86 



a note of warning to farmers was published in "The Indiana 

 Farmer's Guide" of June 2, 1923 and shortly afterwards another 

 specimen was received from the farm of A. J. Bacon of Akron, 

 Fulton County, Indiana. It is evident that Phacelia purshii is 

 becoming established as a grainfield weed in central Indiana, 

 an unusual habit for an erstwhile woodland species. Since the 

 plant has no recognized common name, the generic part of the 

 technical name is being used for this purpose since phacelia is 

 a euphonious word that is easy to pronounce. 



Plant ecologists may be interested in this common woodland 

 species that is apparently developing into a serious pest in small 

 grains and clover. 



Division of Botany, 



Purdue University Agricultural 

 Experiment Station. 



Some Botanic Garden Material Useful in High School 



Work 



R. C. Benedict 



Mr. Boynton's report on species of Kleinia at a recent Torrey 

 Club meeting suggests a comment on the availability of this 

 genus as material for laboratory work in high school biology. 

 For some years the writer has regularly made use of the fleshy 

 stem of Kleinia to illustrate typical stem structure of a dicoty- 

 ledonous plant. The ordinary Kleinia leafless stems are over 

 one half inch in thickness. The bundle arrangement is a simple 

 ring seen in cross section with a large pith and a definite cortex. 

 Sectioned freehand with a razor the specimens are large enough 

 to show their structure without the use even of a hand lens. 



In the younger parts of the branches the bundles in cross 

 section are distinctly separated but they early show the develop- 

 ment of interfascicular cambiums. In older parts of the same 

 stem the bundles have grown considerably both in a radial 

 direction and through the differentiation of the inter-fascicular 

 cambium. Scattered through the cortex are smaller bundles. 

 mainly circular, the leaf traces. Sections of Kleinia (such 

 species as K. articulata and K. ant euphorbia) are approximately 

 the size of the ordinary prepared section of corn stem. If the 

 Kleinia stem is placed in red ink a few hours before sectioning, 

 the bundles will show the rise of this licjuid very clearly. 



