2 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



doctrine of signatures, good for the hair. Thus arose 

 "maiden-hair fern" applied to species of Adiantmn, and 

 maidenhair spleen wort applied to Aspleniiiui trichomanes. 

 The resemblance of the leaves of Ginkgo to the pinnules of 

 Adiaiitum made it maiden-hair fern tree originally though it 

 is probaWy maiden hair tree now. — Ed.] 



Coi^OR Combinations. — A color combination that 1 saw 

 iar W'estbury was worthy of note. A fine patch of mealv star- 

 grass (Alctris farinosa) with their slender wands of frosty 

 ])ells towered above patches of some violet-colored flower 

 which 1 was unable to tell at a distance. I got out of the 

 flivver to investigate and found it was a dwarf aster which 

 answered the description of A. Uucarifolhts. Onlv once be- 

 fore had I seen it. In an open wood near Manchester, Conn.. 

 it thrives beautifully but I did not expect to meet it in companv 

 with Alctris farinosa on Long Island. Another combination 

 that appealed to me in the South Mountain Reservation, of 

 Orange N. J. was the dogwood and pinkster-flower blooming 

 together. The shower of snow-white bracts blended beauti- 

 fully with the deep pink of the buds and partly opened bells 

 (»n the bare straggling branches of this dainty azalea. Surelv 

 a floral picture of the highest order. When the heather and the 

 broom are blooming on the Grampian mountains in Scotland 

 there is displayed a natural combination of purple and vellow 

 that is hard to beat. Perhaps the New England aster and 

 the goldenrod come nearest to it. — R. M. Crocket. Cranford, 

 X. J. [Residents of the Middle West would venture the as- 

 sertion that when the redbud and wild i)lum are bloming, or 

 when the wild crab thickets hang out their myriads of pink and 

 white blossoms, the Alantic Coast would have to look to its 

 laurels in more senses than one, if it would avoid being excell- 

 ed.— Ed.] 



