TlrTE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



51 



kind is, of course, common enough also on this side the 

 Atlantic. Herbal remedies might not be used quite so 

 much, perhaps, nowadays as in times gone by, but 'teas' 

 from herbs of various Idnd, are still brewed and firmly be- 

 lieved in by many country folk. Valerian for instance, 

 which is commonly known hj the significant popular 

 name of '^allheal,' is one of these herbs, for the 'tea' made 

 from its root is believed to be of efficacy in cases of com 

 sumption. An infusion of milk-wort — the plant whose 

 pretty flowers, varying in colour from pink to a deep blue 

 or purple, are so abundant on dry, upland pastures — is 

 ,good for a cough. In Sussex villages 'gazel-te-a' is a fav- 

 ourite prescription for a cold. Berries of any kind are 

 called 'gazels,' but those usuall3^ employed for medicinal 

 purposes are black currants. But much stranger things 

 than black currants have been similarly used. For ex- 

 ample, when Queen Anne was known to be suffering from 

 ^out, a certain Martin Bowes wrote to the Prime Minis- 

 ter, the Earl of Oxford, suggesting as an easy cure a de- 

 coction, or tea, made of *nettle-seed.' Not a few of the 

 herbal teas which were drunk as beverages were, like New 

 England thoroughwort, also considered to have no small 

 medicinal value." 



CLEAVAGE PLANES OF PLANTS, 



So small a thing as the falling of a leaf is a matter of 

 considerable preparation on the part of the plant. A 

 brittle zone has to be formed across the petiole so that the 

 leaf may break away from the twig when all is ready. 

 Similar cleavage planes have lately been found in the 

 twigs of many woody plants and it has been shown con- 

 clusively that just as the plant drops its leaves, it also 

 sheds many of its twigs. The leaves are dropped only 

 when their work is finished and twigs are dropped for the 

 same reason. 



Among the more interesting phases of the subject are 

 the cleavage planes developed to separate the fruit from 

 the plant that bears it. Prof Schaffner, who has carried 



