THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 7 



various parts of tlie country we should see at once how sta- 

 mens grade into petals. Thus, the smooth-stemmed Ment.':clia 

 has five full-sized petals onl}^, with sometimes five additional 

 narrower ones. Other species, as for example, the one I re- 

 icently saw in the Wasatch mountains, have the filaments of a 

 number of their stamens flattened, and those broadened organs 

 become more and more petaloid as they approach the circum- 

 ference of their field, where the true petals are situated. As 

 all the M^entzdias have stamens enough and to spare, it can be 

 easily understood how some of these organs may have been 

 converted into petals. First some of them became flattened, 

 though still bearing anthers, as was observed in our Utah 

 Mentzclia; next the anthers were lost, leaving, say, five nar- 

 rower inner petals within the ring of outer broad ones ; and at 

 the final wind-up all the petals were large and broad, as in the 

 case of our Dakota Mentzdia. Of course there was a reason 

 for all this modification, the need being the productions of a 

 showy corolla to attract insects and induce them to aid in the 



tcross-pollination of the flowers. 



{To he Continued.) 



EVERGREENS !N WINTER. 

 By Frank Dobbin. 



WHEN the w hite mantle of winter is spread over the world, 

 it is a relief to the eye to look away to some distant hill 

 and see a clump of our common red spruce (Picea rubra) 

 trooping toward the summit like a file of soldiers, their dark 

 green uniform in striking contrast to the world of whiteness all 

 about. But if we plod through the snow toward some upland 

 swamp we notice upon entering its borders that the spruce of 

 the hillside has become noticeably smaller and a closer inspec- 

 tion will show us that the red spruce has given place to a 

 smaller species, the black or swamp spruce (Picea tnariana). 

 If our section be more northern the white spruce (Picea cana- 

 densis) would be sure to claim our attention. 



