80 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



to desert conditions. One sees them used for shade and 

 hedges in the driest regions, and everywhere they retain their 

 green and thrift)- appearance in marked contrast to the other 

 desert things that are so uniformly gray-green. — Bd.] 



Star-grass Ix\ the Rockery. — The little woodland 

 yellow star grass (Hypu.vis crccta or liirsustus) adapts itself 

 to the Rock Garden even where it gets full sunshine. A 

 clump of it planted beside a friendly rock where its bulbous 

 roots can be assured of at least a little moisture it will bloom 

 continuously from May to October. Every day a fresh crop 

 of golden stars open from numerous green buds to replace 

 those that have shrivalled on their tiny stalks. When one 

 scape or stalk has exhausted all blooms another is growing 

 alongside to take its place. Seeds are produced freely which 

 help to enlarge the colony. The hairy grass like leaves turn 

 bronzy in fall and finally disappear for the winter. Without 

 the slightest protection these humble plants have come 

 through three winters and four hot summers and appear to 

 have increased in size and vigor. At no time does the Yel- 

 low Star Grass make a great display but as a constant bloom- 

 er it has few rivals among the humbler plants. — R. M. 

 Crocket. 



Tahiti Lycopodiums. — One of the most pleasing dis- 

 coveries I made' in the island of Tahati was a Lycopodium or 

 Selaginella with flat, rather delicate sprays which produces 

 fruiting cones at the tips of the branches somewhat ilke Ly- 

 copodium Selago. It has often been regarded as a fern, but 

 the resemblance to the tree-like ground-pine {L. obscurum 

 ovdendroidciint), of New England and elsewhere, was so 

 striking that it could not be mistaken. The fronds were 

 very dark green and they favored steep, moist, shady banks 

 and the sides of caves or hollows in the rock, dripping with 

 moisture. The first place 1 found it was among the steep- 



