26 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



ma lobes is for the purpose of keeping the pollen grains moist 

 and thus promoting their subsequent germination. In practi- 

 cally all cases where the stigmas are sensitive, they are not 

 enclosed by the corolla tube and are thus exposed to the drying 

 effects of the sun and wind. On sunny days the stigmas of 

 some species close w-hether stimulated by the presence of pollen 

 or not. The failure of some plants, such as Catalpa, to set an 

 abundance of fruit is thus attributed to the drying out of the 

 l)ollen on the stigmas. This, however, is certainly not the case 

 with all flowers, for the lilies have strongly projecting stamens 

 and pistils and yet have no difficulty in producing seed-pods. 



Common Names of Euc.\lvi'Tls. — Australia is famous 

 for its many species of Bticalyptus. More than 150 kinds are 

 known. When planted in America they are usually known as 

 gums, but the Australians have many other names for them 

 and often divide the group as a wliole into sections known as 

 bloodwoods, mahoganies, boxes, tallow-woods, stringy-barks, 

 woolly-butts, gums, peppermints, ashes, and ironwoods. 

 Among the names for single species are spearwood {B. dora- 

 toxylon). Karri {B. dk'crsicolor), jarrah ( H. marg'uiata), 

 kino {B. rcsinifcra) , tooart-tree (B. (/oin/ihoicl^Jiala) }-ate- 

 tree {B. cormita), and cider-gum (H. (iiiiiiiii). 



Hardwoods and Softwoods. — The woodworker lias 

 found it convenient to (hxide the various si)ecies with wliich 

 lie works into the two groups of liardwoods and softwoods. 

 'iMiere is no hard and fa^t line for separating the two groups, 

 but it happens that the softwood group \ery nearl}- corres- 

 ponds to what are known to the botanist as Gymnosperms, 

 that is. tin- j lines, cedars, spruces and the like, while the hard- 

 woods ai'e niosth' derixcd from the Angiosperms or true flow- 

 ering plants. There are many exceptions to this rule, however. 

 In our own C()untr\- the basswood. whitewood, cottonwood and 

 cucumber-tree, to mention onlv a few, have wood softer than 



