He HENRY G. SMITH. 
gum, gum arabic, tragacanth, etc.; he assumed that it is 
probably absorbed accidentally by the roots and that it 
plays no part in vegetable physiology. 
A. H. Allen’ points out that aluminium, in minute pro- 
portions, is a normal constituent of wheat. 
But what do physiologists say about it ? 
Dr. W. Pfeffer® says that aluminium though universally 
distributed is present only in small amount in most plants, 
except the Lycopods. 
Dr. Sorauer’ writes:—‘“‘ In spite of the wide distribution 
of clay in soil and in rocks, its chief constituent, aluminium, 
is confined in its occurrence to very few plants (lichens 
and club mosses).”’ 
In the Natural History of Plants * the following appears: 
“It is worthy of note that alumina which is so widely dis- 
tributed and easily accessible to plants is only very rarely 
absorbed. Theash of Lycopodium is the only kind in which 
this substance has been identified with certainty in any 
considerable quantities.”’ 
Sachs’ in describing the constituents invariably found in 
the ashes of plants, states that the following occur in very 
rare cases and under special circumstances :—aluminium, 
copper, zinc, cobalt, nickel, and strontium. 
The above short general summary regarding the presence 
of aluminium in flowering plants, indicates that occasionally 
this element is present, although in very small amount, 
and in no instance does it appear to have been found in 
quantity in any of the Phanerogams. 
It is the purpose of this paper as already hinted, to bring 
under the notice of this Society a flowering plant of luxur- 
1 Analyist, 13, 41 — 43. 
? Physiology of Plants, (A. J. Ewart’s translation) p. 437. 
* A Treatise on the Physiology of Plants, p. 36. 
* Kerner and Oliver, p. 68. § Text-book of Botany, p. 695. 
