THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 49 



was made known to the writer when watching a flock of 

 chickadees near Takoma Park, a suburb of Washington, D. 

 C. These animated balls of gray and black were having a 

 feast on the big fat grains of the cleistogamous spikelets con- 

 cealed in the sheaths. I have since found occasional clumps 

 of Panicmn Boscii also with shred'ded upper sheaths. Evi- 

 dently the chickadees knew of this character of P. clande- 

 stinum and profited by it before Linnaeus bestowed the name 

 "clandestinum" on the species because of it. — Agnes Chase in 

 Rhodora. 



Rubber from the Milkweed. — Several familes of 

 plants, including the dogbanes (Apocynaceae) the spurges 

 (Enphorbiaceae) and the milkweeds (Asdepiadaceae) pretty 

 generally possess a milky juice called latex. In many in- 

 stances this latex contains rubber, and a large share of the 

 commercial product comes from tropical trees and vines be- 

 longing to these families. Even some of our temperate region 

 plants produces rubber but this is usually of such inferior 

 quality and occurs in such minute quantities that it is never 

 likely to appear in market. The fact that the rubber exists, 

 however, is of interest. Recently some investigations have 

 been carried on with the common milkweed (Asclepias syri- 

 aca) and a note in the Ohio Naturalist records that it is a rub- 

 ber producer though the rubber is not of a high grade. Be- 

 sides the rubber, the latex from this plant contains sugar, 

 mineral matter and resin. About 2 or 3 per cent of rubber is 

 yielded by the latex. 



Meaning of Amaryllis. — A subscriber asks for the 

 meaning of the name Amaryllis which is sometimes applied to 

 a group of tropical American bulbous plants allied to the iris 

 and narcissus. The same group is also known as 

 ZepJiyranthes and Atainasco but usually amaryllis is 

 added as a common name showing that the plants be- 



