282 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



that the dried blocks (1 and 2) had lost 9.5 <f of their original weight. III. 

 That the moist air blocks (3 and 4) had gained 3.9 % in weight. IV. That the 

 wet pieces (5 and 6) had absorbed 62.25 <f of their own weight of water. V. 

 That the ordinary air pieces (7 and 8) had undergone practically no change. 

 VI. That the shavings (9 and 10) had lost only 7.9 °/ c , or less than the blocks 

 1 and 2. VII. That the increase and decrease in width was very much more 

 marked in the direction of the annual rings than in the direction of the medul- 

 lary rays. VIII. That the greatest increase in width was ^ of an inch, which 

 was from fifty to sixty times greater than the increase in length ; and IX. That 

 the increase in size was not proportional to the gain in weight. 



Rhododendron (Azalea) Vaseyi, Gray in Proc. Am. Acad., xv, 48. 1879. — 

 Having been favored with notes upon the living plants and both flowering and 

 fruiting specimens of this interesting shrub, from my obliging friends Mr. 

 Canby and Mr. J. Donnell Smith — the latter sending abundant specimens both 

 of this year's blossoms and of last year's fruiting — I propose to amend the 

 published character, which was drawn up from young Mr. Vasey's original 

 specimens. 



First, as to the flower buds. I described these as with " perulis paucis," but 

 summer specimens with formed flower buds for the next year have well imbrica- 

 ted bud-scales. The outer and shorter bracts fall as the bud opens, the thin in- 

 nermost remaining longer, which led to the mistake. Maximowicz makes a 

 similar mistake in respect to R. Rhodora. 



Next, the blossoming is precocious rather than coetaneous with the leafing. 

 Vasey's specimens, with flowers ready to fall, have leaves an inch and a half 

 long. Those sent by Mr. Smith, which were gathered at the middle of May by 

 Mr. S. Kelsey, are either leafless, or the more advanced plants just developing a 

 pair of leafy branches from just under the flowering bud. 



In the third place, the corolla is irregular in a bilabiate way, thus confirm- 

 ing its relationship to R. Rhodora, however different in habit. Maximowicz 

 takes notice of this bilabiation in two N. E. Asiatic species. It is 5-parted or 

 nearly, but the lateral sinuses are deeper, and three of the divisions more con- 

 nected than the other two. Mr. Canby notes that the three divisions of what 

 may be called one lip, are shorter than the other two, and so it is in a corolla 

 received from him ; but in numerous dried specimens this is not so apparent. 

 But the spread of the divisions is decidedly irregular, three seemingly ascending 

 and two recurved-spreading. The upper corolla-lobes are more or less spotted 

 inside toward the base ; in some flowers the spots are dark and conspicuous. 



In the fourth place, the stamens are prevailingly seven, quite unequal, 

 three or four of them larger and with stouter filaments. I had described them 

 as five, and this is true of some flowers. In one flower I find only four, 

 three large and one depauperate. The ovary is beset with stipitate viscid 

 glands. I had described the capsule as glabrate (not glabrous), which is not 

 far out, but it is roughish with the vestiges of the bristly glands. Mature 

 leaves are from obovate-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, acute or acuminate at both 

 ends, the larger four to six inches long. A. Gray. 



