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THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



of Colchicum. One species is offered by American dealers as 

 the autumn crocus (Colchicwn autitmnale) , but the plant is 

 not a crocus. It is probably out of the question to expect 

 people who deal in such bulbs to have any very clear idea of 

 their botanical relationships, but the botanist should have more 

 discrimination. As a matter of fact crocuses and colchicums 

 belong to twO' entirely different families of plants. The cro- 

 cuses are members of the Ifidaceae and therefore have only 

 three stamens and the ovary is inferior. Colchicums ,on the 

 other hand, have six stamens and a superior ovary and there- 

 fore belong to the Liliaceae. 



Berries of the Ranunculaceae. — Fleshy or juicy 

 fruits are very irregularly distributed among the plant families. 

 The Rosaceae, Solanaceae, and Ericaceae have an undue pro- 

 portion of such fruits, while several of the tree groups lack 

 them entirely and others have only an occasional specimen. It 

 has recently been shown that practically all the juicy fruits are 

 borne on woody plants. Here and there occur the exceptions 

 that prove the rule, such as the strawberry, tomato, asparagus 

 and lily-of-the-valley, but one soon gets to the end of this list. 

 All the more surprising', therefore, is the occurrence of an 

 herbaceous genus among the crowfoots (Ranunculaceae) 

 which bear berries. The baneberries (Actaea alba and A. 

 rubra) commonly known as the white and red cohosh, respec- 

 tively, are said to be the only members of the Ranunculaceae 

 in the world with this habit. The order Ranales, to which this 

 family belongs, has many species with fleshy fruits, however, 

 especially in such families as the Anonaceae, Menispermaceae, 

 Berberidaceae, and Lauraceae. 



Silver Thaw. — The rather poetic name of silver thaw 

 has been given to a form of precipitation which ordinary mor- 

 tals call rime or hoiar frost. The word rime is reserved by the 

 weather bureau for the feathery frost crystals that form on 

 trees and other objects during a fog in winter. To be at their 



