332 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [OCTOBER 
mbryology of the Rosaceae.—A literary study of the embryology of the 
Rosaceae brings JACOBSSON-STIASNY” to some conclusions in regard to the 
Sila tacos of the subdivisions of this large family. The characters 
which were traced through the various forms are number and character of 
integuments, number of archesporial cells and megaspores, number of tapetal 
cells, presence or absence of an obturator, character of young and mature endo- 
sperm, fate of the nucellus, character of the suspensor, orientation of the ovule, 
and form of the embryo. After tabulating and comparing all these features, 
the author concludes that the Rosaceae do not represent a single developmental 
line, but that the Spiroideae are the primitive stock which has produced two 
principal lines, one consisting of the Pomoideae and Prunoideae, and the other 
of the Rosoideae. 
While everyone recognizes that in an investigation of such scope it would 
be impossible to make a laboratory study of all the forms, still those who are 
familiar with such investigations realize that descriptions are not always 
reliable, and that observations upon embryology, made before technique 
had reached its present efficiency, may be quite misleading. However, such an 
assembling of the literature and the graphic presentation of the results will be 
useful to workers in various fields —Cuartes J. CHAMBERLAIN. 
Growth forms.—On the basis of RAUNKIAER’s classification of growth 
forms, TAYLOR” has made an interesting analysis of his own Flora of the vicinity 
of New York, both as a whole and as to certain of its constituent elements. He 
notes the high percentage of water plants and of perennials possessing root- 
stocks and bulbs; and calls attention to thé much greater abundance of woody 
forms among the southern types in the flora than among the northern ones. 
The “biological spectrum” of growth forms in the region covered is compared 
with spectra of several other areas, arctic, temperate, and tropical, and certain 
conclusions as to climate are suggested. Such a method of studying climate 
as this of RAUNKIAER’S, by rigid comparative analyses of the floras of widely 
separated regions, seems to be open to the general objection that it under- 
estimates the importance of the historical factor. Temperate areas oi the 
Northern Hemisphere, for example, contain a much higher proportion of her- 
baceous species than do regions with a corresponding climate south of the 
equator, presumably owing to the fact that the herbaceous type has originated 
for the most part in the north temperate zone. Such careful analyses of growth 
habit as the present one, however, are of much value for drawing critical 
comparisons between floras, and for other purposes. It is to be hoped that 
their number will continue to increase.—E. W. SINNOTT. 
19 JACOBSSON-STIASNY, Emma, Versuch einer embryologisch-phylogenetischen 
Bearbeitung der Rosaceae. Sitzungsb. Kaiserl. Akad. Wiss. Wien 123:1-38. 1914- 
*” Taytor, N., The growth forms of the flora of New York and vicinity. Amer. 
Jour. Bot. 2:23~31. 1915. 
