Botanical Gazette. 



Vol. VII. JUNE, 1882. No. 6 



Editorial. — The oldest herbarium on record has been found 

 in the form of garlands of dried flowers recently discovered on the 

 breasts of mummies. The flowers are so well preserved that the 

 colors of the petals and the color of the leaves are almost perfect. 

 Mr. J. G. Lemmon and wife are off again tor Arizona. One would 

 have supposed that the experience of their last trip would have 

 sufficed for a lifetime; but as long as a plant remains to be discov- 

 ed, these intrepid explorers will try to find it. 



Prof. F. L. Harvey, of Fayetteville, Ark., writes that the peach 

 trees in that region this spring are producing a great many multi- 

 ple carpels. In some trees nearly all the flowers have formed multi- 

 ple fruits, varying from doublets to quadruplets. The freak does 

 not appear to be local, but notices of it are to be seen in the state 

 papers. The trees have not borne for two years and it seems like 

 an effort to make up for lost time. 



Miss M. B. Flint, of Brookhaven, Miss., reports finding, April 

 27th, a full-grown leaf of Caialpa speciosa with two midribs. The 

 leaf was of normal shape a/srbase, but above it forked, forming two 

 tips, each one of them slenderly acuminate. If the midribs had 

 been superimposed the leaf would have been the typical form. The 

 growth was on a young seedling and was the only monstrosity the 

 plant showed. 



Prof.A. B.Seymour of Ills. Univ.. Champaign,writes that near the 

 last of April he found Ophioglossum vulgatum, L., growing in wood- 

 ed bottom lands near the Pine Hills in the most northwest part of 

 Union Co., Ills. Only a single plant has been previously reported in 

 Illinois and that was found in Wabash Co. Professor Seymour 

 counted near fifty plants and there were probably more. 



It appears that the genus Chara is not all plain sailing. It 

 contains such an inextricable tangle of forms that it is hard to draw 

 lines of classification. In the American Naturalist for May, Dr. T. 

 F. Allen describes and figures 9 American "forms 11 of C. coronata, 

 which he does not pretend can be called varieties. It is to be hoped 

 that this devoted student will bring order out of chaos so that oth- 

 ers may have the courage toeuter the field. 



The Torrey Bulletin for April is an unusually full number, 



