388 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS ON CONIFER. 
long after maturity, or sometimes never. Those of our flora are P. contorta (with P. M ekg P. Bolanderi, etc.), 
P. muricata (Edgariana), P. tuberculata, and above all P. insignis (radiata, Monteragensis, et 
following important biological questions remain as yet unanswered, waiting for the ‘fedient investigation of 
a Sara a live in the countries where these trees grow : — 
1. Do the cones of these species never open as soon as ripe, but always remain closed until some time, a year 
or years after maturity ? 
2. Do some cones open when ripe, and others of the same tree years later, and some never ? 
3. Does season, locality, or individual character of the trees have any influence on this peculiarity ? 
4. At what season do the late cones open, under what physical conditions, and what is the cause of any of them 
remaining closed forever ? 
w many years do the seeds of such closed cones retain their vitality, and is it possible that the seeds may 
germinate after the cones have fallen to the ground and rotted ? 
The supposition that the closed cones were sterile or contained too few seeds, did not prove correct ; it seems that 
all cones of the several species in question contain comparatively few seeds : the seeds of closed cones, many years old 
proved perfectly sweet, and therefore probably sound. — Botanical Gazette, vol. ii.. Aug. 1877 
VITALITY OF THE SEEDS OF SEROTINOUS CONES. 
54 Prof. Sargent gave the results of his experiments with serotinous (closed) cones of Pinus con- [62] 
torta, which I had collected in 1874 in Colorado, kept for more than four years in a garret, and sent to him in the 
spring of 1879. Seeds of cones 13 years old and 10 years old did not germinate : one out of six of 9 year old seeds, 
one out of eleven of 8 year old seeds, one out of three of 7 year old, and one out of four of 6 year old seeds germi- 
nated and grew up well ; those of 5 year old cones did not come up. Prof. Sargent pronounces the result to be unsat- 
isfactory. To me it seems to be eminently satisfactory. It proved that part of the seeds from cones 5 to 9 years old 
had retained their vitality and that those that are older than 9 years failed; younger ones would undoubtedly have 
also germinated had such been experimented upon. The result shows that: pine seeds of serotinous cones, or, to be 
more exact, seeds of Pinus contorta, kept under the circumstances detailed above, could and did retain their vitality a 
number of years, — even nine years, — while the perishable nature of pine seeds under ordinary rains is well 
known. The economy or the effect of keeping the cones closed is therefore evidently the preservation of the v 
tality of the seeds for a number of years beyond their maturity. What is not fully known and what will ieite ‘; [63] 
be investigated is how and when such seeds of serotinous cones are eventually liberated and made available, 
and whether not a great many of them at last perish, the cones never opening. — Botanical Gazette, vol. v., June 1880. 
SEQUOYAH. 
In last Sunday’s issue you revive the almost forgotten, though most interesting history of the invention of the 
Cherokee alphabet and written language by the i Sequoyah, and mourn that to-day no man can point out the 
spot — moulders the dust of the Cherokee Cadm 
resting-place may be unknown, but his name a his memory live in the most magnificent vegetables of this 
Se The mammoth tree of California has been claimed by English as well as Americans for their greatest men, 
n named by the former Wellingtonia and by the latter Washingtonia, but a celebrated Vienna professor, 
Endlicher, as eminent a botanist as he was a linguist, had already, in 1847, established a genus which comprises the 
mammoth trees as well as the scarcely less magnificent Red Woods of California, and had named it Sequoia, in com- 
memoration of the aboriginal linguist ; and as long as botanical science exists both these wonders of the western world 
will ae the name of the Cherokee Caduata: — Missouri Republican, Sept. 28, 1873. 
