90 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
Black strongly advised me not to advance any money. Allen, 
on the other hand, stated: ‘If you don’t advance the money 
to buy the orchids, it is impossible to expect the natives to 
bring them to your base of operations.’ So I finally decided 
to advance sufficient money to purchase the plants in their 
native habitat. After arrangements were made by telegram 
and later with the native agent at the small village of Nata- 
gaima, he presented himself at Girardot to receive the first 
payment. On seeing him Black recognized him as one of his 
best coffee shippers, which was much of a relief to me, as 
he had always found him absolutely reliable. 
(To be continued.) 
ALBINO REDWOOD SHOOTS 
During the past few months there has been exhibited in 
the floral display house at the Garden a bowl with a curious 
plant, concerning which a great many questions have been 
asked. The bowl contained a dark-looking, irregular mass 
from which numerous white shoots had developed, each 
shoot a miniature branching tree with thick short leaves. 
Few familiar with the stately coast redwood (Sequova 
sempervirens) of California would have recognized any kin- 
ship thereto in this lonely fragment; and yet the curious 
plant was a piece of redwood grown by Miss Kate Tehau of 
St. Louis. The dark mass within the bowl was a piece of 
redwood burl, part of a swelling or excresence frequently 
found on the redwood. Miss Tehau put this piece, which 
consisted largely of bark, into the bowl where it rested on 
some pebbles, added enough water so that the lower surface 
was constantly wet, and kept it in a warm room near the 
window. After a few weeks small shoots started from the 
bark at various points, and all of them were snow-white. As 
the shoots grew in length small pointed leaves appeared, the 
first ones thick and fleshy, the later ones awl-shaped and 
thinner. The shoots grew vigorously for several months and 
branched frequently. Several grew to twelve inches in 
length. The tips then gradually wilted, and litle by little 
the stems drooped and finally died. The flat woody lower 
surface of the base piece was frequently examined for root 
formation, but none developed. 
