294 botanical gazette. | November, 



to see any suggestive resemblance even in the gross appearance of the 

 spikelets, or in the size, color, shape or texture of their glumes. But 

 were they alike in all these particulars there are certain technical differ- 

 ences which at once separate them generically. E. pilifera is a true Era- 

 grostis,of the section Eueragrostis,and its generic characters are strongly 

 marked. The points separating Eragrostis from Molinia may thus be 

 presented : 



Eragrostis : 



Rachilla continuous. 

 Flowering glumes 3-nerved, cadu- 

 cous; palea persistent. 

 Hilum punctiform. 



• Molinia: 



Rachilla articulate. 



Flowering glumes 5-nerved, falling 



off with the palea. 

 Hilum elongated linear. 



Molinia is certainly related to Eragrostis and, according to the latest 

 classification, stands next to it following Disanthelium, but the characters 

 separating it are well marked and of such a nature as to exclude it en- 

 tirely. To open Eragrostis -a genus already overburdened with species 

 and therefore characterized with difficulty— to admit Molinia would be 

 to destroy it.— F. Lamson Scribner, Knoxville, Tenn. 



Freaks of roses. 



An article in the September Gazette on " Freaks of roses," calls to 

 mind a modification of a rose observed in a cemetery at Cape Girardeau, 

 Mo., about a year ago. The stamens were mostly converted into petals, 

 but the pistils were modified in a curious manner. Some had become 

 leaves similar to those growing on the branches, while in others, half of 

 the carpel was like half of a leaf, the other half remaining carpel-like, 

 being curved inward and having a row of ovules on its margin. Still 

 others had the upper half of the carpel altered to a leaf-like form, the 

 lower half remaining like so much of a true pistil.— W.J. Spillman, Vin- 

 cenms, Ind. 



CURRENT LITERATURE. 



Scientific Papers of Asa Gray. 1 



These handsome volumes form a worthy memorial of Dr Gray. The 

 wealth of material has made Professor Sargent's task a difficult one, but it 

 is hard to see how he could have done better. To those of us who loved this 

 side of our great botanist these volumes are especially welcome. The na- 

 ture of the man could not be expressed in the dry details of systematic 

 work; but in his reviews, biographical sketches and essays the bright, 

 genial master found free expression, and his keen but always kind criti- 

 cism reveals much of the secret of his hold upon American botanists. The 

 present volumes do not include the miscellaneous papers already collected 



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Darwi 



„ _ ^,„^, wx i41CJ ojrorciiiaui; papers, uui Lilt; reiiiiifinw & 1TV " — 



800 pages of delightful readi ng, really furnishing " the best account of the 



vtaM^^SftSS SPRA.^-Scientiflc papers of Asa Gray, select«-X~vi£j~^ 

 v ews o ! works on botany and related subjects (3834-1887) dp vi'i 397 Vol. II. Essays. 

 anKwYorkl %$** W^®*) > W ■ tf.Wm W^n. femln and Company, Boston 



