NEWS NOTES AND CURRENT COMMENT. 39 



and art. Mr. Faxon is well known to botanists on account of his 

 plant- illustrations in Garden and Forest, and in Sargents' Silva of 

 North America. 



The last parts (X and XI, May 31, 1897) of Minnesota Botan- 

 ical Studies form a volume of 340 pages with 42 plates. The titles 

 of the papers are: Lichens of Minneapolis and vicinity, Bruce 

 Fink; A rearrangement of the North American Hyphomycetes, 

 Roscoe Pound and Frederick E. Clements ; On some mosses at high 

 altitudes, J. M. Holzinger ; The forces determining the position of 

 dorsiventral leaves, R. N. Day; On the genus Coscinodon in Minne- 

 sota, J. M. Holzinger; Observations on the ferns and flowering 

 plants of the Hawaiian Islands, A. A. Heller; The phenomena of 

 symbiosis, Albert Schneider; Observations on the distribution of 

 plants along shore at Lake of the Woods, Conway MacMillan ; The 

 alkaloids of Veratrum, George B. Frankforter. 



The Pan-American Medical Congress, at its meeting held in the 

 City of Mexico, in November, 1896, took steps to institute a syste- 

 matic study of the American Medicinal Flora, through the medium 

 of a General Commission and of special Sub-Commissions, the latter 

 to be organized in the several countries. The Sub-Commission for 

 the United States consists of Dr. V. Havard, U. S. Army; Mr. F. V. 

 Coville, Botanist of the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture; Dr. C. F. 

 Millspaugh, Botanical Curator of the Field Columbian Museum. 

 Chicago; Dr. Chas. Mohr, State Botanist of Alabama; Dr. W. P. 

 Wilson, Director of the Philadelphia Commercial Museums; and 

 Prof. H. H. Rusby, New York College of Pharmacy. The Sub- 

 Commission solicits information concerning the medicinal plants 

 of the United States from every one in a position to accord it, par- 

 ticularly regarding the following points: local names; local uses, 

 together with historical facts ; geographical distribution and degree 

 of abundance in the wild state ; and if the plant is collected for 

 market, the season of collecting, preparation for market, effect of 

 such collection on the wild supply, price, etc. The Sub-Commission 

 desires to compile a complete list of the plants^ which have been 

 used medicinally, however trivial such use may appear, and of 

 poisonous plants. Much interesting knowledge can be obtained 

 from Indians, Mexicans and half-breeds ; and, consequently, Indian 



