ee ee a ee, eee 
BE ee a ek Ne Ee a in eee 7 Tes ee 
BOTANICAL GAZETTE. ll} 
a second whorl in the andrecium. The anthers are upturned at their bases, 
and have a fan-shaped row of hairs. The 
filaments present about midway a fleshy, 
crescentic disk, pubescent with downward 
inting hairs, The incurved claws of the 
petals form nectaries over which these disks 
exactly fit, No more perfect protection could 
ff This disk probably offers no 
obstacle to strong flying insects attracted 
by the powerful fragrance and the bright 
color of the flowers, but would effectually 
prevent the entrance of minute creeping >? 
s e accompanying diagrams will Gradnds blah ob dower: nepali: 4. 
illustrate the particular parts, and the petals; a, crescentic disks of filaments. 
ground plan of these spake in their mutual relations. 
. WHITMAN panne Brown University. 
Remarkable Vitality of Willow Twigs.— the summer of 1853 
Sylvester Piper, now a resident of 3526 Jones ay chinnes called my atten- 
tion to a willow basket in a ditch, the basket having sprouts several inches in 
length all around it. A curiosity so remarkable—possibly having no parallel! 
—led me to take immediate steps for its preservation. I dug the basket up with 
great care, and found it to be a worn out cast-away which had done service as 
a basket until it had become so badly worn as to be worthless, when it found 
iis way into a ditch at the base of the bank of the Illinois and Michigan canal, 
about 300 feet from the Bridgport lock (now within the limits of the city) 
whence I transplanted it with great care, placing it in a wet place in my fath- 
er’s garden; but notwithstanding its former vitality and careful removal, the 
shock was too great for the tender shoots and they all died. The basket was 
made wholly or in part of unpeeled willow, whose dried and withered germs 
needed only the opportunity to return to life. I have often resolved to have the 
story of the “willow basket” written and placed upon record while there were 
still living other witncsses than myself to verify it. 
In reply to a suggestion of Prof. Gray, “ Whether . it was possible that wil- 
low sprouts may have sprung up around the basket instead of from the willow 
of which it was composed,” I need but add that with a perhaps more than or- 
dinary love of tree culture, commencing in early boyhood and continuing to 
some exterit to the present time, it seems impossible aut I should be misled or 
satisfied with cxsual observation. In this case I was not. I handled the basket 
with my own hands while the sprouts were still fresh aa growing. 
IAN GUTHRIE. 
This incident comes to us abundantly substantiated by several persons of 
unexceptionable integrity and forcible acumen. Its scientific value was sug- 
gested to the author by Mr. Leander Stone, assistant editor of Northwestern 
Christian Advocate, Chicago; and it was referred to the Gazette for publication 
by Dr. Asa Gray, to whom the article was first sent.—Eps.] 
