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NOTE and COMMENT 



Fragrant Wildflowers. — A new angle in the fragrant 

 wildflower situation has been developed by a note from Dr. A. 

 F. Blakeslee in Science. He found two forms of garden ver- 

 bena, one of which was fragrant to him and one of which was 

 not. Happening to call the attention of an assistant to the 

 flowers, the latter reported the odorless one fragrant and the 

 fragrant one without odor, so far as he was concerned. This 

 led to further experiment with the result that out of a consider- 

 able number of people tested, some found one form fragrant 

 and some the other. The subjects were tested blindfolded so 

 that no color suggestion vitiated the results. If this condition 

 is found to exist with regard to> other flowers, we may have to 

 have new tests to decide which flowers are fragrant and which 

 are not. We have repeatedly suggested that all flowers may 

 be fragrant to the insects that visit them and here, at least, 

 we have evidence that even fragrant flowers may be odorless to 

 noses that can distinguish fragrance in other forms. It is likely 

 that those who can smell at all would not disagree in the case of 

 such strongly scented flowers as pink azalea, wild crab, wild 

 grape, and arbutus, but in flowers reputed to be only faintly 

 fragrant, the question now arises, are they fragrant, or is our 

 own nose at fault? Some such condition as this may account 

 for the reported fragrance in many species commonly regarded 

 as odorless. 



A Fragrant Goldenrod. — The specific name of one of 

 the goldenrods — Solidago odova — indicates that it is odorous, 

 but in this case the odor refers to the leaves and not the flowers. 



