176 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



but even if so, Nuttall's name, now well known since more than 60 

 years, ought to be retained in place of a doubtful and very inappropriate 

 one.— The three closely allied species, P. Bigelomi and P.pusilla with 4 

 seeds, and P. heterophylla with numerous ones, have all pitted seeds, 

 well seen only in perfectly mature specimens. The seeds become gelati- 

 nous when wet. — G. Engelmann. 



Forest Fires in Oregon. — The forests of Eastern Oregon are found 

 only at an elevation of 3,500 to 4,000 feet and upwards. Fires, when the 

 growth is thick, as it commonly is, destroy everything. The first plant to 

 occupy the land is Epilohinm spieatum (called "Elk Weed" here). This 

 seems to be the only herbaceous plant to follow the fires. In a year or so 

 the ground is occupied by seedlings of the same species that covered 

 it before, viz: Black Fine (P. contorta, var.) and Red Pine (Pseudotsuga): 

 also, in about their usual proportion, the three or four other coniferous 

 species common to this region. The youug growth is commonly very 

 dense and grows rapidly. In 15 or 20 years the saplings will be 20 to 30 

 feet high and 2 to 4 inches in diameter, the pine occupying the ground 

 mostly. 



In Western Oregon it seems to take more time to replace the de- 

 stroyed forests. The trees are much larger and are slower to decay. The 

 ground is soon covered by a thick growth of blackberry plants (R. ursl- 

 nus) and also raspberry, the latter more scattering. With these the seed- 

 ling forest trees have to contend. But in time they overcome them and 

 occupy the land exclusively, as did their ancestors. In the coast moun- 

 tains there appears to be an exception to the rule that the burned forest 

 is soon replaced by young trees of the same species. There is a large 

 section of the country lying between the Willamette Valley and the 

 Gaquinna Bay in wich the forest growth, which must have been very 

 thick, has been entirely destroyed. This region is now thickly covered by 

 a growth of Cherry (P. emarginata), which occupies the land to the ex- 

 clusion of almost everything else. The thick growth no doubt prevent- 

 ing, as it apparently has done for 40 or 50 years and seems likely to for 

 all time to come, the young conifers from getting a hold. — Wm. C. Cu- 

 sick, Union, Oregon. 



Elastic Stamens of Urtica. — The curious discharging of pollen by 

 the elastic stamens of Pilea microjiliylla, Liehm., the "Artillery plant" 

 of our window gardens, coupled with the text-book assertion that in the 

 sub-order Urticea?, the filaments are "transversely wrinkled and inflexed 

 in the bud, straightening or spreading elastically when the flower 

 opens," are reasons enough for expecting a forcible discharge of pollen 

 in our common nettles. This discharge seems to take place only under the 

 most favorable circumstances however,f or a long observation of the nettles 

 failed to reveal any extraordinary phenomena. It was a pleasant surprise 

 to suddenly observe last fall a huge plant of our common Urtica graci- 

 lis enveloped in a shower of pollen. The plant grew on heavy muck. 



