OCCURRENCE OF ALUMINIUM SUCCINATE IN TREES. LEX 
Bergstrand’ points out that the ash of Rubus arcticus 
found growing on the alum charged soil near Westerbotten, 
contains as much as 5°6% of alumina. 
J. Ricciardi® makes the statement that alumina is found 
in the ash of all Italian plants; he gives analyses of the 
ash of vines grown on various soils, in which he found 
alumina up to 1°14%. He also gives a list of several other 
plants in the ash of which alumina was present, although 
0°002% seems almost a negligible quantity. 
Yoshida’ carried out a series of researches to decide the 
presence or absence of aluminium in plants growing on the 
soil of the Plain of Musashi in which Tokyo is situated, and 
which soil is of volcanic origin and remarkable for the large 
proportion of alumina soluble in hydrochloric acid which it 
contains. He thought that if aluminium did occur in flower- 
ing plants, then certainly this would be the best locality 
to choose for the purpose. He records the results of eleven 
determinations of the ash of various plants, in all of which, 
except one, he detected alumina, ranging in amount from 
0°2727 to 0°0537%. This chemist had previously found 
alumina in small amount in the aqueous portion of the latex 
of the Lacquer tree of Japan, Rhus vernicifera. 
Berthelot and André* state that the roots of lucerne 
contain 0°457> to 0°5% of alumina in the ash, and the ash of 
the roots of couch grass 0°12%, but that the leaves of Lupin 
contained only 0°037+. 
Professor Church’ at a meeting of the Scientific Com- 
mittee of the Royal Horticultural Society, called attention 
to the, apparently, general presence of aluminium in flower- 
ing plants, and said that he had detected it in Cherry-tree 
1 Deut. Chem. Ges. Ber., 1x., p. 857. 
* Gaz. Chem. Ital., 19, p. 150. 
3 Journ. Chem. Soc., 51, 1887, p. 748. 
* Compt. Rend. 1895, 120, 288 — 299. 
5 Pharm. Journ., 1887-8, p. 625. 
