54 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[February» 



Natural History and Science. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



FERTILIZATION OF KALMIA. 



BY PROF. D. P. PENHALLOW, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. 



The stamens of Kalmia are drawn down and 

 backward by the expanding corolla, to such an 

 extent that, when released from their attach- 

 ment by insects in search of honey, they throw 

 their pollen up and forward toward the stigmatic 

 surface with considerable force. A few measure- 

 ments gave the following as the distances to 

 which the pollen was projected : 



From this it is evident that, while the direc- 

 tion of the pollen is toward the stigma of the 

 same flower, the chances are more favorable for 

 its reaching any other flower of the same inflor- 

 escence. 



KALMIA POISONOUS TO SHEEP. 



BY W. F. BASSETT, HAMMONTON, N. J. 



Since writing upon this subject for a previous 

 number of the Gardener's Monthly, I have been 

 informed by a Hammontonian who formerly 

 owned a sheep farm in Pennsylvania, that he had 

 often seen sheep poisoned by " Laurel," and I 

 have no doubt that if necessary, I could soon 

 produce positive evidence sufficient to convince 

 the Editor even without a chemical analysis ; 

 although I see no reason why if prussic acid 

 exists in our Kalmia, it cannot be taken from it 

 as readily as from the European Laurel. 



A case of poisoning bj' Wild Cherry was re- 

 ported in Massachusetts some years since, but 

 in this instance it was either a horse or a bovine 

 that was poisoned, and the branches of the tree 

 were cut off" and thrown over a fence. I think I 

 saw this in the N. E. Farmer, and in comments 

 upon it the editor or another correspondent stated 

 that Wild Cherry and Peach leaves contained 



prussic acid, but in small quantity, and animals 

 seldom ate enough to produce serious effects, 

 and that the animal poisoned had probably eaten 

 more freely because the leaves were wilted. 



[Wild Cherry — Cerasus serotina — does contain 

 prussic acid, as also does the Laurel, which is 

 Cerasus lauro-cerasus. But the " Laurel " of the 

 Hammontonians is not a laurel, and therefore 

 need not necessarily contain the poison which 

 the laurel has. 



There seems to be no reason to doubt but that 

 sheep and perhaps other cattle sometimes die 

 after eating, not only Kalmia leaves, but many 

 other green things, when they suddenly come on 

 them amidst the hunger of a snowed-up time. 

 As chemical analysis seems unable to find any 

 poison in these plants, it is just as reasonable to 

 suppose they died from having made beasts of 

 themselves under temptation, as that the plants 

 are poisonous. We have known cows, horses 

 and rabbits, time and again to die from eating 

 clover ; but who will say clover is " poisonous?" 

 It must not be forgotten that we do not dispute 

 the death of the cattle ; our point is that the 

 laurel is not poisonous. — Ed. G. M.] 



NICHT-OPENINC FLOWERS. 



BY J. H. KRELAGE, HAARLEM, HOLLAND. 



Referring to my letter of 14th of November 

 last, I can now give a new example of the chang- 

 ing of the flowering time of hybrids of Cactus 

 obtained from the night-blooming sorts. There 

 are several such hybrids already known in col- 

 lections. Under the name Cereus hybridus spe- 

 ciosus cum grandiflora (Newbert) there is given 

 in the Deutsche Magazin fur garten und Blumen- 

 kunde, Stuttgart, 1881, number 10, page 809-311, 

 description and colored plate of a Cactus ob- 

 tained from Cereus speciosus crossed with Cereus 

 grandiflorus. It has somewhat the form of the 

 last and much of the color of the first. The 

 flowers of this hybrid open in the evening, and 

 last till the middle of the following day ; it has 

 scarcely any smell. This is a new proof that 

 hybrids between night-blooming and other Cac- 

 tuses have an intermediate period of flowering. 



