1904] Meeting of Botanical Branch. 193 



MEETINGS OF BOTANICAL BRANCH. 



A meeting- of the Botanical Section of the Ottawa Field- 

 Naturalists' Club was held at the residence of Mr. D. A. Campbell 

 on Friday evening, Nov. 20th, 1903. The following- members 

 were present : Messrs. Attwood, Blackadar, Carter, Clarke, 

 Eifrig-, Leibner, W. T. Macoun, Whyte, Dr. Fletcher and Prof. 

 Macoun. 



It is gratifying to se2 the interest taken by the members in 

 those fascinating- problems of plant life which present themselves 

 for solution at every outing. To the general public the plant at 

 the flowering stage is everything. To the dilettante, those fleet- 

 ing aspects of a plant's life, its color and its odor, are all-absorb- 

 ing. Interesting as these may be, they are merely a few of the 

 numerous points considered by anyone pretending to take more 

 than a superficial view of the subject. 



One of the questions discussed at the meeting was why se 

 many plants at one stage of their season's growth produce what 

 is called the " rosette " arrangement of leaves. Specimens of the 

 following plants were shown : Wild pepper grass [Lepidiiifn 

 apeialicm), horseweed [Engeron Canadensis), common thistle 

 [Ctiicuj lattceolatus), common mullein Verbascum Thapsus), spiny- 

 leafed sow-thistle {Sonchus asper), ox-eye or white daisy [Chrysan- 

 themutn leucanthemimi), common evening primrose [CEnolhera 

 biennis) . 



These plants, widely different species, exhibit a striking 

 uniformity of plan in the arrangement of the cluster of leaves 

 which they produce in the autumn. Each has a very short stem 

 and many leaves arranged in whorls close to one another. In. 

 order to prevent overlapping theiower leaves have longer stalks 

 which push their blades beyond those above them. They were 

 collected about the loth of November, after the blossoming 

 season. Many plants at that season were caring most, perhaps, 

 for the distribution of their seeds ind therefore for posterity, but, 

 in the case of these plants, and of other biennials in general, a 

 preparation of another kind was going on with the same end in 

 view. The rosettes were using the rays of the late autumn sun 

 to build material for an early start the following spring. It was 



