BOTANICAL GAZETTE. in 



Malyastrtlin angUStum, Gray.— Has any botanist ever ob- 

 served cleistogamy in this plant ? While exploring a tract of high 

 rocky ground east of this place the sixth of July, I discovered 

 some twenty specimens of this rare species, most all of which 

 bore seed on the lower branches. But as there were buds not yet 

 expanded upon the top and upper branches, I deferred collecting 

 until the next day, supposing the buds would open and the petals 

 expand. But day after day went by, and as the carpels commenced 

 to form, the corolla withered and remained upon the top of the 

 carpels. Upon being wetted, the petals showed no signs of having 

 dehisced. 



Owing to scant material I cannot be sure that my obser- 

 vations were of any worth. 



If any other collector can enlighten me on this point I will be 

 very thankful. 



From the simple fact that all of my exchanges have only 

 fruited specimens, 1 would infer that they have never seen the flow- 

 ers. — Prank Bush, Independence, Mo. 



Some Notes on Physostegia Virginiana.— An idle hour 

 on the prairie lands of Northern Indiana brought me face to face 

 with acres of this beautiful ''False Dragon-head," in full bloom, 

 and I wondered what could be learned of its life in such a causal 

 interview. Nothing can be more graceful than its spikes of rose- 

 colored flowers, but the great variability of its leaves showed what 

 a puzzle to the amateur botanist some of the extreme forms would 

 be, if isolated. In many cases the leaves were very small, linear, 

 and entire. But very soon a new feature attracted me with all the 

 interest of a discovery, for in some way I had never associated it 

 with Physostegia. The flowers were strikingly cataleptic, for the 

 slightest touch upon one would push it from its normal position 

 and there it would stay; and so it could be turned indefinitely upon 

 its pedicel, standing quietly in any position within the range of 

 more than half a circle. All the flowers of a thick cluster can thus 

 be thrown toward any side of the stem. A consultatibn of Gray's 

 Fl. N. Am. shows that this character is attributed to the whole 

 genus. Its object was suggested by seeing a very natural result of 

 this mechanism. A slight breeze, accompanied by a dash of rain, 

 suddenly sprang up, and every flower veered about, like a most sen- 

 sitive weather-vane, leaving only the back exposed to the wind and 

 rain. The horizontal position of the flowers and their widely 

 opened tubes would have permitted half of them to be filled with 

 water had they not so quickly shifted their direction. 



This observation led to a thought as to the method of securing 

 cross-fertilization in this species. The long style rises among the 

 four stamens along the upper part of the swollen tube, being at- 

 tached to it by an entanglement of hairs, the stigma lying close 



