NATURAL HISTOET— BOTANY. 235 



the name given by him to the tree (Wellvngtonia gigantea) has of 

 course precedence over all others. Notwithstanding this, the Ameri- 

 cans made a strong effort to change the name into one hearing re- 

 ference to Washington. As Dr. Seemann tells us, ' they even com- 

 menced in their newspapers an agitation against the adoption of the 

 name Wellingtonia, quite ignoring that the savans of their country 

 bow to the same code of scientific laws which governs the conduct of 

 their European brethren, and that no amount of popular clamour 

 could cause the right of priority here at stake to be set aside. When, 

 therefore,' says he, ' Dr. Winslow exhorted his countrymen in 

 grandiloquent language to call the mammoth tree, if it be a Taxo- 

 d'n'i.i. T. Washingtonium ; if a new genus, Washingtonia Califor- 

 nica ; he simply proclaimed to all the world that he knew nothing 

 whatever of the laws governing systematic botany.' " Thus, we see 

 that the appropriation attempt turned out an unscientific bungle. 



THE KOLA NUT. 



A specimen of the Kola Nut from Sierra Leone (Sterculia tomen- 

 tosa) has been exhibited to the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, 

 which had been transmitted by Mr. Baillie from Mr. George Thom- 

 son. In the note accompanying the nut, Mr. Thomson saj 7 s : — "It 

 is held in great estimation by the natives in the neighbourhood of 

 Sierra Leone, especially by the Mohammedans, wbo call it the 

 'blessed Kola,' and consider it to be the veritable forbidden fruit. 

 In the interior of Africa it is scarce, and is so much prized that five 

 Kolas are said to be equal to the price of a slave. I understand that 

 it is much used as a substance for chewing, and is said to possess 

 the property of keeping away the craving of hunger to such a 

 degree, that a man can travel for many days without anything more 

 than a single Kola. It will be observed how curiously the two halves 

 of the bean lock into each other." 



POISON OAK OP CALIFORNIA. 



A PAPER has been received from Dr. C. A. Caulfield, of Monterey, 

 and communicated by Mr. A. Murray, to the Boyal Botanical Society 

 of Edinburgh, thus describing this tree. 



The " Poison Oak " is one of the greatest plagues of California. 

 The plant is widely diffused, and numerous cases are constantly 

 occurring in every district of persons suffering severely from its effects. 

 Many antidotes and remedies have been published, though still there 

 is a demand for more information on the subject. In the woods and 

 thickets of California, as well as on the dry hill-sides, and in fact in 

 every variety of locality, may be found a very poisonous shrub — the 

 "poison oak" or "poison ivy," the Medra of the Spanish people. 

 The plant belongs to the natural order Anacardiacece, and is Rhus 

 varielobata (Steud.) or R. lobata (Hook). It is very similar to the 

 poison ivy of the Atlantic States, R. Toxicodendron (Linn.), both in 

 its appearance and its poisonous qualities. This poison is the cause 

 of a vast deal of misery and suffering in California, and there is 

 scarcely ever a time in any little town or neighbourhood where there 



