178 The Ottawa Naturalist. [January 



rp:port of the ninth meeting of the 

 botanical branch. 



The meeting's of the Botanical branch, which were discon- 

 tinued during" the summer months, have been resumed, the first 

 having been held at the residence of Mr. W. T. Macoun, Experi- 

 mentnl Farm, on Friday, October 23rd. There were ten present at 

 this meeting, which was a good indication that the meetings will be 

 well attended this winter. It was decided that instead of appoint- 

 ing a secretary to report the discussions for the whole season, 

 each chairman or host should report the meetings for The 

 Ottawa Naturalist. 



Dr. Wm. Saunders, who was present, exhibited some inter- 

 esting specimens from the west, among which were : Kpi/obiut)i 

 latifoIiii))i, Me)iziesi(i o'/abelld, Rluxloiiciuiron iiIbiforu])i, Finns 

 itlbicitiilis, and Abies siiba/piiui, with its dark purple cones, from 

 near Glacier; Hc/eiiiiini (iiifuiniinle, from near Battleford; Colloinid 

 liiictiris, which is a crop pest about Saskatoon ; arnd Elccagnus 

 (i)ii^iisfifoli(i from Medicine Hat. He referred to the great Sep- 

 tember snowstorm, and said that near Indian Head, although the 

 snow fell to a depth of eighteen inches the wheat was very little 

 injured by it. Dr. Saunders also referred to his work in originat- 

 ing hardy apples for Manitoba and the North-West by crossing 

 Pvnis barcdfa, tlie wild Siberian crab, with the apple, and showed 

 examples of the hybrids, which were about as large as Tran- 

 scendent crabs.- The flora of the Peace Ri\er was briefly touched 

 upon by Mr. j. M. Macoun. He said that it was a surprise to 

 him to find so few species, there being only about 200 in all. 

 There were large areas of some species, such as Asfragdlns livpo- 

 giotiis and Hcdysanim \boreah\ Trees were represented by only 

 seven species, namely two poplars, two spruces, one pine, 

 tamarac, and one birch. While in that immense district only 

 some 200 species of plants were found, the contrast between it 

 and the Ottawa district was impressed on the members by Mr. 

 Guillet's statement that he had found 28 species of plants on that 

 little island in the Ottawa River ofi^ Bank street which is covered 

 with water everv vear for a time. Among the ninnber were six 

 species of trees. 



