THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 27 



that of many of the phies, while in the Tropics many Angios- 

 perm woods are found that are softer than ordinary Gymnos- 

 perm wood, in fact the softest and Hghtest wood in the world 

 is found in this group. Among Troopical Angiosperms with 

 extremely soft wood are species of Ochroina, Erythrina and 

 Briodendron. It is suggested that the wood of Gymnosperms 

 hereafter be called coniferous wood, as being more exact than 

 the old term of softwood. 



Rare California Plant. — In a new seed catalogue is- 

 sued by Luther Burbank we read this astonishing statement : 

 "The Bscholtaia Californica is almost always called California 

 poppy; it is not a true poppy. The real California poppy is an 

 exceedingly rare plant growing in only two places in the world 

 and is not even mentioned in cyclopedias and botanies." Cal- 

 ifornia, to be sure, covers a large area and doubtless has many 

 rare species, but it seems little short of negligence for her 

 botanists to allow such a rare species to go undescribed until 

 attention is called to it in a seed catalogue. Seeds are offered 

 at 20 cents a packet and if they delay much longer some East- 

 ern botanist might invest twenty cents and beat them to it. In- 

 cidentally one wonders why a catalogue purporting to be issued 

 1)y Luther Burbank should print such nonsense. 



Edible Lilies. — The lily family contains a number of 

 edible species, ranging from the familiar onion, leek, and 

 garlic to the more aristocratic asparagus, but none of these 

 are true lilies in the sense that they belong to the genus Liliiini. 

 They are merely lily worts. According to Harshberger's "Pas- 

 toral Botany," however, the Chinese eat the bulbs of the tiger 

 lily {Liliiini tigrinum) which they call "Chia-peh-ho." The 

 flowers of another species {L. Sargentac) are also said to be 

 eaten in China after being boiled, dried in the sun, minced, 

 and fried with salt and oil. The mixture does not sound ap- 

 petizing and most folks would scorn to treat any lily in such 



