72 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



The well-known bloom-mats carpeting the southern slopes of 

 many of the hills and knolls, like islands or oases of beauty, 

 are said to reach their best development in Alaska. — .1/. £. 

 Hardy in "Geography of Plants." 



Surnames from Plants. — Time was when men had ni' 

 surnames. When the crowd of Johns and Bills and Henrys 

 became too numerous to be designated accurately by a single 

 cognomen another was added w-hich finally became the family 

 name. People do not seem to have been very particular about 

 their surnames and a stuly of the names they have assumed 

 is full of interest. Of such names derived from plants we 

 have Berry, Budd, Bush, Corne, Flower, Plant, Pollard, Rice, 

 Root, Seed, Thorn, Wood, Ash, Broome, Brummel, Coling, 

 Cral)tree, Gale, Gribble, Hawthorn, Hawtree, Hay. Hollins, 

 Holme, May, Oakes, Rose, Snoakes. Snooks, Rowan, Akers. 

 Cherry, Crabbe, Coine, Fraser, Hague, Haigh, Merry, Boone. 

 Bennett, Cockle, Cole, Couch, Darnell, Drew, Emery, Fern. 

 Fitch, Grass, Heath, Lavender, Lever, Lilly, Moss, Oates, 

 Ramsey. Reed, Rush, Spiers, Ware, Woodruff and Pettigrcw. 

 This list is proljably far from complete and we would be glad 

 to have gur attention called to any we have missed. 



Poisonous Lima Beans. — A number of leguminous plants 

 are ])ossessed of poisonous properties and among them are cer- 

 tain varieties of the common lima or butter-bean {Phaseolus 

 liinatus). Those most likely to be poisonous are forms known 

 as F.urma, Java, Rangon or Burmania beans. The varieties 

 grown so extensively in California and elsewhere for food are 

 liarmless but others have a poisonous glucoside which by hy- 

 drolysis produces hydrocyanic acid. As usual the wild var- 

 ieties are most poisonous. 



Hawthorn or Thorxaimtj:. — in a recent issue of The 

 .hncrican Botanist vou ask for data as to the use of the names 



