12 THE PLANT WORLD 



BRIEFER ARTICLES. 



The Canadian Pleistocene Flora. 



Professor D. P. Penhallow, of McGill University, has recently pub- 

 lished (British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1900) a 

 short but exceedingly interesting report on the Canadian Pleistocene 

 flora. It presents the final results of investigations that have been 

 carried on for many years regarding the plants that grew in Canada 

 before or after the various ice invasions, or in Pleistocene time. Plants 

 from eighteen special localities have been studied, ranging from Mani- 

 toba to Cape Breton, and particular attention has been directed to 

 those from at least twelve locations, chiefly from the vicinity of Toronto. 

 Eighty-three species in all have been detected, only one — a species of 

 maple — being now extinct. The remains are mainly in the form of 

 seeds, but leaves, twigs, and wood have also been found. They belong 

 to plants common in some portion of Atlantic America at the present 

 time, such as balsam fir (Abies halsamea), sugar and mountain maples 

 {Acer saccharimi and spicatum), papaw (Asimina triloba), water-shield 

 {Brasenia), sundew {Drosera rotundifolia), Equisetums {limosuin, scir- 

 poides and sylvaficnm) white, blue and black oaks, huckleberry [Gaylns- 

 sacia resiriosa), cedar {Janiperus Virgiuiana), tamarack, osage orange, 

 black and white spruces, white pine, sycamore, oaks, of seven species, 

 locust [Bobinia Pseiukicacia), willow, yew {Taxus Canadensis) arbor- 

 vitae, basswood, elms (Ulmns Americajia and racemosa), cat-tail, blue- 

 berry ( Vaccinium idiginosum), etc. 



From a study of these plant-remains. Professor Penhallow con- 

 cludes that in the region of Toronto during Pleistocene times there 

 were at least two distinct periods, characterized, on the one hand, by a 

 climate equivalent to that of the middle United States at the present 

 day, and, on the other hand, a climate equivalent to that of northern 

 Quebec and Labrador". 



We know almost nothing of the Pleistocene flora of the United 

 States, and a rich field is open to any one who has the time and oppor- 

 tunitj^ to undertake its study, — F. H. K. 



An Unusual Flower. 



The accompanying picture represents the flower of a tropical plant 

 not uncommonly cultivated in greenhouses. As it is somewhat pecu- 



