192 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [august 



adds three new cruciate species: O. atrovirens, 0. vcnosa, and 0. stenomeres, 

 the first two being published in collaboration with Shull. In connection with 

 the segregation of these species, the cultures of the author have opened some 

 very interesting questions that will be discussed later. For example, a new 

 mutation was secured, which is called O. stenopctala mut. lasiopetala, and which 

 is reserved for further discussion until its seeds have produced new plants. 

 Bartlett proposes a trinomial system of nomenclature, shown by the name 

 of this mutation, for mutations of garden origin, "in order to set them clearly 

 apart from forms of which cognizance must be taken in floras." — J. M. C. 



A drought-resistant citrous fruit. — The search for hardy races of valuable 

 plants has discovered a genus of drought-resistant citrous fruits from Aus- 

 tralia, which Swingle 12 has concluded to be a new genus, to which he has given 

 the name Eremocitrus. It is the Australian desert kumquat, now commonly 

 called Atalantia glauca (Lindl.) Benth. It is the only member of the orange 

 group that shows marked adaptation to desert climates, and has the general 

 aspect of "sagebrush/' It is under investigation in this country, having been 

 sent to a number of localities for trial, so that within a year or two the limita- 

 tions of its culture in the United States will be known. — J. M. C. 



Pith of Osmunda. — Gwynne-Vaughan 13 has described a stem of Osmunda 

 regalis whose pith contains scattered tracheae. Such a "mixed pith" was 

 described by Kidston and Gwynne-Vaughan (1910) for the fossil Osmund ites 



t * m 



Kolbei. This same situation in an anomalous specimen of Osmunda regalis is 

 regarded as further supporting the theory that the pith of the Osmundaceae 



a 



>» 



is phylogenetically stelar and not cortical, and that it arose by the progressive 

 conversion of the central tracheae of a solid xylem strand into parenchyma. 

 J. M. C. 



Flora of southeastern Washington. — Piper and Beattie 14 have published 

 a manual of the vascular plants of a very interesting region, being an extension 



The region covered is 



>/ 



said to embrace the richest wheat lands of the northwest, the principal drain- 

 age systems being those of the Snake and Spokane rivers. The manual is 

 handsomely printed, and includes descriptions of 1139 species, distributed as 

 follows: 20 pteridophytes, 11 gymnosperms, 270 monocotyledons, and 838 

 dicotyledons. — J. M. C. 



12 SWINGLE, Walter T., Eremocitrus, a new genus of hardy, drought-resistant 

 citrous fruits from Australia. Jour. Agric. Research 2:85-100. figs. 7. pL 8. 1914- 



AH 



regalis. Ann. Botany 28:351-354. pi. 21. 1914. 



n Piper, Charles V., and Beattie, R. Kent, Flora of southeastern Washington 

 and adjacent Idaho. 8vo. pp. xi + 296. Pullman: State College of Washington. 

 1914. Paper, St. 00: cloth, $1 20. 



