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spot in great profusion. It appears first of all, early in the spring, as a saall tuft 

 of green fleshy grass-like leaves. Those after a while, and immediately before the 

 flower buds appear, wither down, so that the plant while in blossom has no foliage 

 at all ; but bud after bud comes out of the upper extremity of the rootstock, till 

 in some instances it i-hows a crown of six or eight of the loveliest pink flowers, 

 much resembling in ucneral appearance and consistency small fully expanded 

 cactus flowers." Tht!^c flowers in some of the specimens Mr. Hill sent are an inch 

 in diameter, are borne on short fleshy scapes, which are jointed above the middle, 

 where they bear 3 to 7 awl shaped membranaceous bracts, and have from 8 to 12 

 petals, the outer ones of which are ovate and the inner oblong linear ; they are 

 semi translucent and rose-coloured, veined with red ; the stamens and anthers 

 area deep rose colour and vary in number Irom 16 to 32, they have a very beautiful 

 «flect as they lie back on the delicate corolla ; from their centre springs the pistil, 

 which is white and divided up at the summit into 6 or 8 thread-like stigmas ; 

 ■the calyx adds much to the appearance of the plant, especially before the flower 

 budd expand ; it is composed of 6 or 8 broadly ovate petaloid sepals of a delicate 

 brown colour. Mr. Hill writes futher that " the flowers like those of the Porto- 

 laca expand only in the bright sunshine," and he continues : " It appears like 

 sacrilege to tread on the beautiful thing ; but in some places they are so thick 

 that it is impossible to avoid them ; they are however confioed to a very circum- 

 scribed arta on the meridian of Ashcroft." The roots are thick and short, and 

 in Oregon, near the mountains, where it is plentiful, it is called spatuhim or 

 spietbim by the natives who gather the roots and use them as an article of food* 

 The bark being stripped oft, the inner portion is found to be white and farina- 

 ceous ; this is boiled in water, when it forms a substance similar to boiled 

 arrowroot. The specific name rediviva is very appropriate, for the roots are so 

 exceedingly tenacious of life that some specimens Mr. Hill collected in May last 

 after having been carried about in a packet of other dried specimens all the 

 summer and supposed to be quite dry, were found on opening the parcel two 

 -weeks ago to be sending out healthy crests of leaves. Some of these I planted 

 and they are growing vigorously. Among the correspondents from whom we 

 have received publications will be noticed the Epping Forest and County of 

 Essex Field Club. When in England last summer, as your President, I expe- 

 rienced much courtesy from the council and members of this Club ; I was made 

 an Lonorary member for the period of my visit, and received invitations to all 

 their meetings ; I was fortunate enough to be able to attend one of their excur- 

 sions, and this day was one of the most enjoyable of my whole holiday. 



The Epping Forest and County of Essex Field Club has a membership ol 

 over 300, and is a larger and more influential institution than any other ot the 

 same nature in England. It was organized r.bcut the same time, nnd with 

 ■exactly the same object, ns our own club. They have alrcarly jmblished five 



