136 THE PLANT WORLD 



NOTES ON CURRENT 

 LITERATURE 



In the May issue of Torreya Mr. F. H. Burgleliaus gives an ac- 

 count of the discovery of a smooth fruited form, of Circaea, the fruit 

 of which is usually provided with hooked bristles, and is well known as 

 a "stick- tight." This discovery is of great interest as necessitating 

 henceforth a change in the generic description. 



Bulletin No. 4 of Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon, is de- 

 voted to "Preliminary Notes on a few Oregon Toad Stools." The 

 more common genera of Hymenomycetes are described and figured by 

 the author, Professor A. R. Sweetser. Two half-tone plates are in- 

 cluded, illustrating eight species. At the end is a partial list of Oregon 

 fungi, collected in the vicinity of Portland by Professor H, Lane. 



In the July issue of Torreya Miss B. S. Miller gives an interesting 

 account of the finding of Amsonia in New Jersey. This is a southern 

 plant with delicate blue flowers, belonging to the dogbane family, and 

 it was originally brought to Ridgewood, N. J. for horticultural purposes 

 some twenty-five years ago. Although the plant still thrives in the 

 reclaimed meadow where it was first placed, the remarkable fact in the 

 case is that it has spread, not from this point, but from another garden 

 to a high rocky field a quarter of a mile away. Miss Miller found a 

 number of plants in this field, growing with lupines, brakes and black- 

 berries. It is an interesting question for the ecologist to settle why 

 the Amsonia should not have spread from the original colony, appar- 

 ently thriving in a congenial situation, but should instead have chosen 

 to establish itself in a dry field some distance from the point of its 

 introduction. 



A new candidate for the favor of the nature student, in the guise of 

 a 16-page periodical entitled " The American Botanist " lies before us. 

 It is called " a monthly journal for the plant lover," and is edited by 

 Willard N. Clute, the former business manager and publisher of The 

 Plant World. The aims and objects of this new venture are set forth 

 in a series of brief editorials, and may be gathered from the following 

 extracts therefrom: 



