BOTANICAL GAZETTE. S: 



sleep produced by it is "tranquil and refreshing, and free from dreamy 

 sens.itions." Something that will soothe irritated nerves without any 

 evil result is surely a dcsidoatiiin. 



Mawah Flowers {Bassia latifolia) are exciting a good deal of 

 attention just now. This plant is cultiva'ed as cattle food, and sever- 

 al tons of the flowers have been received in New York from Calcutta. 

 When packed they form a dark brown, sticky mass which is anything 

 but attractive. The flowers are very highly prized in India, both as 

 an article of food and for use as a source of liquors. But the remark- 

 able part of it is the nourishing material of the flower is lodged in the 

 corolla, which is usually only a protective or attractive organ. This 

 corolla contains no less than 63.40 per cent, of sugar, or more than 

 half its weight. An excellent figure and full description of this curi- 

 ous plant appears in the American Agriculturist for September. 



Mr. LuciEN M. Underwood, in the last Torrcy Bulletin, gives 

 some artificial synopses which are of considerable interest because they 

 attempt to simplify such perplexing groups of plants. Of course 

 the value of such keys depends upon their usefulness, and that can 

 be easily tested. If we can take the synopsis of the Uinbellifcrce, 

 Carices, or Salix as given by Mr. Underwood and with reasonable 

 ease find the specific name of any member of these groups, these 

 pages of the Bulletin should be cut out and pasted in our Manuals. 



The American Journal of Science and Arts for August, con- 

 tains a very curious note in the Natural History Department of 

 "Scientific Intelligence," which is rather unusual in that eminent 

 journal, for it devotes half a page to a note on "Muc rini as the Chief 

 Source of Mineral Coal," which in a clause at its close it shows to be 

 unworthy of any notice. When an investigator announces conclu- 

 sions that are "wholly ojjposed," not only to "those of other investi- 

 gators." but to "the facts," and when he has "evidently misunder- 

 stood the objects under examination" and given us "supposed facts," 

 It is generally supposed that Silliman's Journal will ignore him. 



"Doc-Fennel" seems to change its name with its place. In 

 glancing over an agricultural paper we see notices of "dog fennel," 

 and the eastern editor says it is Eupatorium foeniculaceum. This may 

 be so where this Eupatorii/ni grows, but to every man. woman and 

 child in the west, "dog-fennel" means Maruta Cotula, or the eastern 

 "May-weed." 



Proceedings OF THE Philadelphia Academy, Parti, 1880, is 

 just at hand, and we note the report of the committee on plants intro- 

 duced by means of the International Exhibition. The report can be 

 condensed into the simple word "nothing," for although 13 plants 

 were found that were "strangers," not a single one of them showed 

 any tendency to set seed or spread. Some of the 13 are our own 

 western plants, others are from Europe, and a few from Japan. 



Notul.i-: Exigu-^-:. — In the May number of the Gazette the un- 

 dersigned asked for fresh seeds of Iponnva pandurata. A few were kind- 

 ly supplied by an obliging correspondent (whose letter and name have 



