36 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST, 



Hum) of the dogbane family to which the European 

 "m3'rtle" or periwinkle {Vinca minor) with its trailing 

 vine, evergreen leaves and violet flowers belongs. 



The oleander is another but the order is mostlj^ tropi- 

 cal. There are rubber yielding trees and man}- a splendid 

 flower among its species though it is a suspected tribe 

 often or generally poisonous. It you are not familiar with 

 the "fire on the mountain" {Euphorbia heterophylla) you 

 do not know what Nature can do in the line of rich green- 

 ery but these leaves in many opposite pairs on long red 

 tinted branches are noticeabh^ fine in this way, smooth 

 and deeply colored. The clustering flowers of thick sub- 

 stance remaining a long time ^vithout change have a deep 

 flve parted cup of purest white lined and stained with a 

 beautiful tint of red ; many a worse plant is carefully cul- 

 tivated. It is a strong perennial but is not aggressive. 

 Its long slender round red pods growing in pairs full of 

 winged seeds are often seen above the snow in winter and 

 the seeds must fly with the winter wind year after year 

 but it does not spread. Its long running roots send up 

 stems here and there but on the whole its narrow habitat 

 here is the same as that of forty years ago. 



Arkport, N. Y. 



- Note gifigL (§(2)Ffiff^@m1. 



Wanted. — Short notes of interest to the general bot- 

 anist are always in demand for this department. Our 

 readers are invited to make this the place of publication 

 for their botanical items. 



A Japanese Fern Naturalized. — Mrs. A. P. Taylor 

 has recently found the Japanese climbing fern {Lygodium 

 Japonicum) often erroneously called Lygodium scandens, 

 growing wild along a ditch in southern Georgia, 



Drought and the Color of Clover. — In the spring 

 we had a period of drought which seemed to effect the 

 common white clover by making muchof it (indeed nearly 



