104j the JOUllNAL OF EOTANT 



volume, and the first part (vol. xxxii. pt. 1) of the Buhiacece, by 

 Paul Carpenter Standley : in this numerous new species are described, 

 including four of the hitherto monotj^pic Acrosynanthus. 



The issue of l^otes from the Itoyal Botanic Garden, Edinhurghy 

 dated November 1918, contains the first instalment of a series of 

 papers on the '* Regional Spread of Moisture in the Wood of Trees," 

 by Mr. W. G. Craib, wherein " Deciduous-leaved Trees during the 

 late Autumn to early Spring " are considered. Tlie pa2)er is accom- 

 panied by five coloured plates and as many diagrams illustrating 

 Moisture Spread in Acer Fseudoplatanus, 



A LEAFLET (no. 326) on "Injurious Weed Seeds " recently issued 

 by the Department of Agriculture is noteworthy for its excellent 

 illustrations from drawings by Miss Bertha Reid. The plants figured 

 a,re Riimex crispus, H. Acetosella, Cuscuta Trifolii, Dauciis Carota, 

 Geranium dissectum, G. molle, Silene inflata, and Lychnis vesper- 

 tina : in each case the main figures are accompanied by di-awings of 

 seeds and of seedlings in various stages. 



Botanists as well as gardeners will be glad to hear that the 

 preparation of a new edition of Pritzel's Icones hotanicarum IndeXy 

 second only to the same author's indispensable Thesaurus^ has been 

 begun, and has made considerable progress. It is nearl}^ ten years 

 ago since several influential Fellows of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society urged the preparation, but after some discussion the project 

 fell through. It was revived after the International Horticultural 

 ShoAv held in the grounds of Chelsea Hospital in 1912, when Mr. E. A. 

 Bowles, F.L.S., an active member of the Council of the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society, succeeded in getting that body to set aside £250 

 towards the expenses of the new edition, with a sum of £200 annually 

 againiSit the amount, then estimated at £3000. The war prevented 

 any serious attempt at making a start, but two couimittees were set 

 up, one chiefly of cultivators and the other mostly of botanists, to 

 thresh out the problems connected with the venture. Ultimately 

 last year (1918) the plans Avere drawn up, and Dr. Otto Stapf, 

 Keeper of the Herbarium and Library at Kew, agreed to act as 

 Honorary Director, and, with the consent of Sir David Prain, to 

 make use of the material available at that establishment, with its 

 extensive library and trained amanuenses. The bulk of the new 

 edition is estimated at twice that of the original, on practically the 

 same lines. 



The Garden, which often contains matter of botanical interest, 

 reprints in its issue of March 15 an article from The Journal of 

 Heredity in which the supposed hybrid origin of the Loganberry is 

 called in question. This popular fruit " came to light about 1881 in 

 the grounds of Judge J. H. Logan, of Santa Cruz, California : it was 

 described by him as a natural hybrid, which appeared spontaneously, 

 and he believed that the parents Avere the Auginbaugh (a variety of 

 Buhus vitifolius, a wild Blackberry of California) and a red Rasp- 

 berry, probably the variety Red Antwerp, since the two were growing 

 together in his yard." The hybrid origin, first called in question by 

 Mr. W. 0. Backhouse, economic botanist to the Argentine Govern- 

 ment, is now doubted by others as well as by horticulturists, whose 

 views are set forth at length in The Garden. 



