Wanted. — Short notes of interest to the general botanist 

 are always in demand for this department. Our readers are 

 invited to make this the place of publication for their shorter 

 botanical items. The magazine is issued as soon as possible 

 after tlie 15th of February, May, August and November. 



Yellow Varieties of Red Berries. — Apropos of your 

 note in the February issue, anent yellow berried holly, it is 

 interesting to note that the plant which is known on the 

 Pacific Coast as California holly, and which normally bears 

 red berries, occurs occasionally on Santa Catalina Island with 

 yellow berries. Botanically the plant is Heteromeles arbuti- 

 folia, an evergreen shrub or small tree of the rose family and 

 its use in Christmas decoration is quite extensive on the Pacific 

 Coast, where the true holly is not indigenous, I believe. — C. 

 F. Saunders, Pasadena, Calif. 



The Bitter Root. — In the 5th volume of Muhlcnhcrgia 

 the editor, A. A. Heller, has begun a series of popular articles 

 on various plants of the West that thus far have been but mere 

 names to most eastern readers. In the January number a 

 picture of the bitter root {Lewisia rediviva) is given together 

 with an account of its discovery, appearance and uses. The 

 plant was named by Pursh for Captain Meriwether Lewis, 

 "the pathfinder," who discovered it in Montana upon his return 

 journey from the Pacific Coast in 1806. The plant has since 

 become well known and has been adopted as the State flower 

 of Montana. Long before Montana was even a territory, 

 however, the plant was well-known to the Indians who found 



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