516 General Notices. 



Monandrae have only one stamen in each male flower, which con- 

 sists of two vessels closely united. The antliers are many-celled : 

 the two are seldom distinct, and have their filaments constantly 

 united for the whole length. The Diandrae have two stamens, 

 and never more, in each male flower ; the two filaments are joined 

 together, but not so closely as to serve as a single pollen tube. 

 In this first number, the author describes 30 sorts of willows, 17 

 of which belong to the Pleiandrae; namely, Salix Bonpland/on« 

 //. B. et K., pentandra //., Meyerfl?/« W., Sqfsa/ Forsk., fal- 

 cata M. B. et K., Humbolt/V/»« W., nigra Marsh., Houstoniana 

 Pursh, oxyphylla H. B. et K., undulata Ehrh., lanceolata Pm., 

 triandra L., amygdalina Z>., VillarszVm« Flligge, androgyna 

 Hoppe, tetrasperma Roxb., coluteoides Mirb. The five follow- 

 ing are doubtful: — S. cordata MnhL, rigida Miihl., lucida 

 Miihl., VwYshidna Spreng., dubia Traiitv. To the Monandrae be- 

 long, S. Wilhelmsm;^^ M. B., microstachya Turcz, Lambert/a^^a 

 Sm., purpurea Sm., Ledebour/ana Trautv., HeWyiSm., K.ochidna 

 Trautv., and caspica Pall. {UE'cho du Motide Savant, Sept. 9. 

 1837.) 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. General Notices. 



Dry Rot. — We give the following paper, which has been circulated along 

 with a lithographic engraving, for the sake of directing attention to the subject, 

 and not as participating in the opinions of the writer. The lithographs re- 

 present two sections of the trunks of trees ; the one of a tree which has been 

 raised from seed on the spot without transplanting, and in Mhich the annual 

 rings are from a quarter of an inch to more than half an inch in diameter ; and 

 the other the section of a transplanted tree 100 years of age, in which the 

 annual rings are from one sixteenth of an inch to three sixteenths of an inch in 

 diameter. The author of the paper called upon us some months ago, and 

 showed us the originals whence these sections were drawn, and several others, 

 confirmatory, as he tljinks, of the bad effects of transplanting and destroying 

 the taproot. — Cond. 



" What is the cause of the dry rot ? The dry rot in trees is frequently a 

 consequence of transplanting; because in removing them the taproot is de- 

 stroyed, in which root is contained the honey or milk that is as indispensable 

 to the growth of the tree as marrow is to that of the animal bone. — Is a 

 seedling tree that has not been transplanted subject to dry rot ? No. — Is a 

 tree that has been tapped liable to dry rot ? It is ; for by tapping, you extract 

 from the tree juices that are essential to its well-being. — How does a tree 

 derive nourishment ? Chiefly by means of the taproot, at the lower extremity 

 of which there is a cup or bladder that bears some resemblance to the bowl 

 into which the mercury descends at the foot of the barometer. During the 

 winter months, the honey or milky substance is secured in this cup or bladder; 

 but in the spring it ascends into the body of the tree, and insinuates itself 

 through the different circles of which the trunk is composed. These are 

 called growth circles: the circles formed by the sap are, by way of distinction, 

 called sap circles. The age of the tree may be known by the number of 

 growth circles ; and by them also may be ascertained the four cardinal points ; 

 for in every tree the width of the circles in that part of the trunk which is 



