimens of fossil plants. Professor W. 

 C. G. Kirchner, of Washington University, has recently published in 

 the "Transactions of the Academy of Sciences of St. Louis," a valu- 

 able contribution on the fossil flora of Florissant, in the shape of descrip- 

 tions of new species and a complete list of the plants thus far found at 

 that locality. This flora includes 213 species, the more important 

 genera being Myrica with 13 species, Quercus with 10, Fraxinus and 

 Ilex with 8, and Rhus with 12 species. Among the new things de- 

 scribed are two quite perfectly preserved flowers, which are very rarely 

 found fossil, except in the Baltic amber. Professor Kirchner has not 

 been able to satisfactorily determine these flowers. The first, which he 

 thinks hasafiinities with the Onagracea^, has a long calyx-tube, inflated 

 aboveand prolonged for 3.3*=™- beyond the ovary. The ovary is i . 3 ^"^ 

 long and 3 ™™- broad at the middle. The petals, five in number, are 

 membranaceous, lanceolate and marked by a central nerve. The stigma 

 is cylindrical and the course of the style through the tube can be 

 traced nearly to the ovary. The other, which has some characters of 

 the Convolvulacese, has a funnel-form or campanulate corolla with a 

 five-sided border divided by slight clefts into five lobes. The sides of 

 the borders are about 2 °™- long. The venation of the corolla has 

 been beautifully preserved. 



