THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 69 



cidentally accounting for the name windflower, but the latest 

 edition of Gray says the world is corrupt Greek and Latin for 

 Na man the Semitic name for Adonis "from whose blood the 

 crimson-flowered Anemone of the Orient is said to have 

 sprung." However, Adonis, at his death, is supposed to have 

 been changed by Venus into the flower now known as Adonis 

 autniniialis. Not a few New Englanders spell the common 

 name anemony and even some eminent botanists pronounce it 

 as if spelled Annie Mony. It may be added that if Anemone 

 is derived from the Greek ancmos, it should be accented on the 

 third syllable. — Ed.] 



Potato Blossoms. — Apropos of the notes on potato 

 fruits and blossoms in November Botanist, I observed as a lad 

 in Connecticut that the old variety, called meshannock or 

 mercer, which we continued to raise for several years after 

 the community had taken up the Jersey peachblow as a sub- 

 stitute, gave fewer blossoms as the years passed by and very 

 few of those produced seed-balls. I have always understood 

 that any plant that is continuously reproduced from bulbs, cut- 

 tings, or other forms than seeds, gradually ceases to produce 

 seeds. L. H. Bailey, in "Cyclopedia of Horticulture", article 

 "potato", makes the same observation. All new seedling var- 

 ieties of potatoes that I have had opportunity to observe seed, 

 bloom, and fruit profusely. I observe that Baldwin apples 

 have very few seeds compared with the newer varieties. If 

 I were living where I was using the oldest varieties, Rhode 

 Island Greening and the like, I should expect to find similar 

 results. I am sure that oranges and bulbs like tulips, show 

 the same tendency. How often does one see tulips fruiting 

 under favorable circumstances? I hope we shall hear more 

 of this matter. — James M. Bates, Red Cloud, Nebr. [The 

 question whether varieties multiplied vegetatively tend to run 

 out is one that is by no means settled. The growers of gladi- 



