•20 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



Leaf Shoots. — This is the term which Conard adopts 

 m his "Structure and Life History of the Hay Scented Fern" 

 for the curious stems that arise from the base of the stipe in 

 the fronds of Dicksonia Pilosiuscula. According to this au- 

 thor about twenty percent of the fronds produce such roots. 

 Occasionally a stipe will produce two shoots, one on each side. 

 These shoots have a varying history; they may remain dor- 

 mant as mere bud-like protuberances or they may grow rapidly 

 into true rhizomes from which new fronds develop. This 

 method of vegetative reproduction is rarely mentioned in dis- 

 cussing the multiplication of ferns by other than sexual pro- 

 cesses, and seems confined to this single species in our fern 

 flora. — Fern Bulletin. 



Cultivating the Lilies. — Of all the families of plants 

 that man cultivates for the beauty of their flowers, few if any, 

 are more desirable than the lilies and irises. The orchids 

 bear very beautiful flowers but are hard to grow, while the 

 lilies and irises are of easy culture and hardly surpassed by 

 the orchids in beauty ; in fact, the iris is called "the poor man's 

 orchid." It is surprising what a fine collection can be made 

 when one really sets about it. Mr. Gustav Pauls of the St. 

 Louis Altenheim writes that he has been growing these plants 

 for nearly fifty years and has eighty varieties of lilies, besides 

 Camassias, Erythronimns, Fritillarias Tricyrtis, Calochortus 

 Brodiaeas and others. Few plants are more satisfactory than 

 bulbous plants of all kinds. Once established under proper 

 conditions they require less care than other plants and con- 

 tinue to improve as time passes. 



Saprophytes and Parisites. — Saprophytes among 

 plants are defined as individuals which live upon dead organic 

 matter, whether animal or vegetable, while parisites live upon 

 living animals or plants. The best examples of both these 

 groups are found among the fungi, in fact recent research in- 

 cline the scientists to the belief that saprophytes and parasites 



