THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



15 



toniana) is more heavity clad, but when it reaches matur- 

 ity has lost all trace of its spring coat. The cinnamon 

 fern (O. cinnamonpe) is woolliest of all and may even be 

 identified by this characteristic before the fronds are 

 spread. It seems probable that the tufts of wool at the 

 base of mature pinnae are simply the last remants of that 

 which protected the fronds from the frost. 



Information Wanted. — The Society for the Protec- 

 tion of Native Plants, is to be commended for the very 

 practical turn its efforts are taking. Recently a committee 

 has been appointed to attend to cases in which the exter- 

 mination of certain species is threatened. Accurate infor- 

 mation is desired regarding the causes operating to bring 

 about such extermination, especially as to depredations 

 on our plants for commercial purposes. All information 

 of this kind should be addressed to the Chairman of the 

 Committee, Nathaniel T. Kidder, 610 Sears Building,, 

 Boston, Mass. 



Fruiting of the Autumn Crocus. — The Autumn 

 Crocus {Colchium) is so named because, unlike other cro- 

 cuses, it waits until the 3^ear is on the wane before bloom- 

 ing. There is then not time enough to ripen its seeds 

 before winter, so the plant retains the fertilized embryos 

 safe within its subterranean bulb until spring, when they 

 are pushed up on the seed stalk to ripen. The leaves ap- 

 pear in spring but die before the flowers open, in this very 

 much resembling those of the common leek (Allium tricoc- 

 cum). The leek, however^ ripens its seeds immediately 

 after blooming. 



Blue Hydrangeas. — Writers in the horticultural pub- 

 lications are making another attempt to ascertain what 

 it is that causes the blossoms in some specimens of Hy- 

 drangea hortensia to take on a blue color instead of the 

 normal shade of pink. Many theories about it have been 

 formed, only to be proven erroneous. It was formerly 

 thought that the blue color was due to some constituent 

 of thejsoil and saltpeter, salt, iron, akmi and ashes were 

 in turn advanced as the necessary ingredient. Observa- 



