36 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST, 



Autumn Flowering Arbutus. — In Torreya for Febru- 

 ary, S.H. Biirnham notes the finding of a patch of trailing, 

 arbutus {Epigeea repens) that habitually flowers in- 

 autumn. The plants were found in 1895 and have since 

 exhibited flowers in September, October or November oi 

 every year save three. The arbutus forms its next year's 

 flower-buds in late August, and like man^^ of our other 

 spring flowers, afew of these may open in Autumn instead 

 of spring. To find a large number of plants with a fixed 

 habit in this direction is indeed unique. 



Fruiting Season of the Hair-cap Moss. — The hair- 

 cap mosses {Polytrichum) are among our largest moss 

 species and this fact together with their abundance has 

 gained them several common names. In some sections 

 they are known as bear's grass or pigeon wheat. They 

 are very noticable in spring v^'hen the spore-capsules are 

 maturing, looking like diminutive pine trees with the cap- 

 sule on a slender stalk at the top. The ciuestion when 

 these spore-cases begin to grow has interested several 

 students and an investigation showed that this moss is 

 most deliberate in producing its spores. According to the 

 Bryologist it begins its spore capsules in March or April 

 slowly develops them during the summer, autumn and 

 winter and does not shed its spores until the next August, 

 fully sixteen months after the growth of the capsule began. 



Medicinal Weeds.— It will be a surprise to many to 

 learn that the people of the United States annually import 

 millions of pounds of some of our most noxious weeds. 

 These are used in medicine, but it would seem fitting that 

 we "kill two birds with one stone" by using our own nat- 

 uralized weeds as medicine and at the same time rid the 

 country of them. With the idea of encouraging this the 

 Government has issued "Farmers' Bulletin No. 188," in 

 which some of these weeds are described, with an account 

 of the parts used, manner of collecting and drying and the 

 price paid. The prices are very low, seldom going above 

 eight cents a pound, but when the farmer is digging 

 weeds he can afford to sell them at this price. Of the 



