No. 3, October, 1921] MORPHODOGY, ETC., VASC. PLANTS 241 



1494. MoLLiARD, AI. Sur des phenomenes teratologiques survenant dans I'appareil floral 

 de la Carotte k la suite de traumatismes. [Teratological phenomena resulting from wounding 

 the inflorescence of the carrot.] Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. Paris 172: 473-475. 1921. — The 

 author reports a study of the wounding effects of grazing cattle upon the form and structure 

 of the inflorescence of the carrot. Double flowers are reported, some that were almost without 

 petals, and still others with neither stamens nor petals. — C. H. Farr. 



1495. Purvis, O. N. The effect of potassium salts on the anatomy of Dactylis glomerata. 

 Jour. Agric. Sci. 9: 338-365. 23 Jig. 1919. — Thickness of walls, diameter of lumina, and the 

 ratio of lumen to wall were measured both in sclerenchyma and metaxylem elements of stems 

 of D. glomerata grown on plots receiving different manurial treatments as regards potash. 

 Where potash was supplied the sclerenchyma walls were thinner in early stages, but this effect 

 was lost as the season progressed. Under the same conditions the lumina were larger than 

 normal; but in the presence of ammonium salts this effect was reversed. The thickness of 

 walls in the xylem was unaltered whether potassium was added or not, but the diameter of the 

 lumen was reduced in the presence of potash. In the latter case the addition of ammonium 

 Baits with potash resulted in an increase in diameter. — The addition of potassium salts gave 

 an increased ratio of lumen to wall, but the effect gradually disappeared. It is concluded that 

 fertilization with potassic fertilizers reduces the strength of mechanical cells in the early 

 stages of growth unless, indeed, the salts affect the composition of the wall. The rigidity of 

 plants supplied with potassium salts is not the result of anatomical strengthening but must be 

 attributed to other causes, such as the effect of the salts on the physiological condition of the 

 plants. — D. Reddick. 



1496. RusBY, H. H. A strange fruit. Torreya21: 47-50. 1 fig. 1921. — A description is 

 given of the Mexican Jarilla Sesseana (Ramirez) Rusby. The fruit seems reversed in form, 

 the thickened and elongated style simulating a peduncle, and the 5 fleshy curved appendages 

 at the base resembling calyx lobes. The author regards this form as specifically distinct 

 from J. heterophylla. — J. C. Nelson. 



1497. Sahni, B. Note on the presence of a *tent-poIe' in the seed of Cephalotaxus pedunc- 

 ulata. Ann. Botany 35: 297-298. 2 fig. 1921. — The seed of Cephalotaxus pedunculata shows 

 a small apical prolongation of the female prothallus which props up the nucellar membrane 

 somewhat after the fashion of a tent-pole. This is a strong Cordaitalean characteristic and the 

 similarity is mentioned as additional evidence in support of the Cordaitalean affinity of the 

 Taxales. — W. P. Thompson. 



1498. Seeliger, Rudolf. Die Abstoszung der primaren Rinde und die Ausheilung des 

 Wurzelbrandes bei der Zuckerriibe (Beta vulgaris L. var. rapa Dum.). [Sloughing of the primary 

 cortex and healing of root canker in the sugar beet.] Arbeit. Biol. Reichsanstalt Land- u. 

 Forstw. 10: 141-148. PI. 1, 3 fig. 1919. — In the absence of parasitic fungi no discoloration is 

 produced in the cortex tissue at the time of the sloughing of the primary cortex; and the re- 

 mains of such tissue on the hypocotyl are uncolored. When parasitic fungi are present the 

 sloughing of the primary cortex is always accompanied by a greenish-brown, brown, or blackish- 

 brown coloration of the infected tissue, but it is not possible to determine the degree of infec- 

 tion from the degree of color produced. Healing takes place unless the infection has passed 

 beyond the tissue which is cast off. RDggeberg's investigations of this same problem were 

 carried on with plants grown in water cultures. Parasitic fungi present in the water cultures 

 caused the discolorations reported by this author and his conclusions are not, therefore, de- 

 scriptive of the normal conditions. — Reginald H. Colley. 



1499. Seeliger, Rudolf. Untersuchungen iiber das Dickenwachstum der Zuckerriibe 

 (Beta vulgaris L. var. rapa Dum.). [Investigations on the growth in thickness of the sugar beet.] 

 Arbeit. Biol. Reichsanstalt Land- u. Forstw. 10: 149-194. PI. 2, 21 fig. 1919.— The author 

 investigated the morphology of the sugar beet from the seedling stage through 1 year's growth, 

 and finds that the primary epidermis is soon divided off from the fundamental tissue of the root 



