BDOK-XOTES, XEWS, ETC. 8i 



for a period of at least four months. Seeds that have not sunk 

 germinate on or near the sm-face of the water in the latter half of 

 May. The flat seeds germinate before the rounded ones. The 

 cotyledon remains \yithin the endosperm. The radicle elongates and 

 branches freely ; it does not curve downwards but grows along the 

 surface of the water. Adventitious roots are formed close up against 

 the seed, and they also branch freely. The unbranched upper portion 

 of the radicle secretes chlorophyll. The plumule grows slowly ; it, 

 too, lies along the sm^face of the water. When the root system is 

 Avell developed the leaves begin to curve upwards and the seedling 

 gradually assumes a vertical position, after which the leaves grow 

 much more ra^^idh'. The fate of those seeds, if any, that sink before 

 germination has not yet been determined. The dispersal agents are, 

 in the first instance, the wind, and subsequently water. Even on 

 a slow stream the seeds may drift many miles during the four months 

 of the floating period. 



The latest issue (vol. xlii. part 1) of the Journal of tlie Royal 

 Horticultural Society contains an interesting paper by Edith R. 

 Saunders " On an Early Mention of the Double Wallflower " ; 

 " Notes on the Flora of North-western Yunnan," by George 

 Forrest ; and a " Repoi-t of Work in 1914 in Kansu and Tibet," 

 by Reginald Farrer : this and Mr. Forrest's paper are illustrated. 

 Mr. Farrer's paper contains full and interesting notes (without 

 descriptions) on the more important plants discovered by him, 

 which include a new genus — Farrer ia {F. pretiosa), named in his 

 honour by Prof. Balfour and Mr. W. W. Smith — and the following 

 new species : — Aster Farrer i, A. sikuensis, Buddleia Farrer i, B. 

 Purdomii, CaUiantJiemum Farreri, Cypripedium Bardolpliianum 

 (" with a lip of brilliant waxy gold, whelked and warted and 

 bubuckled like Bardolph's nose"), G. Farreri, Meconopsis lepida^ 

 Primula hylopliila, P. scopiilorum, P. riparia, P. Viola-grandis^ 

 P. optata, P. alsopliila : " Filix sp." is an odd entry, 



Ix the Illinois Biological Monographs, vol. ii. no. 4 (1916) 

 Mr. F. L. Stevens gives an account of " The Genus Meliola in 

 Porto Rico " : the monograph is also issued as a separate, price 

 75 cents. The genus, which is usually regarded as somewhat difficult 

 to deal with, "was first put into something like order by Gaillard in 

 1892, and included about 300 species and varieties : in the present 

 paper are described 62 new species and varieties, and a synopsis is 

 given of all the known Porto Rican forms. The work seems to 

 be very thoroughly done. Mr. Stevens writes : — " It should be 

 remembered that 3Ieliola is pre-eminently a tropical genus, almost 

 exclusively so ; the occurrence, therefore, of these species in Porto 

 Rico, Africa, and the Philippines, with no present tropical land con- 

 nection between these countries, implies either that the Meliolas 

 have in the past been of different climatic ranges or that they are 

 the residual flora of previously connected tropical lands." The 

 diagnoses are somewhat short, but appear adequate. It is to be 

 regretted that there are no Latin diagnoses. The International 

 Rules say that descriptions not in Latin are invalid ; but it is not 



