Report on Botany. 



191 



Arceuthobium and is parasitic on the living branches of 

 the common black spruce, Abies nigra. Because of its 

 small size we have nanled it Arceuthobium pusillum. ~No 

 species of this genus has before been found in this country 

 east of the Mississippi river, and but few species are known 

 in the Rocky mountain region and British America. Our 

 plant is scarcely one inch high, seldom branched, of an 

 olive-green or chestnut-brown color, the leaves scale-like, 

 opposite and united at the base, forming a cup-like sheath 

 from which, on opposite sides of the stem, the flower buds 

 emerge. It grows in great abundance on the younger inter- 

 nodes of the branches but never on the terminal one, the 

 young shoot of the season. It is herbaceous in appearance, 

 looking much like some dwarf Salicornia, but in reality it 

 seems to be a miniature shrub, requiring three years for its 

 complete development. Its discovery in Sandlake was made 

 on Sept. 14, 1871. At that time the fertile plants (the inflo- 

 rescence is dioecious) on the fourth internode of the 

 branches, counting the young shoot of the present season as 

 the first, were laden with mature fruit. Those on the third 

 internode were smaller, but had well developed flower buds, 

 while those of the second internode were mere hemispheri- 

 cal buds just emerging from the bark. The locality was 

 visited a month later, and to my surprise almost no fruit- 

 ing plants could be found, but in their stead were small 

 masses of broken stems, fruit and seeds adhering to each 

 other and to the branches by reason of the viscid coating 

 that envelops each seed. This at once suggested to my 

 mind the idea that some small animal or bird had been at 

 work among these plants and perhaps had sought the seeds 

 for food. From what we have seen, then, we infer that 

 the history of this plant is as follows. The fruit being 

 mature in September, some bird or other small animal 

 seeks it for food. The seeds being covered with a very 

 viscid coat adhere more or less to the beak of the bird or 



