13 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [AuGusT 
botany. The subscription price is one dollar, which may be sent to the pub- 
lishers, Willard N. Clute & Co., Binghamton, N. Y. 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION has undertaken to bring together all pos- 
sible material bearing on the medicinal uses of plants in the United States. 
In November 1896 the Pan-American Medical Congress, meeting in the City 
of Mexico, took steps to institute a systematic study of the American Medi- 
cinal flora. The sub-commission appointed for this purpose in the United 
States consists of Dr. V. Havard, Mr. F. V. Coville, Dr. C. F. Millspaugh, 
r, Charles Mohr, Dr. W. P. Wilson, and Dr. H. H. Rusby. Dr. Rusby is 
eaene of the general commission, and Dr. Havard is chairman of the sub- 
commission for the United States. This sub-commission solicits information 
concerning the medicinal plants of the United States from anyone in a posi- 
tion to accord it. Detailed instructions as to specimens and notes have been 
prepared, and all packages and correspondence are to be addressed to the 
Smithsonian Institution and marked on the outside “ Medicinal plants, for the 
U.S. National Museum.” The instructions and the necessary franks will be 
furnished upon application. 
AT THE MEETING of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, May 17, Mr. J. 
B. S. Norton read a paper upon the effects of the tornado of May 1896, upon 
trees about St. Louis. Jt was shown that while ordinary winds have some 
influence on the form and strength of trees, in strong winds uprooting 1s 
caused by wet soil, weak spreading roots, and a large exposed surface. If the 
roots hold, breaks in trunk or branches may occur depending upon strength 
of wood, form of tree, mode of branching, and weight and resistance of foliage. 
It was shown that Acer dasycarpum was badly broken on account of its brittle 
wood and heavy foliage. Trees with spreading tops, like U/mus Americana, 
were broken and uprooted, though the branches were only bent in the individ- 
uals with tougher wood. In general, conical trees like U/mus campestris, Liquid- 
ambar, most conifers, and the oaks of strong fiber, were little injured. Tax- 
odtum distichum, from its slender form, strength, and elasticity, was injured 
least of all. After the tornado, which occurred early in the vegetative period, 
most of the trees continued growth by producing new foliage shoots. While 
a few died from inability to secure food, others indicated injury by flowering 
and fruiting more profusely than usual. Mr. H. von Schrenk also submitted 
preparations showing the formation of two growth rings in 1896, resulting 
from the defoliation of the denuded branches. 
At the meeting of June 7 Mr. Robert Combs, of Ames, Iowa, presented a 
paper on a collection of plants made in 1895-6 in the province of Santa 
Clara, Cuba. The paper contained a full catalogue of the plants, which had 
been determined at the herbarium of Harvard University. A brief statement 
was also made concerning the origin of the Cuban flora and its affinities with 
the Central American flora rather than that of adjacent Florida. 
