134 MICROSCOPICAL COLLECTIONS IN FLORIDA. 



seal on golden-tinted wax. This plant as ordinarily seen on the 

 live-oaks near cities, is a dirty-looking and unattractive object, 

 and goes by the name of " black moss." But in out-of-the-way 

 places, removed from the dust and smoke of settled localities, it 

 is pearly white, and exceedingly beautiful both to the naked eye 

 and under any power of magnification. Florida moss should be 

 preserved with only very slight pressure, just enough to make 

 the threads lie straight. After it has dried in this way, small 

 cuttings may be mounted in the ordinary cells for opaque 

 mounting. 



On the high banks of the lake, and in the adjoining fields, may 

 be found the large-leaved and vigorous-growing Calicarpa (C. 

 Americana), sometimes called the French mulberry, a bush 

 growing some five or six feet in height. The under sides of the 

 leaves of this plant are nearly covered with little round, yellow, 

 sessile glands, flattened on top arid marked off into eight or ten 

 sections by ribs like those on a melon. They are in immense 

 .numbers something like thirty thousand to the square inch 

 over half a million on a good sized leaf. Under a light net-work 

 of branching glandular hairs, viewed with a two-thirds objective, 

 these polished amber-colored disks glisten like a spangle of 

 golden beads. 



The same kind of glands is found on the leaves of many 

 other shrubs in Florida the sweet myrtle (Myrica cerifera), the 

 low ground blueberry ( Vaccinium tenellum\ a certain bush or 

 dwarf hickory (Gary a glabra) and some others. These glands 

 have been variously called resin dots, resin glands, and odorif- 

 erous glands. So far as I can judge however they are not con- 

 nected with any resinous or odoriferous secretions. From their 

 almost perfect resemblance to the terminal bulb of the mushroom 

 glands of the Pinguicula and Drosera, which are known to be 

 absorbing glands, the probability is that these also serve to absorb 

 moisture and ammonia from the atmosphere and from rains. 

 Although I am free to acknowledge that the position of the 

 glands, being for the most part on the under side of the leaves, 

 militates somewhat against this view of their purpose. 



Great care will have to be taken in pressing and drying vege- 

 table specimens in the moist climate of Florida. The little 



