No. 437-] 



NO TES A AD LITERA TURE. 



353 



Cyril Grassland ("Note on the Dispersal of Mangrove Seedlings," 

 Ann. o/Bot, Vol. XVII, pp. 267-270, fig. January, 1903) observed 

 mangroves growing in large numbers in the crevices in the hard coral 

 limestone surface near high water mark on the east coast of Zanzibar, 

 but only occasionally found them growing in mud. where the well- 

 known method of planting may be observed. He frequently found 

 embryos planted in holes in the rock at a distance of a hundred yards, 

 and in a few cases some miles from the nearest parent tree. He 

 frequently found the embryos floating vertically in the sea with the 

 leaf bud just projecting above the water and concludes that the embryo 

 is planted in any softness or crevice of the bottom upon the falling of 

 the tide. The observation adds a quite distinct method of distribu- 

 tion for this interesting plant. 



A contribution of importance to our knowledge of seedlings is that 

 of Willis in his paper on the " Morphology and Ecology of the Podo- 

 stemaceae." 1 In an earlier number of the same publication Mr. Willis 

 treated the systematic relations of the forms found in India and 

 Ceylon and in the present paper for which the other was preparatory 

 he discusses the anatomy and ecology of the different forms and 

 when material was available the developmental stages as well. The 

 peculiar ecological conditions under which the members of the 

 family are to be found are discussed, and in addition to the descrip- 

 tions and figures of the young stages of several forms given in the 

 systematically arranged portion of the paper some theoretical consid- 

 erations are taken up in his quite extensive general discussion and 



The germination of the seed of Peperomia and Heckeria has been 

 studied by Johnson (Bot. Gaz., Vol. XXXIV, pp.32 1-340, Pis. IX and 

 X. 1902) . He finds that the swelling of the embryo and endosperm 

 bursts the seed coats and that the endosperm protrudes through the 

 rent as a sack, which surrounds the small, undifferentiated embryo 

 until cotylelons and root have been developed when the root breaks 

 through the endosperm which , still surrounds the tips of the cotyle- 

 dons and remains imbedded in the seed till all the starch of the 

 perisperm is absorbed. While only careful chemical work can yield 

 a definite answer to the question the morphological features indicate 

 that the aleurone containing endosperm of these forms serves not as 

 a storage organ for food material, but as a digesting and absorbing 



Ceylon and India! Attn. AVi />'(,>! I\ > «<ya. Vol. i, pp. 267-465, Pis. 

 IV-XXXVII. 1902. 



