THE PI.ANT WORLD 175 



meets with accounts of arboreous plants which his experience has led him 

 to consider as invariably weeds. 



Decidedly the most interesting volume of travel I have read of late is the 

 "Uganda Protectorate," by Sir Harry Johnson. On pages 170-172, 

 Vol. I, there is a vivid description and beautiful plates given of two 

 species of giant Lobelia, L. Shihlmanni Schw. and Deckeni Hensl, so 

 utterly distinct from one another ' ' that no one but a botanist would 

 know that they were closely related." One of them, appearing exactly 

 like a Dracaena, makes its first appearance on Mount Ruwenzori, at 

 7,000 feet altitude, and extends therefrom upwards to the snow limit. 



As the plant grows in height, the lower leaves fall in succession, 

 leaving the stem round and smooth, " so that at maturity it exhibits a 

 large bunch or mop of sword-like leaves at the end of a woody stem of 

 small diameter, 20° or over in height. From the middle of the mop of 

 leaves there starts a flower-spike, which may be as much as three feet in 

 height. This is, at the same time, very slender and is covered through- 

 out the whole length with blossoms concealed from sight by large green 

 bracts." The blossoms themselves are greenish white inclining to red. 

 This is Lobelia Stu/ilmanni Schweinfurth. 



The other high mountain species. Lobelia Deckenii Hensl, is about 

 fifteen feet in height, the flower stalk sometimes nearly six feet long, and 

 much thicker than in the last. The flowers are ultra-marine blue. The 

 author says: "The green bracts to a great extent conceal the flowers, 

 which grow at right angles to the stalk, though when the flowers are 

 absolutely mature they reveal for a day or two an exquisite shimmering 

 of blue all up and down the stalk. These (two) Lobelias, with their 

 aloe-like leaves and strange flower-columns, remind one, I can not say 

 why, of monuments in a cemetery. They would certainly be handsome 

 additions to our ornamental flora." 



In the same volume (I, page 168) mention is made of a giant ground- 

 sel, Senecio Johnsto7ii^ of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and a new colossal species on 

 Ruwenzori. 



Many other delightful surprises occur to the botanist in reading this 

 superb work. Sir Harry is on a political mission but nothing seems to 

 escape his keen eye and trained intelligence. Were it not that besides 

 the wonderful flowers one would meet with very formidable mammals, 

 reptiles and insects, he would feel as if he must abandon ordinary pur- 

 suits and seek the Dark Continent. Wm. Whitman Baii^ky. 



Brown University. 



A TIMELY article on "The Value of Field and Herbarium Work," 

 by William P. Holt, is to be found in School Science for June, 1904. 



