

Botanical Gazette. 



Vol. V. JANUARY, 1880. No. i. 



Editorial. — With this number begins the fifth volume of the 

 Gazette. We do not wish to press its claims too persistently, but at 

 the same time, we do not wish them to be lost sight of, and the vol- 

 ume might as well begin as usual, with both a retrospect and a pros- 

 pect. When, in November, 1875, the Gazette made its first appear- 

 ance, bearing the already preoccupied name of Bulletin, having four 

 pages and not a single subscriber or contributor even promised, it was 

 felt to be a hazardous experiment. If the usual methods had been 

 empl 'yed, the Gazette would never have seen the light of day. In 

 tlie first place, consultation with botanical friends would probably have 

 frost killed the nascent bud. There would have been objections to 

 the i>aper and more serious ones to the editor. If it had escaped this 

 ordenl, the attempt to get subscriptions and notes before beginning 

 would have destroyed the last lingering spark of life the frost had left. 

 But those dangers were avoided by acting in no such prudent way, 

 but by starting as if all botanists were encouraging and there was a 

 large subscription list pledged. The end of it was that the Gazette 

 was not a paying investment for the first year, and not much better 

 the second. The third and fourth years have seen a rapid advance, 

 and the time has come at last when it seems that the Gazette is really 

 able to completely pay its way. At the sime time the printed matter 

 has been (juadrupled and the subscription kept at the original price. 



There iias been another favorable change. The first volume or two 

 were mainly editorial, and as neither of the editors had had a particu- 

 larly large botanical experience, there was sometimes a good deal of 

 space devoted to a very little matter. Now the editor need not write 

 at all with the object of supplying the call for ''copy," but only for 

 the purpose of stirring up friends whose zeal begins to flag, and of 

 convincing strangers that they had better be strangers no longer. In 

 view of the fact, then, that in the struggle for existence the Gazette 

 has seemed to be the fittest to survive, while others have perished, we 

 would urge that botanists take vigorous hold and by means of sub- 

 scri])tions, advertisements and contributions, make this volume unex- 

 am[>led for its ra]:)id advance. 



C.ATALPA speciosa, Warder. — A middle sized tree with grayish- 

 brown, much cracked or furrowed, at last slightly flaky bark and light, 

 yellowish gray wood ; leaves large, truncated or more or less cordate 

 at l:)ase, slenderly acuminate, soft downy on the underside, inodorous; 

 flowers in large and loose panicles ; tube of the corolla conical, longer 

 than wide, its lower ]:)art scarcely protracted ; upper lip before its ex- 

 pansion longer tlran the other lobes and enveloping them, lower lobe 



