DESCRIPTIONS AND NOTES FROM THE BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 523 
or bilobed in speciosa, entire in bignonioides; the tube in the former is conical and 10 lines, in the latter campanulate 
and about 7 lines long; in the first slightly oblique, in the other very much so, the upper part being a great deal 
shorter than the lower one, so that the anthers and stigma? become uncovered; the markings in the flower of the old 
species are much more crowded and conspicuous, so as to give the whole flower a dingy appearance, while ours looks 
almost white. The upper lip of the corolla before expansion extends beyond the other lobes and covers them like a 
hood in the Western species, while in the Eastern it is much shorter than the others and covers them only very par- 
tially. The pods of our species are 8-20 inches long, a lines in saprintannes dark brown and strongly grooved 
_when dry, the placental dissepiment very thick ; in the Eastern species the pod is nearly the same length, but only 
9-12 lines in circumference, its grooves very slight, its color pale, and the dissepiment flat. In both species the pod 
is perfectly terete before the valves separate, after that the valves of ours remain more or less semiterete, while the 
much thinner ones of the other flatten out, so that they seem to indicate a compressed The elongated seeds, 
winged at both ends, are of about equal Iength in both species, but in speciosa they are much wider (3$-4 lines) and 
the wings have more or less rounded ends which terminate in a broad band of rather short hair; in bignonioides 
poe seeds are only 2}-3 lines wide, with pointed wings, and their tips terminating in a long, pencil-shaped tuft of 
air. 
Our is larger, of straighter growth, and being a native of a more northern ean is pri than the 
Southeastern oie the wood of both is extremely durable, perhaps as much so as that of o and has the 
advantage over it of a much more rapid growth, and of possessing only a very thin layer (a or 3 aie rings) of 
destructible sap wood. But of these qualities, and of its adaptability to many important uses, others, and especially 
Mr y in a recent pamphlet, have given a full account. It is already extensively planted in our Western prairie 
States, and especially along railroads, for which it is expected to furnish the much-needed timber in a comparatively 
short time.* —[1880, vol. v.] 
FRAXINUS QUADRANGULATA has, at least about Allenton, in St. Louis County, Missouri, hermaphrodite [63] 
flowers. Mr. G. W. Letterman finds it there common on rocky hills where it is a small tree or shrub with 
blunt angles of the branchlets, and in rich bottom-lands, where the tree is large, and the angles of the branchlets sharp, 
and even winged. Leaves are sometimes in threes when the branchlets show six angles. The terminal buds are gray- 
downy. In both localities the flowers are hermaphrodite. The calyx is practically absent, or indicated only by two 
obscure knobs or two minute scales, alternating with the stamens; the anthers are sessile and (before opening) reni- 
form, their two cells being united above ; stamens somewhat persistent at least to the beginning of May, when the 
young obovate-oblong fruits, already somewhat twisted (which twist is more marked in the mature fruit), bave 
reached about half their full size. How d e species behave in other parts of the country? The style of Frazinus 
ricana is yery slender — much longer than the ovary ; that of F’. viridis does not much exceed the ovary. —[1880, 
vol. v.]. 
may here remark that Catalpa, probably like all its tion. It grows rapidly, and is almost indestructible in water. 
oe is _aeoec nage the ——. open the morning Gate-posts on the farm of the late President Harrison, in 
and the lobes of the sti and become glutinous 
towards evening the cee lobe remaining erect, the lower 
wood in hed or fovion e yea reas it takes the cedar twenty- 
‘sake down ae al ave not ascertained 
h 
effete, and by the following morning the lobes of the stigma 
are ~~ n close 
* At the meeting o the St. Louis Academy of Science, 
Jan. 19, 1880, Dr. . stated that ‘‘a native ee 
was found growing in Southern Illinois, Indiana, sa Sout 
dians. Michaux knew this tree ninety years ago without 
—— it from the old species found in —. 
Forty y a number of them were growi mn Main 
and aa Streets, in the gardens of Chouteau at the Cath- 
olic Bishop, and a few are still standing on Thi 
the trunk is straight, and it is aspen a most beautiful 
tree. New Madrid is the centre of its geographical distribu- 
five yea ttain its ane ah No bette 
could be cae ‘or railroad ti wood turns out to be 
solid enough to bear the tk: ate the railroads are already 
preparing to use it forthis purpose. It should be planted on 
our prairies, where it would be found a most valuable tree for 
any purposes.” — J'ransactions, vol. iv. 1882, Journal of 
Manat fl. 
In a notice of Brooks’s wood sections (Bot. Gazette, se 
viii. 1883, p. 338), Dr. Engelmann states that “ina 
ut in a specimen of Pinus Elliottii, of South Florida, I find 
such rings quite numerous, and difficult to explain and to 
distinguish from true annual rin & In wood of the same 
1 from aie sh north no such appearance is observed, 
nnual rings being clear and well marked.” — Eps, 
ape erat 
