THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 9 



A lover of the high places on mountain slopes or becoming" 

 shrub-like toward the tops of the higher mountains. Prick 

 one of the numerous blisters on the trunk of a younger tree 

 and the clean balsam gushes out with a fine resinous odor. 



But if our homeward way lead us through the snow that 

 covers the ground in the bare deciduous forest, we may come 

 upon a spot where that humble little evergreen that does not 

 pretend to the rank of a tree creeps over the floor of the forest. 

 It is the running hemlock or American yew (Taxes cana- 

 densis) ; its seed inclosed in a red wax-like pulp that forms a 

 fine contrast to the dark green of the leaves. 



We return from our walk in the early twilight of a 

 W'inter's day with numb fingers stinging cheeks, but what mat- 

 ters that if like the Concord philosopher we can — 

 "go to the God of the wood. 

 To bring his word to men." 



Shushan, New York. 



SOME LEAFLESS PLANTS. 

 By Dr. W. W. Bailey. 



I AM repeatedly asked to give some account of the queer 

 plants, devoid of foliage, that one meets in the woods or 

 elsewhere. I do not now refer to fungi, which never have 

 leaves or any thing representing them, but to such plants of 

 high affiliation, as, in the course of time, have ceased to develop 

 these organs. 



In these cases leaves are not formed for the very excellent 

 reason that they are unnecessary. Such plants make others do 

 their work, and when the}-^ possess foliar organs, these are rudi- 

 mentary and rarely, if ever functional. W'e have quite a num- 

 ber of plants that are in this situation. Tlie best know^n of 

 them, perhaps, are tlie Indian-pipes, two species of Monotropa 

 of the Heath family. It is curious to find a plant of high ordinal 

 type, by descent an aristocrat, adopting the degrading habit of 



