112 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



Arctium minus laciniatum. — On pages 83 of your 

 current number there is a note on the new form of burdock. 

 I noticed the same plant growing in a street on South Bend, 

 Ind. I intended transplanting it, thinking it a teratological 

 form. The discription agrees perfectly with the plant I found, 

 and if it reappears I will send leaf specimen. — /. A. Nieuw- 

 land. 



Plants and Cold. — It has always been more or less of 

 a puzzle, even to the scientist, to decide how certain plants are 

 able to survive the winter in the leafy condition. It is some- 

 times stated that the cells of such plants are so small that 

 freezing the water in them does not rupture the cell walls, or 

 even that the cells do not contain sufficient moisture to make 

 its freezing a disturbing feature. A Swedish botanist has re- 

 cently offered another explanation to the effect that such 

 plants, at least in northern Germany and Scandinavia, contain 

 sugar instead of starch during the winter and that the sugar in 

 some way protects the protoplasm from freezing. 



Poisonous Tomatoes. — Our old familiar friend the to- 

 mato is under suspicion again. When it first obtained a place 

 in cultivation it was under the guise of an ornamental plant 

 named love apple. As such it was regarded as deadly poison- 

 ous and its relationship to the nightshades gave color to the 

 belief. Sooner or later, however, it was found to be edible 

 and thereupon it was transferred to the garden where it has 

 since remained as a highly prized fruit. Its harmful character 

 has always been more or less hinted at, however, and but a 

 short time ago tomatoes were reputed to cause cancers. Of 

 course this was all nonsense, but there seems more truth in the 

 charge that is now being made by various physicians to the 

 effect that some kinds of tomatoes are likely to cause heart 

 trouble. Since all people are not affected alike it seems still to 

 be a question whether all tomatoes are harmful or, whether 



