THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



49 



caution now than formerly, for one warm day late in June 

 1908, I was badly poisoned for several days, about the wrists, 

 while gathering this handsome plant to take back to the city. 



THE BECKONING HAND 



By AIrs. Georgia Torrey Drennan. 



^ I 'HE beckoning hand {Jatropha niultifida) is one of the 

 most unique and ornamental of our plants. It is a shrub 

 in high latitudes, but here in Louisiana it reaches the size of a 

 small tree. The common name is suggested by the interesting 

 and curious way in which the leaves flutter when the wind 

 stirs. They move up and down with a tremulous motion of the 

 leaf divisions, truly like beckoning fingers. Even when very 

 little air is stirring, the leaflets continue to quiver on account 

 of their broad flat surfaces and thin texture. 



The plant comes from seed and grows like a weed. The 

 seedlings produce stems from three to flve inches long before 

 the cotyledons unfold. The leaves are palmate and each divis- 

 ion has the shape of an arrow head at the end. Seven of these 

 finger-like divisions spread out from a little round palm that 

 the strong straight stem supports, perfectly flat. Every leaf is 

 like an open hand with Angers spread. 



As growth proceeds and branches form, these spreading 

 palmate leaves make a symmetrical plant like an open parasol. 

 The center or palm portion of the leaf is light gold color and 

 the divisions are light green. They always suggest new spring 

 growth, and the gold-colored centers of many leaves together 

 are as ornamental as flowers. The foliage and the manner of 

 growth constitute the attractions of the plant, for the flowers, 

 though light yellow and borne in clusters, are not at all showy. 



The seeds are borne in a pulpy sack and when fully ripe, 

 two seeds are found with their flat sides pressed together after 



