THE AM r':RICAN BOTANIST 33 



rccc'iitl} MMit fn>ni China hy one of Dur Government's agricul- 

 tural explorers, how (.-vct, is reconiniended as a pot-herb the 

 leavo and y< un,<;- >l(.'nis hcin^- the |)arts used. The plant is senii- 

 aipiatic and the leaves that ap[)ear in market are feathered from 

 plants grown on the borders of wet lield^. It is" reported that 

 ihirin.i;- Jun-j and Jul}-, loads (jf the xounj^^ shoots are sent to 

 market. The stems are about 18 inches long, hollow, and half 

 an inch in diameter. These with the succulent leaves are cut 

 u[t into a spinach-like food. 



R.\TTLi;sxAKF. Pi,.\xTAix Coi.oxiKs. — It secms to be a 

 rare thing for the little orchid known as rattlesnake plantain 

 ((loodycra hnbcsccus) to grow singly. Almost in\'ariably 

 they occur in close little colonies very conspicuous by reason of 

 their white-veined and mottled leaves. The reason for these 

 plants growing in companies seems to be that the young plants 

 find the best conditions for growth near to the old plants and 

 thus continue to renew or extend the original colony. This is 

 (|uite contrary to the behavior of plants in general, for the 

 seedlings seem to desire to get as far away from their place of 

 origin as possilile. In the orchid genus, however, the young 

 plants have set up a partnership with a mvcorrhizal fungus and 

 are not able to thrive without it. In conse(|uence they seldom 

 find suitable places for growth at any great distance from the 

 l)arent colony. The seeds of Goodyera pubescens lie on the 

 soil all winter and sjjrout the following spring, but by the end 

 of .\ugust thev are often only a millimeter in length and lack 

 chlorophyll, acc(M-ding to Oakes Ames, from wiiose article in 

 Rhoilora, we (|uote. The protocorms, as these small bodies are 

 called, develop numerous long, slender, root-like processes 

 known as rhizoids and then appear "like small white spiders at 

 the centi-r of miniature wei)s." The fungus enters tiie rhizoids 

 and aids the young i)lant in making food by absorbing useful 



