THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



29 



A New Orchid Book. — Miss Grace Greylock Niles of 71 

 West 116 Street, New York, author of several botanical works 

 and writer of the article on Cypripediums which appeared in 

 our November number, plans soon to issue a volume on the 

 "Native Orchids of North America," and requests notes on the 

 species from all interested. She especially desires information 

 on varietal forms, albinos, and new stations for rare species. 

 In this connection Miss Caroline G. Soule calls attention to the 

 fact that Miss Niles omitted the white form of Cypripedmin 

 acaule from her article in this magazine. Miss Soule says : ''It 

 was quite common in Shelbourne, N. H., last summer and 

 several specimens were brought to me, though Gray says 'rarely 

 white.' It was an unusually cold season there and the Cypri- 

 pediums were blooming the last week in June." 



Red Flowered Witch Hazel. — The yellow color of 

 many flowers is known to be only a weaker form of a pigment 

 which otherwise would make the flowers red. It is therefore 

 not surprising to find a yellow-flowered form of a plant with 

 normally red blossoms, in fact the yellow forms of either red 

 fruits or flowers may be looked upon as analogous to^ albinos. 

 White-flowered forms of normally yellow species are prac- 

 tically unknown, though there may be varieties with flowers 

 of a dirty or creamy white. In many yellow flowers, however, 

 there seems to be a tendency to increase the pigment and thus 

 produce red flowers. One might almost say that we are likelier 

 to be able to produce a red flower from a yellow one than we 

 are to produce a pure white flower from such a form. A point 

 is given to these observations by the fact that specimens of the 

 witch hazel {Hamamelis Virgmiana) have been reported in 

 which the flowers are red. The witch hazel blooms at the end 

 of the year when flowers of any kind are rare and flowering 

 shrubs especially so. Even the common form is of decorative 

 value and the red-flowered specimens ought to be doubly at- 

 tractive. 



