THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



supply of the latter plant are considerable. However, since 

 oil of wintergreen can now be made synthetically in the chemi- 

 cal laboratory, it is likely that the birch stills will soon fall 

 into disuse. 



Two-Seeded Acorns. — We often know the least about 

 the most familiar things and this is likely to be the case with 

 more than one botanist in regard tO' the fruits of the oak. We 

 are prone to think of acorns as one-seeded fruits, but if the 

 original intention of nature were carried out, we should prob- 

 ably call it a several seeded capsule or something" of the kind. 

 As a matter of fact, the young- acorn is three celled with two 

 ovules in each cell which ought to give at least six seeds to an 

 acorn, but it does not work out that way. The single seed that 

 we usually find in the acorn at maturity is an interesting case 

 of selfishness for it has developed at the expense of its fellow- 

 ovules and simply crowded them out of existence. Often their 

 flattened remains may be found in the ripe acorn. Wdien each 

 young acorn contains several ovules it is but natural that occa- 

 sionally an extra ovule may have such a start that its life can- 

 not be squeezed out in this way and thus we find two seeds in 

 one acorn. Rarely three seeds are found but usually only tw-o 

 occur. Such occurrences are said tO' be not uncommon in the 

 white oak (Qtierciis alba) the chestnut oak (Q. prinos) the 

 British oak (Q. robiir) and the red oak (Q. nibra) . The phe- 

 nomenon appears to be most common in oaks with large 

 acorns. In the red oak, according to J. G. Jack who examined 

 two hundred acorns taken at random from a large number, as 

 many as 30% may have two seeds. While on this subject, it 

 may be interesting to point out that the genus to which the 

 cherry, peach, and almond belong has a pistil which normally 

 contains two ovules though only one develops. A^'e ought to 

 find two embryos in every cherry pit. That the condition is 

 not uncommon in the almond is attested by the frequency of 

 philopenas when the nuts are passed to the young folks. 



