112 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



Wilting of Cut Flowers. — Wild roses have generally 

 wilted for me, even if put in water three minutes after being 

 picked, hut I have found that if I take the vase of water to the 

 bush and put the cut roses in it immediately they, keep per- 

 fectly for from three to seven days and then really fade and 

 shatter, rather than wilt. I know poppies should be treated 

 so, but have not found the method successful with wild elder. 

 I should like to have a list of the flowers that must be treated 

 so in order to be kept fresh. — Mrs. Nellie G. Masson, Indian- 

 apolis, Ind. [Certain physiological conditions underlie the 

 wilting of flowers when cut. It is probably well known that 

 there are certain small tubes in the stems of plants through 

 which the water for their nourishment travels and, further- 

 more, that it is this moisture, rather than the woody parts of 

 the leaves and flowers, that keep them expanded. Owing to 

 the evaporation which goes on more or less rapidly all the time, 

 the water in the tubes is under a certain tension and when 

 the column of water is broken by the cutting of the stem, the 

 tension draws the water into the tubes to be followed by air. 

 When the stems are later immersed in water these tiny air 

 bubbles interfere with the rise of additional moisture. Plants 

 with soft and juicy stems are much less likely to wilt when 

 treated thus, than are stems that are hard and woody. It is 

 probably not necessary to carry the vase to the plant if the cut 

 flowers are carried into the shade at once and about an inch 

 of the stem cut off under water before being transferred to the 

 vase. When many leaves are left on the stem with the flowers, 

 the latter have a greater tendency to wilt on account of the 

 leaves taking much of the moisture that would otherwise be 

 available for the flowers. This is especially true of woody 

 plants in which the moisture does not move as rapidly as it 

 does in herbaceous species. — Ed.] 



Kochia A lata. — In the description of Kochia alata on 

 page 52 of this volume, the word, reduced, in the seventh line. 



