174 THE PIvANT WORLD 



A new stand giving sufficient power and facilities for the study of most 

 microscopic fungi except bacteria can be purchased for from fifteen to 

 thirty dollars, and frequently an excellent second-hand instrument can 

 be obtained. The wondrous beauty and diversity of form and color 

 exhibited by the spores of many of these fungi will well repay one for the 

 trouble and expense involved in a compound microscope. 



In regard to literature and other matters of interest to those who wish 

 to know more about these plants I shall have to speak at another time. 

 Meanwhile, any one wishing further information or assistance may receive 

 it for the asking in so far as I am able to give it. 



Briefer Articles. 



SOME UNUSUAL WOODY PLANTS. 



Few things give the plant-lover a greater surprise than to find plants 

 of familiar genera, or even species, assuming unusual proportions. 



I remember once, in company with the late George Hunt, long the 

 Nestor of Rhode Island botanists, alighting upon a Jack-in-the-pulpit of 

 enormous proportions. We did not presume to pluck or even question 

 one who was so large and " so clear in his high office.''' He must have 

 been a bishop at least, as he had grown as tall and become as stocky as 

 any hot-house calla. All the colors were richer, clearer than I ever have 

 seen in Arisaeina. 



One of the most marvelous ranges in height is seen in our wild 

 lettuce, Lactuca Canadensis L,. Gray's Manual says 4 — 9° high ; I am 

 sure I have seen it in favorable locations 15 to 18°. " The readiness is 

 all " ; to wit, the location. This is a determining factor in the remarkable 

 range of heights seen in Canada flea-bane, Erigeron Canadensis ly. One 

 may find it depauperate, single-headed, on a dusty road-side. Again, it 

 may be 10 or more feet high in a cultivated field where it has escaped a 

 napping farmer. 



One must receive a shock, who, traveling in Northeast Asia, comes 

 upon practically suffrutescent Umbe Hi ferae. After all though, our own 

 Heracleum is a fair preparation for startling phenomena in that family. 

 Again, on Block Island, I have seen our common pond-lily, Nymphaea 

 odoraia, so large as to make me question whether I had not discovered 

 an extra-regional Victoria. 



In reading books of scientific travel — and what reading is more de- 

 lightful than say Bates, or Belt, or Hooker, or Ball? — one frequently 



