Library Catalogue. 71 



Maria valleys on hillsides burned over by forest or brush fiies 

 last fall. Although I have traversed both sections repeatedly 

 during the past ten years, this richly colored flower had never 

 been seen before these fires had denuded the land. 



It forms a fine, bushy plant about a foot in height and bears a 

 profusion of large showy flowers of an average of two inches in 

 diameter. The color of the large delicate petals is a bright saturn 

 red to orange chrome, with a center of a delicate sulphur yellow. 

 In cultivation it is said to make a fine pot-plant, and if it im- 

 proves as most of our wild flowers do under the attention of hor- 

 ticulturists, it will prove a most desirable addition to American 

 gardens. 



Associated with it is usually found Phacelia Orcuttiana, an- 

 other so-called 'fire-weed' which is likely to prove a \yelcome 

 acquisition to the garden on account of its masses of white_ flow- 

 ers with conspicuous yellow centers. This Phacelia grows into a 

 tall, stately plant, branching freely from the base. 



It is an interesting problem why the seeds of these handsome 

 plants should lie dormant so many years in the soil, awaiting the 

 —to them— life-saving, destructive fire. After once starting in- 

 to existence, the seed does not seem to require to pass through 

 the ordeal of fire before growing, for the second year after a fire 

 they appear in greater abundance than the first. Gradually, 

 however, as other plants get re-established on the ground these 

 become fewer and fewer, until other vegetation overcomes them, 

 and their seeds again lie dormant in the soil awaiting another de- 

 luge of flame. C R. Orcutt. 



LIBRAE Y CA TALOGUE. 



(Scientific books and periodicals may be ordered Uirough our Book and Subscription 



Department.) 



Recent accessions to the Library of the West American Museum of 

 Nature and Art will be catalogued monthly. 



4027. Contributions to American Botany, XVII. I. 

 Miscellaneous notes upon North American plants, chiefly of the 

 United States, with descriptions of new species. II. Descrip- 

 tions of new species of plants, from northern Mexico, collected 

 chiefly by Mr. C. G. Pringle, in 1888 and i88g. By Sereno 

 Watson. From Proc. Am. Acad. Art and Sci. XXV., pp. 123- 

 165 (issued Sept. 25, 1890). From the author. 

 • 4028. A provisional host-index of the fungi of the United 

 States, by W. G. Farlow and A. B. Seymour. Part II. 

 Gamopetalae— Apetalae. Cambridge, Sept. 1890. From Dr. 

 Farlow. 



4029. Annual report of the State botanist of the State of New 

 York. By Charles H Peck, Albany, 1890. From the author. 



4030. Report of the botanist on the grasses and forage plants, 

 and the catalogue of plants. By Charles E. Bessey and Herbert 

 J. Webber. Extracted from the report of the Nebraska State 



