1887] - Botany. . Re 573 
no more. 
To account for this isolated station, this peculiar distribution, 
y. One is remind colopendrium, Shortia, and 
the like. Probably other stations will be found to the north 
which may serve to put these little specimens in geographical 
connection with their kin. This can hardly be the last tarrying- 
place of a plant which must at one time have covered all the 
‘northern portions of the State.—T. H. McBride, Iowa City, May 
7, 1887. 
The igin of the Tomato from a Morphological Stand- 
point..—There are two methods by which the cultivator can 
determine the origin of vegetables which have been long in 
cultivation. He can follow the history of the plant to its intro- 
duction into gardens and may then be able to identify it with a 
wild species, or he may reason from inference from the morphol- 
ogy and direction of variation of the plant in hand. The latter 
method may be illustrated by the tomato. _ 
I will suppose, for my purpose, that no record exists as to the 
introduction of the tomato, or in regard to its characters, at any 
time before the present. 
The fruit of the large tomato is seen at once to be extremely 
variable. This variability lies mostly in size, form, and number 
of cells. The number of cells, as seen in a cross-section of the 
fruit, may be taken as a measure of size and form. Fig. 1 r 
resents a cross-section in which ten partial cell-divisions project 
from the walls of the fruit. This is a section of a Trophy. If 
its character. We examine critically every large-fruited sort, 
* This paper is a revision and extension of one which first appeared in the Ameri- 
can Garden. ee 
