170 THE PLANT WORLD 



This brief sketch of his life and work can give no real idea of Dr, 

 Mohr to those who had not the good fortune to know him, but to those 

 who shared his work and know how the love of nature wanned his 

 heart and shone from his face, no words can add to the value and joy 

 of his memory which will abide in the hearts of his friends. 

 Biloxi, Mississippi. 



THE PASQUE FLOWER. 

 By John M. Holzingek. 



ONE of the most conspicuous objects on many of our western prai- 

 ries, soon after the winter's snow is gone, is the pasque fiower 

 {Pulsatilla Ludoviciana) wrongly called crocus. They dot the 

 drier gravelly fields, the flowers appearing at first very short-stemmed, 

 peeping barely above the bunches of last year's dry leaves, later wdth 

 elongated scapes, some singly, others in clumps of ten, twenty, and 

 even more flowers. Herbarium specimens are inadequate for represent- 

 ing the curious undergi'ound development of this plant from year to 

 year, and it is hoped that the accompanying study will be a satisfactory 

 supplement to existing descriptions and figures. The left-hand figure 

 represents a younger plant of a few years' growth, blooming the first 

 or second time, with three leaf buds of different ages. As in Caltha, 

 Hepatica, and many other perennial so-called '' stemless " herbs, the 

 underground buds of the pasque flower have for bud scales the bases of 

 last year's leaves. These, to avoid multiplicity of detail, are mostly 

 removed both in the smaller and in the larger central drawing. The 

 latter represents about one-half of a clump which was estimated to be 

 over twenty years old. 



It appears, from a study of the several stages of bud growth, that a 

 newly set bud has to function as a modest leaf-bud for at least three 

 years before it can aspire to the reproductive functions, and add to its 

 two or three leaves a flower. The stem, of which an enlarged cross- 

 section is shown in the lower right-hand corner, never rises above 

 ground. It becomes ultimately much ramified, appearing like a diminu- 

 tive tree top, with its branches all submerged beneath the soil. Both 

 root and stem tissues persist and accumulate from year to year. A 

 striking difference is noted, in this respect, in different herbaceous 

 plants, and b}^ way of comparison the case of the marsh marigold only 

 may be mentioned. At the blooming time of the latter plant, three 

 generations of annual, or l)etter biennial roots, may be observed — a set 

 of decaying roots perpendicularly below those that are concerned in 



