lU THE PLANT WORLD. 



I have been impressed this spring with the profusion of flowers 

 produced by Viola ovaia, the plant known to students of Gray's Manual 

 as V. sagittata. The tendency of the plants is to grow in clumps and 

 their numerous blossoms make each clump noticeable from a long 

 distance. Out of curiosity I took up a plant at random, and found 

 that it possessed seven small leaves, and sixteen flowers and buds. — 

 Willard N. Clute, Nezv York. 



The National Herbarium recently received specimens of a her- 

 maphrodite willow from Mr. C. C. Kingman, of Reading, Mass. The 

 twig presented not only well developed staminate and pistillate 

 catkins, but in several instances combinations of stamens and pistil 

 within the same ament. Cases of this kind are not rare, and have 

 iDeen hitherto recorded, but it would be interesting to observe in how 

 many species the anomaly occurs. These specimens were evidently 

 Salix Bebbiaiia Sargent {S. rostrata). Mr. Kingman observes: " The 

 shrub is an old and weather-beaten affair, and has suffered much from 

 the attacks of insects, so that it has but little vitality. It is staminate 

 -on the whole, the variation occurring on certain branches, while some- 

 times a small twig will show both staminate and pistillate catkins or 

 .a mixture of the two in the same catkin." — C. L. Pollard. 



. . . B OOK REVIEW S ... 



L-iviNG Plants and Their Properties. By J. C. Arthur and D. T. 

 MacDougal; i2mo, pp. 242. New York: Baker & Taylor, $1.25. 



It might be supposed from the title of this book that it was a 

 technical treatise on the physiology of plants, but the reader will 

 not find it so. It is a collection of delightfully written essays on 

 certain of the more important and interesting features of living 

 plants in the broadest sense. It is impossible in this connection to 

 attempt an adequate review of the work, but some idea of its scope 

 may be gained from the following partial list of subjects : Distinctions 

 between plants and animals; Special senses of plants; Development of 

 irritability; Wild Lettuce as weed and compass-plant; How cold 

 affects plants; Chlorophyll and growth; Leaves in spring, summer, 

 and autumn ; Significance of color, etc. The facts set forth are in all 

 cases the latest results of investigation in the various lines, and the 

 language is simple and strictl}^ non-technical. The idea that scientific 

 investigators are imable to "write in popular language is abundantly 

 disproved by the present work. It is a delight to read it, and it should 

 find a wide sale, not only among professional botanists, but especially 

 among plant-lovers. Let us hope that it is the forerunner of others 

 of its kind.— /^. H. K. 



