108 BOTANICAL GAZETTE, [April, 



anther. A little force applied in the right direction will cause this small 

 and somewhat tapering portion of the filament to leave the canal, and the 

 heavy anther is then suspended at the middle by the tip of the filament. 

 By careful manipulation the original position can be restored and the 

 anther is again upright. The release of filament takes place naturally as 

 the two lobes dehisce and separate from each other. 



In a very closely related genus, namely Tulipa, the stamens are also 

 large, but the anthers remain upright throughout their whole existence. 

 When the tulip stamen matures and the pollen is exposed along the two 

 sutures, the flat anther has a twist in it so that the widest diameter at the 

 tip stands at right angles to that of the base. Owing to its large size, its 

 breadth and narrowness, and peculiar attachment to the filament, the 

 anther may be turned upon its long axis by any slight breeze or by the 

 bodies of visiting insects. This attachment is a long pivot which extends 

 upward in the center of the anther for a distance and is held in place by 

 tough fibres at its tip. So elastic is this tip that the anther may be turned 

 several times upon its long axis before it will become detached from the 

 hard peg-like extremity of the filament. 



The structure for facilitating the dispersion of pollen in the tulip an- 

 ther is not unlike what it would be in the lily if, instead of becoming 

 strictly versatile, the filament tip was continued in its "pocket" and the 

 anther was free to turn upon this upright point. — Byron D. Halsted, 

 Rutgers College. 



The winter leaves of Corydalis glauca and C. flavula.— Says Curtis 

 (Bot. Magazine, 1792) referring to the Linnsean Fumaria sempervirens : 

 " The term sempervirens originated in the description of it given by Cor- 

 nutus (Fumaria silif/uosa sempervirens Cat. Canad. 57 1, 57) ; the impropriety 

 of calling an annual plant an evergreen has appeared to us too glaring to be 

 continued ; we have thought the promotion of science required a change 

 in the name, and have therefore altered it to that of glauca" When Pursh 

 removed the plant to Corydalis he made it Corydalis glauca. As an au- 

 thor who places an old species in a new genus is not bound under the 

 canons to retain the old name, it may be in order for those who sympa- 

 thize with Curtis's reasons for changing the Linnsean name to give it an- 

 other, for glauca is no more characteristic than sempervirens. Certainly 

 some forms of C. aurea, especially Rocky Mountain forms, are more glau- 

 cous than forms of C. glauca ever are. If we may change names because 

 they are not in accord with the terms used in describing the plant, how 

 will the list of synonyms swell ! 



The object of this note is to suggest whether, after all, Cornutus 

 might not have more reason than Curtis supposed for using the term 



in connection with this plant. Last January I spent the 

 greater part of a day among the pine-crowned hills of the Allegheny 

 range, near Lewistown in Central Pennsylvania. It had not been much 



sempervirens 



