THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 121 



"Painting the Lily." — It is interesting to observe 

 how some dealers attempt to improve upon Nature in the 

 matter of the evergreens used for hohday decorations. We 

 have recently noticed in the markets quantities of ground 

 pine {Lvcopodium) that had been dyed a most brilliant 

 and poisonous looking green, quite unlike the color the 

 plant has in life. The query arises, were tli:.'se dyed speci- 

 mens recently collected or is this a scheme to work off old 

 material from which the original color has faded ? 



Leguminous Plants and Nitrogen. — It has been but a 

 comparatively short time since botanists discovered that 

 the tin3^ nodules on the roots of leguminous plants contain 

 bacteria able to withdraw nitrogen from the air; but the 

 fact that leguminous crops, like clover, plowed under, 

 greatly enrich the soil has been a matter of common 

 knowledge for centuries. In fact, PHny (about A. D. 80) 

 speaks of it. What the moderns have discovered is simply 

 the means by which the plants enrich the soil. 



A Dangerous Statement. — Prof. Conway MacMillan 

 in his "Minnesota Plant Life" states that "the ordinary 

 inng^^cuous sumacs are, from their brilliant autumnal tints, 

 «-! very beautiful shrubs of the Minnesota copses and hill- 

 sides. The poisonous varieties do not show the rich hues 

 of their harmless relatives." This statement struck me as 

 peculiarly dangerous, lor here in eastern Massachusetts 

 the leaves of the poisonous sumac {Rhus venenata) turn 

 in autumn the most brilliant scarlet. I have known of 

 several instances of serious poisoning by persons gather- 

 ing the leaves for household decoration, ignorant of the 

 deadly poison larking beneath their vivid beauty. I warn 

 my friends not having any botanical knowledge, never to 

 gather scarlet sumac leaves growing in swamps, as so far 

 as I know, the poison species is never found elsewhere. — C. 

 H. P. [Our correspondent is quite riglet about the color 

 of the poison sumac, but the poison ivy {Rhus toxicoden- 

 dron) usually turns a clear yellow, a color, however, that 

 is fairly attractive. Fortunately neither species is as pois- 

 (mous late in autumn as it is earlier in the year, though at 

 any season it may affect those most susceptible. — Ed.] 



