1880. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



23 



Many people are familiar with the cockle bur, the 

 Spanish needle, the " beggar lice," and burdock, 

 and how tenaciously they adhere to any surface 

 where they can get a hold. To this we may 

 add the sand bur, Cenchrus tribuloides, with its 

 sharp spines, one of the most execrable weeds 

 I have made the acquaintance of. Some seeds, 

 as of the maple, ash, elm, etc., are furnished 

 with a wing that causes them to sail off some 

 distance in falling. The locust, Judas tree, or 

 red bud, and others have a light pad that will 

 often sail off to a considerable distance, thus 

 scattering their seeds. Some kinds of bean 

 have the pod so arranged that when it burst it 

 suddenly twists into a coil, throwinir the seeds a 

 considerable distance ; this habit in the Impa- 

 tiens or touch-me-not, geranium, etc., is well 

 known. The squirting cucumber, Momordica 

 elaterium, when ripe, bursts with a considera- 

 ble report, throwing its seeds many feet distant. 

 A few plants, when their seeds are ripe, travel 

 over the country and sow them themselves. A 

 good example of this is the "tumble weed," about 

 the true name of which the doctors disagree. 

 Two species grow here, the larger, which is the 

 tumble weed here, grows in a thick cluster of 

 very slender branches, and these so numerous 

 that the bunch, which is often as big as a hogs- 

 head, can scarcely be seen through. When ripe 

 they are torn from the roots by the wind, and 

 then they roll and tumble, often at the speed of 

 a race horse, till they meet an obstruction that 

 they cannot surmount, and there they rest till 

 the wind changes, and then they start again. 

 and this is kept up till they are worn out and 

 broken to pieces. Their seeds are thus scattered 

 over all the country. A plant that grows on 

 the deserts of Africa, the Rose of Jericho, Anas- 

 tatica hierochuntica, when ripe, curls into a 

 ball, becomes detatched from the soil and rolls 

 about before the wind till a light shower of rain 

 falls, when it opens its seed pods, drops its seeds 

 which germinate in about eighteen hours. The 

 Avisdom of the arrangement here is seen when 

 we remember that if it remained where it grew 

 the whole plant would probably be covered by 

 the drifting sands, and if its seeds did not germi- 

 nate quickly while the transient moisture lasted 

 they never could grow at all. Thus does nature 

 care for her children. 



ber number, on Caladium esculentum growing 

 wild in Florida, I would remark that this plant 

 under the name of Tanyah, is extensively culti- 

 vated in this State, and especially along the sea- 

 board. I have seen great quantities of it grow- 

 ing, and planted it myself, for many years as a 

 garden vegetable. I have never known it to 

 mature seed ; and, without knowing the fact, I 

 doubt if it seeds in Florida. It is always pro- 

 pagated by taking off the small tubers which 

 grow attached to the larger, and I think it most 

 probable that it strayed off by means of these 

 small tubers, which are always taken off when 

 the vegetable is prepared for boiling. Or some 

 person may have purposely carried the tubers 

 and planted them out where they were found. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Branch Growth From Coniferous Flow- 

 ers. — It is not at all uncommon to find a larch 

 cone with a branch growing from its apex. "We 

 were not aware that similiar growths had been 

 noticed from the small catkins of coniferous 

 trees ; but Mr. James Gordon says in the Journal 

 of Forestry, that "one often meets with it in 

 the male flowers of Abies," though he "never 

 expects to see them in Piuus." 



Ptelea trifoliata. — The Gardeners'' Chroni- 

 cle tells us that Monsieur Chas. Baltet has " dis- 

 covered" that the seed of our "Hop-tree " is a. 

 good substitute for hops. 



Botanical Orthography. — American zoo- 

 logists have abandoned the practice of using 

 capitals for specific terms that may be derived 

 from proper names. Botanists are urged to fol- 

 low them, and we notice in some recent num- 

 bers of the American Naturalist, that the editors 

 are giving plants names in that way. Now, we 

 should write Amaryllis Treats?, or Primula 

 Parryi, and translate them Mrs. Treat's Amary- 

 llis, and Dr. Parry's Primrose. — but Amaryllis 

 treatfe, and Primula parryi — treat's amaryllis 

 and parry's primrose, have a small look, — and 

 there are other reasons why the good old rule 

 should be sustained. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



NOTE ON CALADIUM ESCULENTUM. MORPHOLOGY OF LEAVES. — A. G., Cam- 



BY II. w. ravenel, AIKEN, SOUTH CAROLINA, bridge, Mass., writes: "What American mor- 



In reference to another article in the Decem- phologists (see p. 379) would say that all struc 



