64 



It appears that in the leaves there was ahout 2.7 times as much 

 sodium as was necessarj^ to balance the chlorine, while in the stems 

 there was more than seven times as much of the base as the acid would 

 require. This suggests the possibility that the chlorine was being 

 eliminated through the leaves, probably in the form of some volatile 

 compound, which may be the source of the odor from the plant. This 

 idea is brought out somewhat more strikingly, j)erhaps, bj^ noting that 

 the analytical figures given above indicate that the total amount of 

 water-soluble mineral constituents in the leaves is 1.19 times the 

 amount in the stems, but that the amount of chlorine in the leaves is 

 2. 75 times that found in the stems; from which it would ai)pear that the 

 chlorine was being concentrated in the leaves and , as has been pointed 

 out, was there present, in all probability, in organic combination. This 

 is a point which merits further attention, and it is hoped that it will 

 be the subject of a more thorough investigation in the future. 



GREASEWOOD. 



A more thorough examination of a specimen of greasewood ^ (aSotco- 

 hatus veriniculatus) was made. This is a typical "alkali plant," its 

 presence being usually regarded as a good indication of much water- 

 soluble material in the soil. Mr. Means reports that whenever he has 

 observed it the soil generally shows the presence of sodium carbonate, 

 the only exception being in Montana, where the soluble salts are 

 entirely sulphates. It would appear that this latter statement war- 

 rants further examination of the locality mentioned. 



The analytical results obtained from examination of the ashes 

 follow : 



Table XIV. — Analysis of the ash of the greasewood plant. 



Weight of sample, grams 



Weight of ash, grams 



Ash, per cent of plant 



NaoCOs, per cent of ash 



NaCl, per cent of ash.. 



Na2S04, per cent of ash 



Na2C03, per cent of air-dried plant 

 NaCl, per cent of air-dried plant . . 

 Na2S04, per cent of air dried plant. 



Leaves i 



Leaves 



and blos- 



and blos- 



soms (1). 



soms (2). 



10.6395 



5.0000 



2. 7505 



1. 1736 



25.85 



23.47 



51.93 



57.90 



20.47 



22.24 



7.97 





13.43 



13. 69 



5.29 



5.22 



2.06 







Stems. 



10.6817 



.5274 



4.94 



29.46 



14.31 



3.69 



1.45 



.71 



1.18 



1 Owing to the relatively large amount of fnsed salts which coated the carbon or other organic 

 matter, this latter could not be completely burned off when reducing such a large sample to ash. 



Five grams of leaves and blossoms, by successive leachings with 

 distilled water at room temperature until the leachings aggregated 2 

 liters, gave (1) 5.81 and (2) 5.68 per cent of sodium chloride. In both 

 experiments the washings showed no trace of soluble carbonates, but 

 were slightly acid. The residue from (1) after ignition gave a trace 

 of sodium chloride and 0.04 per cent of sodium carbonate. 



' Collected by Mr. Frank D, Gardner near Salt Lake, Utah. 



