June 1900.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 313 



fragineut being carried in the claws, or by seed passing 

 through the intestinal canal, I do not venture to suggest. 

 My object in compiling this note is merely to draw the 

 attention of Scottish botanists to look closely at any 

 Artemisia, especially on the eastern coasts, as the discovery 

 of Stellcriann in other places would be of considerable 

 interest. 



Preliminary Note on some Witches' Brooms. By E. A. 

 PtOBERTSON, M.A., B.Sc. (With two Plates.) 



(Read 14th June 1900.) 



In the following note, the occurrence of four uncommon 

 brooms is recorded, and their more prominent characters 

 are indicated. Piesearches on tissue minutite, and on the 

 predisposing causes, are not completed, but will be supplied 

 in a subsequent paper. 



In the course of last summer, my attention was directed 

 to two brooms on coniferous trees — one on a larch, and 

 another on a Picea nohilis, — by Mr. K. Hendry, land- 

 steward on Craighall, Perthshire.^ 



While brooms on some coniferous trees are well-known 

 objects — especially that on the silver fir caused by 

 ^^cidium datinnm, — the occurrence of such malformations 

 on others is comparatively rare. 



Tubeuf (" Diseases of Trees," Eng. Trans.) records them 

 for Abies nordinaniiiana, A. Ccphalonica, A. Pinsapo, as well 

 as A. balsamea, and A. jpichta. 



Borthwick ("Trans. Bot. Soc," vol. xxi. p. 196) describes 

 an interesting type of broom, induced by fungus influence 

 on the ordinary Scots fir. 



I have not discovered any reference to a broom on 

 Picea nohilis, and the only indication I can find of such 

 a structure on the larch is in a short statement in Iverner's 

 "Natural History of Plants" (vol. iv. p. 527) to the 

 efiect that brooms on the larch do occur, but that hitherto 



1 To the proprietor of the estate, Lieut. -Gen. Sir James Clerk- 

 Rattray, K.C.B., I am much indebted for kindly granting me per- 

 mission to utilise the specimens for scientific purposes. 



TIJANS. BOT. soc. EDIN. VOL. XXI. Y 



