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they flower at a much younger age than this, some of them per- 
haps before they are ten years old. Most of them die after 
their blooming period is over, many producing young shoots 
from the base which perpetuate the plant. In cultivation under 
glass, however, they mature much more slowly and require a longer 
time to arrive at their blooming period. The plant_here described 
may be forty years old, or perhaps older. The vigor of its flowering 
stem at the present time would indicate that it may finally reach 
a height of twenty-five feet or more. Some time during the 
summer it will bear a large cluster of flowers at the summit. 
Century plants are found in deserts or in other dry regions in 
tropical and subtropical America. They are most abundant in 
Mexico, with other species in Florida, Texas and the West Indies. 
GEORGE V. Nasu. 
CONFERENCE NOTES. 
At the regular conference held in the library, on April 2, Dr. 
W. A. Murrill, who presided over the meeting, exhibited a new 
colored chart from Sweden showing a large number of poisonous 
and edible mushrooms and commented on oat various species 
illustrated as well as on the merits of the ill themselves. 
Mr. Nash exhibited staminate flowers of Leitneria floridana, 
taken from plants derived from seed obtained in an exchange with 
the Missouri Botanical Garden. The plants have been growing 
in ordinary soil in the nursery, far removed from the influence 
of swampy conditions. The relationship of this plant, which 
forms the single genus of the family Leitneriaceae, is not clearly 
understood. By Engler and Prantl it is placed between Myrica- 
ceae and Salicaceae. It is remarkable for the exceeding lightness 
of its wood, which has a specific gravity of about 0.21, making it 
the lightest known wood in the United States and one of the 
lightest in the world. This interesting plant was discovered by 
Drummond, apparently in Texas. In 1847 Dr. Chapman found 
it along the shore in the vicinity of Apalachicola, Fla., and in 
October, 1892, it was discovered by Mr. B. F. Bush in the deep 
swamps along the St. Francis River is southeastern Missouri. 
