THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 55 



Flowers That Afford Light.— According to a writ- 

 er in the Gardening Chronicle the flowers of Dictamnus 

 fraxinella secrete an inflammable resin. On a still calm 

 evening when the plant is in full bloom a lighted match 

 ma^^ be applied to the flower stem when the resin will 

 ignite and flare up without injuring the flowers and giving 

 off a strong perfume as it burns. 



Honey Sickness. — There are certain plants from which 

 the bees are reputed to gather poisonous honey, but this 

 idea does not pass unchallenged. Many scientists assert 

 that the bees do not gather poisonous honey but that even 

 perfectly pure honey has a very toxic effect on certain per- 

 sons. On this point Chas. T. Druery, writing to the Gar- 

 dener's Chronicle, notes that in his own case the slightest 

 taste of honey is sufficient to produce nausea, vomiting 

 and great pain which often lasts for a week or more. 

 Even when the honey is taken in confections, cakes, etc., 

 the effects is equally violent. The editor of The American 

 Botanist can vouch for a similar case in his own family. 

 It v^^ould be interesting to know how prevalent this sus- 

 ceptibility to honey is. 



Vitality of Seeds. — If every seed produced should 

 grow into a new plant, each annual plant would have to 

 produce but one seed a year, and each perennial but one 

 seed in a lifetime to keep up the original stock. We know 

 from observation, however, that of the many plants that 

 spring up, few come to maturit3'. But after counting 

 every seed that germinates, the number is very small in 

 comparison with the vast numbers that are ripened an- 

 nually. What becomes of the others ? Man}- are, of 

 course, eaten by birds and insects, but a far greater num- 

 ber do not germinate for the simple reason that they pos- 

 sess too little vitality to survive the winter, while others, 

 often thirty per cent, of the whole crop, to all outward 

 appearances sound and good, are abortive. Nature selects 

 her seeds with marvellous judgement and ensures that 

 every new crop shall be as good, or a little better than the 

 preceeding one. 



