SHORT AETICLES. 157 



described by Dioscorides. Under the name of Myagrum 

 sativum it is mentioned by most of the herbalists — Caspar 

 Bauhin, Dodoens, de I'Obel, Parkinson and others — and that 

 name is also used by Linnseus. It seems to have been in 

 cultivation since the Middle Ages, and in Germany and 

 Northern France, where it replaced the other cruciferous 

 oil-bearing plants, formed for a long time an important agri- 

 cultural product. Its frequent association with fields of flax 

 gave rise to such a name as Pseudolinum and also to the super- 

 stition that it was a transformed or degenerated kind of flax. 

 Through this association, also, it has become naturalized in 

 many parts of the world. From its original habitation in 

 Russia or Siberia it has spread throughout nearly all Kurope, 

 through much of Asia, and is more or less disseminated along 

 the eastern coast of the United States. On the Pacific Coast 

 a few isolated specimens have been found about Berkeley, 

 California, and from specimens shown at the Nevada Experi- 

 ment Station Exhibit of the Midwinter Fair it would appear 

 that it promises to become a somewhat troublesome weed in 



certain parts of that State. 



In recent years the production of camelina oil has been on 

 the decline, probably owing to the competition of the cotton- 

 seed oil of America and the various tropical seed-oils. The 

 quality of the camelina oil is slightly superior to that of the 

 other cruciferous oils, though, like them, its chief application 

 has been in the industrial arts. — W. C. Blasdale. 



Odontostomdm Hartwegi.— On May 1 of the present 

 year I collected this plant on the lower slopes of Howell 

 Mountain, in the Coast Range. Perhaps fifty individuals 

 growing in dry, gravelly soil were noticed. The flowers pre- 

 sented quite an attractive appearance and revealed on exami- 

 nation in the field certain peculiarities which may be added 

 to the diagnoses as given in various texts. 



The segments of the perianth are soon reflexed ; the outer 

 are slightly longer and cucullate at tip. The stamens are 

 alternately long and short, those opposite the outer segments 

 being longer. But the stamen opposite the lower outer seg- 



