54 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



vegetation to grow. The raised bog is apparently rare in this 

 country but common in Ireland and other parts of northern 

 Europe. In this type the sphagnum moss raises the water by 

 capillarity until the centre of the bog is sometimes more than 

 twelve feet above the water level in the basin where the bog 

 is forming. Heavy rains may cause the bogs to burst de- 

 vastating the adjacent country. In 1896, according to a writ- 

 er in Plant World, a bog in County Kerry, Ireland, burst 

 discharging nearly six million cubic feet of peaty matter and 

 drowning several persons. The low temperature of sphagnum 

 bogs is said to be due to the persistence of the winter's cold and 

 ice which the blanket of sphagnum helps to retain. 



The Nut Pine. — One cannot always imagine the vegeta- 

 tion of other parts of the world though familiar with related 

 species of his own region. The seeds of our eastern pines are 

 altogether too small to be eaten, but in parts of the west there 

 are pines whose seeds are not only edible but large enough 

 to have some importance as an article of commerce. One of 

 the best known of these nut pines — Finns monophylla — is il- 

 lustrated in the February Miihlenhergia. This is the species 

 whose seeds not infrequently find their way to eastern markets 

 now-a-days. The seeds are highly prized by the Indians and 

 when they are ripe practically the whole tribe repair to the 

 forests to gather them. When roasted the seeds have a very 

 pleasant flavor that is appreciated by others as well as Indians. 

 The most interesting peculiarity about the tree is the fact that 

 it bears but one leaf in a "bundle." An examination of the 

 nearest species of pine will show that the leaves do not appear 

 as those of other plants do here and there on the plant, but that 

 from two to five are borne in a bundle on very 'short dwarf 

 branches. The present species was named monophylla because 

 it has but a single leaf. A study of development has fehown, 

 however, that the plant should have two leaves, but that one 

 of each pair usually fails to grow. 



