THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 27 



to grow well. When summer comes the leaves wither and die, 

 and by August all the above-ground parts are dead, and only 

 the subterranean parts, sheltered in the fissures of the rock, 

 remain to carry the plant through the winter, 



* * * 

 The harbinger-of-spring, Eringenia bulbosa, illustrates 

 very well the habits of some of the early spring flowers. The 

 flowers are in a close umbel; the petals are white, but the red 

 anthers give a pink tone to the whole umbel. Only the flower- 

 stalk and flowers are above ground when they first come into 

 bloom. A few inches down is a small tuber from which the 

 flowering stems arise. This tuber explain the secret why 

 Erigenia can bloom so early in the spring. Carefully stored 

 up in the tuber is a supply of food saved from the preceeding 

 year, and ready for immediate use on the first warm days of 

 spring, so that no time need be lost by the plant in manu- 

 facturing the food necessary for its growth. This habit is 

 adopted by many other spring flowers, such as trillium, Dutch- 

 man's breeches, spring beauty, dog-tooth-violet, toothwort and 

 bloodroot. 



The Lignon-Berry. — According to Gardening an effort 

 is being made to introduce into cultivation in this country a 

 Swedish berry called the lignon-berry. At present a consider- 

 able business is done in importing the ripe fruit which finds 

 favor in Swedish communities. In the home of the Ameri- 

 can Botanist the lignon-berry, or as it is pronounced here, 

 the lingen-berry is often found in market. It is a dull, dark 

 red berry about the size of our cranberry and with a similar 

 flavor. It is very evidently a product of some member of the 

 heath family, but what one we are not able to say at present. 

 Doubtless some of our readers, on this or the other side of 

 "the pond" can inform us. It may be queried whether lingen- 

 berry is not derived from the same word, ling, by which the 

 heather (Calluna vulgaris) is sometimes called. 



