794 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. G75- 



monoacetyl and a moiiomethyl derivative, 

 and is physiologically inactive. Micromeritol, 

 m. 294^296°, gives a diacetyl and a mono- 

 acetyl derivative. C. M. Joyce, 



Secretary 



THE TOHREY BOTANICAL CLUB 



The meeting of October 30, 1907, was held 

 in the Museum Building of the New York 

 Botanical Garden. The club was called to 

 order by the secretary at 3 :55 o'clock p.m., and 

 Dr. John Hendley Barnhart was elected chair- 

 man. Twenty-two persons attended. 



The following program was presented: 



Botanical Exploration in Jamaica: N. L. Brit- 

 ton. 



Dr. Britton described his recent trip to the 

 island of Jamaica, where he spent the month 

 of September, with Mrs. Britton, and in co- 

 operation with Hon. William Fawcett, director 

 of public gardens and plantations, and of Mr. 

 William Harris, superintendent of public gar- 

 dens, in e-xploring the south-central portion of 

 Jamaica. Collections aggregating about one 

 thousand field numbers were made in the 

 vicinity of Kingston, in the vicinity of Mande- 

 ville, on the Santa Cruz Mountains and the 

 Pedro plains, lying between these mountains 

 and the southern coast ; the coast and morasses 

 about Black River and Lacovia were examined, 

 and another base was made at New Market on 

 the western border of the parish of St. Eliza- 

 beth, whence the hill country of the vicinity 

 and of Eastern Westmoreland were exijlored; 

 a stop was also made at Bluefields on the 

 southern coast. 



The region explored had been little collected 

 in since the visit of William Purdie, an Eng- 

 lish collector sent to Jamaica from the Royal 

 Gardens, Kew, in 1843 and 1844, and many 

 species not 'collected by Mr. Harris in his re- 

 cent work were obtained. Specimens of a con- 

 siderable number of the more interesting trees 

 and shrubs obtained were exhibited. 



Bemarks on the water-weed, Philotria: P. A. 



Rydberg. 



The genus was first described in Michaux's 

 Flora Boreali-Americana under the name 

 Elbdea. Unfortunately this is antedated by 



Elodes Adanson. Elodea is characterized as 

 having hermaphrodite flowers with three 

 stamens and three bifid styles. Muhlenberg in 

 his catalogue referred the plant to the Old 

 World Serpicula verticillata L., now Rydrilla 

 verticillata, and characterized the plant as be- 

 ing dioecious with four-merous staminate 

 flowers. Pursh in his " Flora " retains the 

 plant in Serpicula, but publishes it under a 

 new specific name, 8. occidentalis. His de- 

 scription agrees in every respect with that of 

 Michaux except that the leaves are described 

 as linear, acute, and finely serrulate. Rafin- 

 esque, in reviewing Pursh's " Flora " in the 

 American Monthly Magazine criticized Pursh's 

 treatment of the plant and proposes a new 

 name Philotria, under which the plant is now 

 to be known. Nuttall in his genera proposes 

 another new name Udora, and cites Elodea 

 Michx. as a synonym; but describes the plant 

 as being dioecious, the staminate flowers as 

 having nine stamens and the pistillate as hav- 

 ing three sterile filaments and three ligulate 

 bifid stigmas. He also adds : " flowers very 

 small and evanescent, the female emerging; 

 the male migratory, breaking off connection 

 usually with the parent plant, it instantly ex- 

 pands to the light, the anthers also burst with 

 elasticity and the granular pollen vaguely 

 floats upon the surface of the water." Torrey, 

 in the " Flora of New York," describes Udora 

 as being polygamous; the sterile flowers with 

 nine stamens, the fertile ones with three-six 

 stamens and cuneiform, two-lobed stigmas. 



How are these conflicting descriptions to be 

 reconciled? Have some of the authors men- 

 tioned given erroneous descriptions? Are 

 there more than one species which have been 

 confused, or is Philotria canadensis such a 

 variable plant both as to flowers and leaves? 

 If there are more than one species, are they all 

 polygamo-dioecious with three kinds of flowers : 

 staminate with very short perianth-tube and 

 nine stamens, pistillate ones with long tube 

 and no stamens or merely rudimentary fila- 

 ments, and hermaphrodite flowers similar to 

 the pistillate ones, but somewhat larger and 

 with three-six stamens ? These are questions 

 to be answered, and botanists who have an op- 

 portunity to study the plants are invited to 



