BOTANY. 415 



were planted after germination on slopes with north, east, south, and 

 west exposures. The plants on the north exposure received an average 

 of ^2 of the total illumination of the sun. All of the 4 species planted 

 bloomed on the north exposure. The Impatiens, Tropceolum, and 

 Ipomoea hat! well developed and abundant flowers. The Reseda flow- 

 ers were few and the inflorescences small. All of* the plants fruited 

 and produced viable seeds. The plants given a southern exposure flow- 

 ered mueh earlier, the Reseda exceeding the plants grown with north 

 exposure by 0, the Impatiens by 13, the Tropceolum by 16, and Ipomoea 

 by 17 days. 



The author's experiments seem to show that the 3 rather dissimilar 

 families of plants represented are able to completely develop in dif- 

 fused light. 



Analogous experiments with Sedum acre, a species of plant which 

 usually grows in sunny exposures, showed that the vegetative growth 

 of the plant developed in the northern exposure, but the plant did not 

 flower. It is evident that A 5 of the intensity of light is not sufficient 

 for the development of this plant. 



On the direct fertilization of plants -whose flowers seem 

 adapted to cross fertilization, 0. Gerber (Gompt. Rend. Acad. Sci. 

 Paris, 126 (1898), No. 24, pp. 1734-1737).— The author claims that by the 

 peculiar form of the calyx of Gistus albidus the plant is close pollinated 

 instead of cross pollinated, as would seem to be indicated from the 

 structure of the flower. The same has been observed in other species 

 of this genus, namely, ('. salvi/ollus, G. Mrsutus, and G. villosus. 



Penicillium as a -wood-destroying fungus, H. Marshall Ward 

 (Gard. Citron., 3. ser., 21 (1898), No. (112, pp. 224, 225).— A brief abstract 

 is given of a paper read by the author before the botanical section of 

 the British Association. It is stated that— 



'■ Spores from pure cultures of Penicillium sown on sterilized blocks of spruce 

 wood, cut in March, were found to grow freely and develop large crops of spores on 

 normal eouidiophores. Sections of the infected wood showed that the hyphae of 

 the mold entered the starch-bearing cells of the medullary rays of the sapwood 

 and consumed the whole of the starch. The resin was untouched. In cultures three 

 months old the hyplue were to be seen deep in the substance of the wood passing 

 from tracbeid to tracheid via the bordered pits. Control sections, not infected and 

 kept side by side with the above, contained abundance of starch and no trace of 

 hyphse could be detected in them. The observation appeared of interest in several 

 connections. Penicillium was one of our commonest molds and undoubtedly played 

 a part in the reduction of plant debris to soil constituents; how far it could itself 

 initiate the destruction of true wood, or how far it merely followed on the ravages 

 of other fungi, bacteria, etc., was unknown. There were strong grounds for believ- 

 ing that it destroyed the oak of casks, etc., but since these were impregnated with 

 food materials, that was not very surprising. It appeared as if Penicillium might 

 be a much more active organism in initiating and carrying ou the destruction of 

 wood than had hitherto been supposed, and that it was not merely a hanger-on or 

 follower of more powerful wood-destroying fungi." 



Two useful grasses (Producers 1 Gaz. and Settlers' Bee. [ West. Aus- 

 tralia], o (1898), No. 4, pp. 289-291, j>/s. 2).— Two species of Paspalum 



