THE PLANT WORLD 35 



Some years ago a friend returning from Cuba brought me a souve- 

 nir in the shape of a paper-weight. It was a large, dried fruit of Hura 

 crepitans, the well-known sand-box tree, which had had the interior 

 completely filled ^dtli molten lead. It was a valued object on my desk 

 for several months, but one morning I was surprised to find pieces of 

 the shell scattered over the desk and about the room. The explosive 

 property of this fruit is, of course, well known, but it was presumed 

 that the lead would hold it together. It did not, however, and nothing , 

 now remains but this cast of the interior. — F. H, K. 



The late winter is the most appropriate season for studying buds 

 and their development. A bud, being a rudimentary branch, has all 

 the appendages of a branch — leaves, scales, stipules, and often flowers — 

 packed into the smallest possible compass. The mild days of Febru- 

 ary frequently cause the buds to swell, and it is then easy to dissect 

 them and study their structure. The shoots of many plants, particu- 

 larly of willows and fruit trees like the apxDle and peach, will develop 

 their flower-buds in the house if cut in early spring and placed in vases 

 of water. So also many herbaceous perennials like the hepatica, in 

 which the buds are fully formed the preceding fall, will produce their 

 flowers in the house ahead of the season for outdoor bloom. 



The sixth annual meeting of the Vermont Botanical Club was held 

 at the University of Vermont on January 25th and 26th. Among the 

 more impartant papers presented, was that of Mrs. Frances B. Horton, 

 which described the finding of a plumose variety of Asplenutm ebeneum 

 Ait. This new variety was described in the January Rhoddra. In a 

 paper entitled "Notes on Tremella mycetophila Pk." Dr. E, A. Burt 

 gave his reasons for transferring this species of parasitic mushrooms 

 to the genus Exobasidium. T. E. Hazen described some common Con- 

 fervae which might be found in Vermont streams. Miss E. M. Brown- 

 ell gave some interesting results of cultivating wild \dolets in the gar- 

 den. " Are Equisetums or Ferns Poisonous ? " Avas the subject discussed 

 hj Professor L. R. Jones. Numerous cases of horses being poisoned 

 by Equisetums were cited. No evidence was found against the ferns. 

 The annual address was delivered by President Ezra Brainerd. He 

 re\iewed the flora as represented in the new catalogue of Vermont 

 plants, and suggested i)aths for future acti\aties of the Vermont botan- 

 ists. — C. D. Howe, University of Vermont. 



