712 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 853 



plantings in an acid soil consisting of nine 

 parts kalmia peat, by bulk, and one part clean 

 sand, the plants in August, 1910, began to 

 form their flowering buds. The larger plants 

 then more than filled a five-inch pot. They 

 were left outdoors during the winter, were 

 brought into a cool greenhouse in March, and 

 in a few days were in full flower. The plants 

 were remarkably beautiful. The flowers had 

 the characteristic color and fragrance of wild 

 ones and were of unusual size, the largest 

 corolla having a spread of seven eighths of an 

 inch. The foliage was free from insect and 

 other injuries to an extent seldom seen in wild- 

 plants. 



Plants kept in a greenhouse all winter flow- 

 ered only sparingly, but they furnished an op- 

 portunity for the observation of the fruit. 

 The fruit of trailing arbutus is described in 

 our standard works as a loculicidal capsule, 

 but this description is incorrect, and must 

 have been based on an erroneous deduction 

 from immature specimens or imperfect rem- 

 nants. The fully mature fruit is not a dry 

 pod. It is as juicy as a strawberry. Its style 

 of dehiscence is not loculicidal, but is that 

 exactly if not melodiously described as 

 " septicidally or rather marginicidally septi- 

 fragal." In examples of perfect development 

 the wall of the fruit while still green and 

 herbaceous splits along the cell partitions into 

 five valves, which spread backward into a 

 five-pointed rosette, exposing the white, fleshy, 

 succulent interior with the minute brown seeds 

 dotted over its surface. The fleshy part, which 

 looks like an unripe strawberry and is about 

 a quarter of an inch in diameter, consists of 

 the whole interior of the fruit, axis and dis- 

 sepiments as well as placentae. These observa- 

 tions as to the character of the fully developed 

 fruit confirm the original observations made in 

 New Hampshire in late July, 1909, at the very 

 end of the fruiting season. 



Frederick V. Coville 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE TOEEEY BOTANICAL CLUB 



The meeting was held at the American Museum 

 of Natural History. The meeting was called to 



order at 8:15 p.m., with Dr. E. B. Southwick in 

 the chair. Twenty-eight persons were present. 



The scientific program consisted of a lecture on 

 "Orchids, Wild and Cultivated," by Mr. Geo. V. 

 Nash. The lecture was illustrated by a large num- 

 ber of beautiful lantern slides. An abstract of the 

 lecture prepared by the speaker follows: 



By the general public any odd or strange flower 

 was considered an orchid, and as an illustration of 

 this common error nepenthes and bromeliads were 

 cited. The large division of endogenous plants to 

 which the orchids belong was illustrated with a 

 slide of the lily, this being taken as typical. Espe- 

 cial attention was called to the stamens and pistO 

 which are distinct in this flower. As an illustra- 

 tion of a typical orchid flower a slide of Cattleya 

 was shown. The uniting of the stamens and pistil 

 into one organ, known as the column, was pointed 

 out as the distinctive character of the orchid. 



Another interesting feature is the diversity of 

 the lip form. The lip is one of the petals. In 

 some forms, such as Odontoglossum, it much re- 

 sembles the other petals. In Oncidium it is mark- 

 edly different in size and color; in Cattleya it 

 becomes more modified by the inroUing of the 

 base into a tube which surrounds the column; in 

 Dendrobium a still greater modification occurs in 

 the inroUing of the margins of the lip into a sac- 

 cate organ; and in Cypripedmn this tendency is 

 greatly magnified, giving us the "slipper." 



The stem or leaves of orchids are frequently 

 thickened, thus serving as storage organs for 

 water. The water supply of many orchids, on 

 account of the habitat on trees and rocks, is very 

 uncertain, and those thickened leaves or stems 

 carry the plants safely through periods of drought. 

 When the thickened stems are short, and round or 

 oval, they are known as pseudobulbs. 



Some orchids grow in the ground and are known 

 as terrestrial. These are commonly found in tem- 

 perate regions, where dangers from frost exist. 

 The majority, however, are epiphytic, that is, they 

 grow on trees, and are found in warm temperate 

 and tropical regions. The number of species is 

 between 6,000 and 7,000, of which about 150 are 

 found in the United States. The two great centers 

 of their occurrence are: in the new world, in 

 northern South America, northward into Central 

 America, and in the west Indies; in the old world, 

 in India and the Malay region. A series of slides 

 was then exhibited Ulustrating some of the com- 

 mon wild and cultivated forms. 



B. O. Dodge, 

 Secretary 



