18 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



new name takes his place. He will rulac no longer though 

 he may rue Negundo. Another old name caught the editors 

 of the new "Gray's Manual" napping. In this edition a com- 

 mon wayside weed known as velvet-leaf or butter-print is 

 named Ahutilon Theophrasti this name displacing the better 

 known Ahutilon amccnnae. The joker, in this case was that 

 the name avicennae attributed to Gaertner, while antedated by 

 the name Theophrasti, was also used for the plant by a still 

 earlier writer and so Theophrasti, goes on the scrap heap 

 along with other blasted hopes. 



The Wonder-berry Poisonous. — According to Bur- 

 bank, the wonder-berry is a hybrid between an African species 

 of nightshade called stubble-berry (Solanuin Guinense) and 

 the Pacific coast rabbit-weed ( Solanum villosum) ; according 

 to various botanists it is simply an improved variety of the 

 west coast plant, Solanwn villosum. The wonder-berry is 

 described as being much like the common blue-berry in taste 

 and quite devoid of the poisonous principle that make other 

 species of nightshade inedible, but there are some that report 

 it to be poisonous. Allowing the plant to be a real 

 hybrid as claimed by the originator it is possible that 

 both parties to the controversy are entitled to some credit. 

 If it follows the law of hybrids in general about one quarter 

 of the seeds would be expected to produce the characters of 

 one parent, one quarter the other parent and the rest hybrids 

 as before. Burbank claims that the two original species are 

 so blended in the hybrid form that the latter becomes a dis- 

 tinct species but even if the form gives no hint of the parent 

 species, who shall say that the physical natures of the two do 

 not breed true to Mendel's law. This would account for the 

 fact that such excellent botanists as W. Watson of Kew pro- 

 nounces the fruit poisonous. He may have examined plants 

 that had the rabbit-weed constitution. At any rate, he reports 



