14 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST, 



smuts on different plants that were once thought to be 

 different species are now proven to be the same. In the 

 Journal of Mycology for January, Prof. J. C. Arthur re- 

 cords his experiments for 1903. Among others he has 

 found a rust on the leaves of the popular to have its early 

 form on the leaves of the larch. Another on a grass occurs 

 in different forms on the false toad flax {Comandra) and 

 another with summer spores on certain grasses has its be- 

 ginning on the leaves of the leatherwood (Dirca). 



Early Blooming Skunk's Cabbage. — At a meeting of 

 the Germantown (Pa.) Horticultural Society held Febru- 

 ary 8, Mr. Edwin C. Jellett exhibited specimens of skunk's 

 cabbage in full bloom for which he received special mention 

 in the Society's Report. He writes that he has never failed 

 to find these plants in flower even in Januarj^ when he has 

 looked for them. This year the temperature in his local- 

 ity ranged from below zero to twent3^ degrees above and 

 yet on Februar3- 7 he found numerous flowers shedding 

 their pollen. The skunk's cabbage's claim to being the 

 earliest spring flower in the North seems well established. 



St. John's Bread. — In the markets of our larger cities 

 one may often find offered for sale certain large flat pods 

 called locusts. These are the the fruits oiCeratonia siliqua 

 a tree native to the Mediterranean region and are often 

 called St. John's bread from a supposition that they were 

 the "locusts" that, with wild honey, formed the food of 

 John the Baptist in the wilderness. The locust tree is also 

 called carob-tree in some parts of the \vorld. Unlike the 

 fruits of our common locust {Rohinia pseudacacia) the 

 pods of this species are edible. They have a sweetish taste 

 quite agreeable to some palates, and are in great favor 

 wath our foreign-born po]3ulation. The American honey- 

 locust {Gleditschia triacanthos) has a streak of this edible 

 quality in its composition, the mature pod containing a 

 row of seeds down one edge and a deposit of sweet mater- 

 ial down the other. This is often gathered and eaten by 

 children. The question that perplexes us is, of what use 

 to the trees is this sweet secretion ? Who can answer ? 



