THE AEERICAN BOTANIST. 37 



weeds mentioned in this list the black and white mustards 

 are first, being imported to the amount of more than 

 5,000,000 pounds annually. Then comes burdock with 

 50,000 pounds of the root; dandeHon 115,000 pounds; 

 couch grass (Triticum repens) rhizomes 250,000 pounds; 

 hoarhound 125,000 pounds of leaves; jimson weed {Stra- 

 monium) 150,000 pounds of leaves, 10,000 pounds of 

 seeds; poison hemlock {Conium maculatum) 20,000 

 pounds of seed and nearl}' as much leaves. Some of the 

 wxeds of which great quantities are used, the suppl}^ com- 

 ing from domestic sources, are mullein, lobelia, poke, bone= 

 set, Canada fleabane, catnip and yarrow. 



Ballast Ground Vi^a.^T^.— The Gardening World sa.ys, 

 that nearly 300 species ot alien plants were collected in 

 Edinburgh, Scotland, last year mostly along the docks 

 where the seeds had lodged from the sweeping of foreign 

 vessels visiting that port. 



A New Botanical Garden.— According to Gardening 

 a botanical garden is to be established at the University 

 of Chicago in which wall be tested DeVries' new theory of 

 the origin of sjDecies. The new garden is said to have re- 

 ceived seeds from DeVries for this purpose. 



Identifying the Violets. — It is onl^^ in recent years 

 that students of our violets have paid attention to the 

 development oi the plant during the summer months. In 

 the Sj'noptical Flora (1895) the specific characters are 

 taken almost exclusively from the plants as they appear 

 when flowering in spring, though the existence of later 

 cleistogamous flowers "abundant and short peduncled" is 

 stated. Even Mr. Pollard, who has distinctly urged the 

 importance of studying the mature plant, is, in his treat- 

 ment of Viola in the recent manuals of Dr. Britton and of 

 Dr. Small, quite vague in his account of the apetalous 

 flowers and their mature capsules. Yet right here are to 

 be found the most marked and constant characters on 

 which to divide the acaulescent blue violets into species. 

 These plants are best understood, as are the cruciferae and 

 umbelliferai, when in fruit. — Ezra Brainard in Rhodora. 



