lis 



THE GARPEXER'S M0A7 ///. ) 



{.April, 



TIu> whole iirticlr will well repay a earet'iil 

 perusal. AVe are -.'lad to know that the Fopiilar 

 Science Munthli/ is prosperinir. It deserves the 

 jzreat sueeess it lias acliieved. 



Seei»i.ks,s MoiNi-AiN Ash.— Mrs. Lmv Mil- 

 lington writes: ••('an you tell me how it hap- 

 pens that the berries of some of our Mountain 

 Ash tri-es have no seed.s? It is only those 

 Avliieh the birds spare. All the seeded berries 

 are eaten in the early Fall, so that there is i^reat 

 disajipointment as to the decorative qualities of 

 the tree. Please answer this through the 

 Monthly, as many people enquire. I only 

 know that there are trees bearing seedless ber- 

 ries, that hanii on the trees all Winter, and the 

 trees with full-seeded berries are stripped by 

 birds for the sake of the seeds.'' 



BoTAxiCAX Name of the Sweet Potato. — 

 A Virginia correspondent writes : Having failed 

 to find out the botanical name of the Sweet 

 Potato plant, I beg you will have the kindness 

 to state its nativit}'. or what else 3'ou please in 

 your Monthly. Though simple, I trust it will 

 interest many of your readers. Am under im- 

 pression that it is a Caly.stegia. 



[It is Convolvulus Batatas, not so very far 

 trom a Cal3'stegia. — Ed. J 



Seeds or Plants from other Localities. 

 — A., Philadelphia, asks : " Is there any use in 

 a change of seeds from other localities ?" 



[There may be '' use,'' or there may be loss. 

 If we turn a wheel round, it keeps going awhile 

 after the hand is withdrawn. The same law 

 holds good through all nature. A Peach forced 

 for several years in hot-house will bloom a week 

 or two before a Peach of the same kind fresh 

 brought into the heat ; and peculiar forms of 

 plains — new species or varieties — continue to 

 exist long after the circumstances which created 

 them have ceased. Hence, seeds or trees may 

 carry with them to a new location certain charac- 

 ters desirable or undesirable, which will last for 

 a time, though perhaps the same species or 

 variety already there may not have, or may 

 have lost them. — Ed. G. M.] 



PiNTJS aristata. — Mr. Siler, of Ranch, 

 Utah, writes : I send a few cones of Pinus 

 Balfouriana. I also send in saeparate bundle 

 limbs of Pinus Balfouriana, which I hope 

 will prove very acceptable to you. I would 



like I'oi' you to present litiilis and cones of 

 lluise I senil to the Philadelphia Academy of 

 Natural Sciences. Pinus Hali'ouriana is a low- 

 growing tree, very scrubl)y. presentin<r a very 

 beautiful appearance when loaded with cones, 

 as lljey cause the limbs to hang down, when 

 they look like a cat'.s tail when angered; hence 

 th« local name of Cat Tail Pine. It is found 

 growing on high, dry points of Tricifo, where 

 there appears to be no soil, the roots penetrfiting 

 the crevices of the rock. This Pine I have never 

 found at an altitude lower than 6,(J(i() fei-t above 

 sea level. It is very local, growing only, as far 

 as I have been able to trace it, about the rim 

 of the basin in Southern Utah, about the head 

 waters of the Sauvro river. It is a solitary tree. 

 ' You will seldom tint} two of them growing near 

 together. A peculiarity of the species is its 

 growth. I found a dead tree last August, 18 feet 

 high, 20 inches in diameter 2 feet from the 

 ground. The grain of the wood, instead of running 

 up and down the tree, runs around it, and resem- 

 ble large hoops driven on a baiTel. About 5 

 feet from the ground there was a swell of at 

 least 2 inches, about inches long up and down 

 the tree. I have noticed several other trees and 

 parts of trees. All bear the same character. 

 ; [These were .beautiful specimens, with the 

 ' cones rather more slender than the cones of the 

 ' P. aristata from Colorado, but still not so slen- 

 der as the form from California, figured by Mr. 

 Murray as P. Balfouriana. It is proper here to 

 say that for a long time American botanists be- 

 lieved that the Colorado and California forms 

 were both the same, and were willing to drop 

 their own name and adopt Mr. Murray's by 

 right of priorit3^ Mr. Murray, however, always 

 contended for their distinctness, and the writer 

 of this promised him to investigate the matter 

 further. The result has been so far toward 

 showing that Mr. Murray was I'ight, and we are 

 sorry he is not alive now to receive this 

 acknowledgment. We believe this of Mr. Siler 

 is P. aristata, and not P. Balfouriana. which is 

 conlined to California. — Ed.] 



The Name Imatophyllum. — N., Cuyahoga 

 Falls, O., sa3^s : "I notice that, hi several of 

 our best plant catalogues, the Amaryllid, 

 Imatophyllum is written, Imantophyllum. 

 Loudon says Imatophyllum, and this is doubtless 

 right. This name was evidently intended to be 

 descriptive. It is some sort of phjilum (leaf). 

 Imanto is not significant, and of course is not 

 descriptive. Imato is significant. It means a 



