ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



223 



Tlie fertile ones produce flat, twisted pods, a foot 

 or more in lengtli. and an inoli and a lialf broad. 

 an<l containing- twenty or more pretty laroe, flat 

 seeds. The pinnate leaves, four to six inches 

 long-, ai'c made up of about ten pairs of small 

 (ililono- leaflets, which are nearly entire on the 

 margin. The pods contain a sweetish pulp, 

 w hich is said to be employed in some of the 

 SoHtliern States in fermenting a kind of beer. 



The tree is a vigorous grower, with a pretty 

 dense, tough-grained wood, wliich makes excel- 

 lent fuel. It is not much in request as an orna- 

 ineiital tree, perhaps on account of its formidable 

 lliorns, but has been employed to make hedges, 

 and by some is tliought to be superior tor tliat 

 ])nrpose to the Osage. It has alsi> been reconi- 

 mcndcd lor timber plantations. 



THE WOODY COMPOSIT.E. 



Perhaps no family of plants is more numerous 

 ill species than thai of the so-called Compound 

 flowers {Compositce) . 



In all that part of the country lying east of 

 the Mississippi there is not a shrub or tree be- 

 longing to this family. Some kinds, as various 

 species of Sunflower {Helianthus) , produce 

 annually a large and heavy growth, but it iuva- 

 riably dies down to the ground at the approach 

 of winter. The roots of many are perennial, 

 but nothing above ground survives a season's 

 growth. 



It is not so, however, with several kinds of 

 Composilw in the region of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, and particularly in the great basins of the 

 western slope. These are various species of 

 Artemesia and Linosyris, all generally classed 

 under the name of Sage brush ; aud they form a 

 prominent and distinctive feature of the Plains, 

 and in some measure by their woody growth 

 compensate for the absence ol trees. 



The largest and most common Sage brush is 

 the Artemesia tridentata, Nutt. It is very vari- 

 able in size; on dry upland plains not usually 

 over two or three feet high, with a trunk two 

 or three inches in diameter. In valleys and 

 moist ground it often attains a height of eight 

 to ten feet, with a thickness of as man'y inches. 

 Usually there are a number of stems spreading 

 out from one root. The wood is light and 

 porous, somewhat resembling cedar, and it 

 burns readily even in a green state, as also do 

 the leaves, with a pleasant balsamic fiagrance. 

 It is the main dependence, for fuel, of immi- 

 grants and travellers on the Plains west of the 

 mountain ranges. It has no resemblance to our 

 cultivated Sage-plant, except in its fragrance, 



and belongs to an entirely diflFerent family. Its 

 annual growth is very slow. We have often 

 cut bushes of moderate size which indicated 

 forty or fifty years' age, and undoubtedly many 

 of them continue to grow for a century. 



Another species, the Artemesia cana, Pursh., 

 is seldom found away from ricli moist valleys. 

 It sends up more numerous stalks from one 

 root, i. e., it grows in bushy clumps of twenty 

 or thirty stalks, which are each about an incli 

 in diameter. 



Still another species is the Artemesia arbus- 

 cula, Nutt. This is very dwarf in habit, seldom 

 growing over a foot high, but often covering 

 hundreds of acres on low mountain slopes. 



The bushes of Linosyrus are quite similar in 

 general habit to those of the Artemesia, but do 

 not grow as large. There are also several spe- 

 cies of that genus. 



NEW BOOK. 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIST ANJ> FLORIST. Bv 

 Alphonso Wood, A.M., author of the Class Booic 

 of Botany. &c. A. S. Barnes & Co., New York and 

 Chicago. 



This is a handsome, well-printed volume of nearly 

 fiOO pages, possessing some features of great merit. The 

 part devoted to structural and physiological hotany is 

 an example of great condensation, and is profusely 

 illustrated. The definitions are generally very clear 

 and concise. In some instances, we tliink, technical 

 names are unnecessarily employed, as for instance, 

 pleurenckyina Instead of Jibrom tissue, and trachyenchyma 

 instead of vascular tissve. "Where Englisli words will 

 con\ey the idea intended, we think they should be em- 

 ployed in preference to foreign ones; thus keaJ is a 

 better word than capitulum. and cVuster is to be preferred 

 to (jlomerule, etc. 



The portion of the volume devoted to descriptive 

 botany professes to record the characters of nearly 4.000 

 species of the native and cultivated plants of the United 

 States east of the Mississippi river. The introduction 

 of greenhouse exotics is, we think, carried too fai-; for 

 instance, we have given us fifteen species of Begonia, a 

 genus of which we have no native representative . As 

 an accommodation to city classes, whose acquaintance 

 with plants is mostly limited to the cultivated exotics, 

 this may be well enough, Imt for students wishing to 

 study the productions of tlxii- nwn rnuiitry, vvc think 

 this matter is superfluous, :uiil tlmi \\< -parr would he 

 better filled bj expanding the ile-rn|iliuii-, ciloiir native 



Ferns and Mosses. — The Ferns and Mosses 

 are beautiful objects and well deserving the 

 study of young ladies. Good specimens are 

 finely adapted to parlor collections for ornament 

 as well as for study. There are about sixty 

 species of ferns in the Northern States. Jlany 

 of them are very delicate and beautiful. The 

 fructification is generally in small dots or lines 

 on the back of the leaves. 



