THE PLANT WOKLD 11 



Briefer Articles. 



VARIATION IN TRILLIUM FLOWERS. 



The variations in TriUium grandiflorum noted by Mr. Holsinger in 

 tlie Jnl}^ number, and by Mr. Pollard in the November number of this 

 magazine, suggests a further modification, which I have noticed in the 

 %dcinity of Buffalo, and which, so far as I know, has not been put into 

 print. Where the petal of the flower shows a tendency to revert to a 

 leafy or bract form and shows a stripe of green, or, as in many cases, 

 becomes entirely green, the leaf blade diminishes in size, and both pet- 

 iole and peduncle become lengthened. In some cases the peduncle is 

 considerably longer than the whole stem below the leaf M^horl. In others 

 the petiole would be from 4 to 6 inches in length, with a narrow lanceo- 

 late blade, about 3 inches long. The green-petalled variety is common 

 enough here to afford my students in the course of their collecting from 

 10 to 40 specimens each spring. Multiplication of organs is com- 

 mon, in one case extending not only to the petaloid and bract-like 

 forms, but also to the leaves. T. erectum has also furnished a few in- 

 stances where the whorls are repeated, but none with the lengthening 

 of leaf and flower stems. Irving T. Bishop, 



State Normal School, Buffalo, N. Y. 



THE NAME " DOG'S-TOOTH VIOLET." 



One day late in June, while walking through the woods, in Ross 

 County, Ohio, I came across a patch of Erythronium Americamim in 

 fruit. The seed-capsules were still geeen, but were well filled out. As 

 I had never examined the seed of an ErythromHui, I thought that this 

 would be a good opportunity to do so. The capsule opened readily 

 along one of the sutures, displaying two rows of white, compressed, and 

 slightly curved ovules, pointed at the tip, borne by green j)lacentae, and 

 meeting like two rows of teeth. Holding the capsule in a horizontal 

 position I was struck by their resemblance to the teeth of some tiny car- 

 nivorous mammal. Perhaps the thought would not have occurred to me 

 were it not for the way the ovules were set in the placentae, the green 

 color of which contrasted with their pearly whiteness, and suggested the 

 gums of an animal. The pointed teeth overlapped slightly where the 



