RECENT BOTANICAL PUBLICATIONS, ETC. 171 
lets and segments, no distinction seems possible according to 
the key. Because as we see from page 30 Erodium is said to 
have a leaf with numerous leaflets, the Caesalpiniaceae, on 
the other hand, ten or more leaflets; on page 29 we see a 
eroup of plants distinguished by having the leaves compound, 
of 2 or more leaflets; in this assemblage we meet with: Leaf- 
lets 3, entire in Ionoxalis; leaflets more than 3, much divided 
in Bikukulla; leaflets 3 in Prenanthes; leaflets more than 3 in 
Ambrosia, etc., in other words segments have been mistaken 
for leaflets. The chapter on “folium” in Linné’s Philosophia 
botanica shows how to distinguish between “‘folium simplex” 
and “folium compositum.” And when an outline so simple as 
that of the leaf of Hydrocotyle Americana cannot be des- 
cribed in any other way than “peltate,” it seems just to con- 
clude that no attention has been given to the terminology. 
Furthermore regarding Hydrocotyle (page 28), it would be 
absolutely impossible to distinguish this plant (H. Americana) 
with the leaf said to be peltate and the “Corolla of united 
petals.” “Foliis reniformibus” is the character given by 
Linné (Species plant). Under the Araceae Acorus is des- 
eribed as follows: ‘“Flower-spike naked, borne on a long 
stalk, the stalk prolonged above the spike!’ The inflorescence 
is a spadix, not a spike, and Torrey (Flora ‘of New York 
1843) described the spathe correctly “leaflike, continuous with 
the scape.” The very few instances where the authors have 
mentioned the subterranean organs, do also illustrate a. re- 
markable ignorance. The Fumariaceae (page 163) are said 
to have ‘“‘tuberous or bulblike roots,” and Bikukulla canadensis 
is distinguished from B. cucullaria by:the “roots with tubers,” 
while “bulblike roots” are credited to the latter. This seems 
the more remarkable inasmuch as already Torrey (1. c. 1843) 
gave an excellent description: Rhizoma not creeping, 
bulbiferous; the bulbs formed of fleshy triangular scales (the 
thickened and persistent bases of petioles, filled with starch), 
mostly acuminate, reddish externally where exposed to the 
air, white when subterranean (Dicentra Cucullaria) ; a cor- 
respondingly exact description is also given of D. Canadensis. 
Torrey’s descriptions were republished by Gray m his Manual 
of Botany, 1857. 
Our interesting little Orchid Corallorhiza is also one of the 
