THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 15 



ules of water on the edges of the leaves where the veins 

 terminate. The same phenomenon ma^- be seen in the 

 primrose, fuchsia, Canterbury bell and many others. A 

 simple lens is all that is necessarj^ ts see the water pores, 

 but a compound microscope w^ill be needed to make out 

 their structure. 



Names of the Elephant's Ear.— That plant which 

 in cultivation is usuall}' called elephant's ear (Caladium 

 esculentum or Colocasia esculenta)has many other names 

 in various parts of the world. In Porto Rico it is called 

 bleeding heart ; in Jamaica, coco ; in Barbados, eddo and 

 in the French West Indies, taj^a. It may be added that in 

 Polynesia it is the well known taro and forms a staple 

 article of food. 



The Erratic Evening Primrose. — It was a species of 

 evening primrose that gave DeVries his most abundant 

 data regarding the origin of new species, and the same 

 versatile trait appears to be present in other species of the 

 genus. The common evening primrose {Oenothera bien- 

 nis), for instance, has provided the editor with a puzzle 

 that is still unsolved. The specific name was given the 

 plant under the impression that it requires two years to 

 round out its life, but there is a mistake, somewhere, for 

 a large number of plants have been noticed this year, that 

 have sprung up from the seed and produced flowers and 

 fruit like any other annual. Other more provident speci- 

 mens in the same ground instead of blooming have been 

 laying up plant food all summer in a thick root ready for 

 next year. There is a great difference in the two strains 

 when they bloom, for the annual kind has short stems and 

 few blossoms, quite noticable in contrast to the strong 

 stems of the biennials, often ten feet high. The annuals, 

 too, do not usually develop the red color in the stems. The 

 plants are undoubtedly of the same species and will con- 

 tinue to be until some disciple of DeVries gets hold of them, 

 but the question as to why they differ in the amount of 

 time necessary to fruit remains unanswered. 



