1000 General Notes. [ December, 
THE SUPERABUNDANCE OF PoLLEN IN INDIAN Corn.—Nature 
evidently intends to secure the fertilization of the young ovules 
in the Indian Corn (Zg@ Mais) beyond all chance of failure. In 
the autumn of 1875, I made a large number of careful counts and 
estimates which resulted in fixing upon twenty-five hundred as 
the average number of pollen grains in each anther. Each pani- 
cle of male flowers (the “tassel ’’) was found by careful estimates, 
to contain about 7200 stamens, so that the number of pollen 
grains produced by each plant is about eighteen millions. Allow- 
ing two ears of one thousand kernels each, to each plant (a very 
high estimate), there are still nine thousand pollen grains for every 
ovule to be fertilized ! 
Tur Common Names OF our PLants.—An effort is now mak- 
ing to collect and arrange the common names now borne by the 
plants of the United States, somewhat as has been done for 
English plants by Prior in his “ Popular Names of British Plants, 
and Messrs. Britten and Holland, in the “ Dictionary of English 
Plant Names.” Whatever may be said against common names 
on account of their frequently objectionable form, their common 
application to several entirely different plants, besides other ob- 
jectionable features, not to mention their little value to the prac- 
tical botanist, it yet remains that plants are known to a very — 
large portion of our people by common names only. We must 
confess to a rather kindly feeling for these popular names, 10 
spite of their many faults and sometimes exasperating inconstancy 
and inconsistency, and so we hail, with delight the announcement 
made by W. R. Gerard, one of the editors of the Zorrey Bullenn, 
of his intention to undertake to record the names under which the 
same plants are known in different parts of the country. As this 
is a movement in the right direction, undertaken by one eminently. 
qualified to complete it, we have no hesitation in urging readers 0 
the Narura.ist, to render aid “ by collecting lists of the popular 
names by which our plants are known in their neighborhoods, 
and sending them to Mr. Gerard (g Waverly Place, New Your 
City), accompanied of course by the scientific equivalents. It is 
known that many of the so-called common names given In the © 
books are merely book-names, having no usage except in botanr — 
cal classes in schools, and with those whose knowledge of plants 
is derived mainly from books; it is desirable that such be care- — 
fully distinguished from those in use by people who have no 
_ knowledge of the botany of the books. The names.given 
_ by the Indians, are also of interest, and should be preserved." 
to plants 
