8 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



the berries increasing rapidly in size, until in spring they 

 were several times larger than they were when gathered 

 in September. 



The dark green leaves and bright scarlet berries make 

 -.as beautiful an ornament for the window garden as could 

 'be desired. Last spring she took one of the vines which 

 held a large berry and placed it in a wire basket of ferns, 

 etc., which was hanging on the veranda. This fall, on the 

 approaching of frost, the basket was hung before a win^ 

 dow in the cellar, and now, at this writing, December 3, 

 1902, the berry still hangs from the basket, as plump and 

 brilliant in color as in the days of its youth, having lived 

 through two seasons of growth, and well on into the 

 second winter. 



Bristol, Connecticut. 



THE SCOURING RUSH IN WINTER. 



BY WILLARD N. CLUTE. 

 The books on the fern allies agree that the 

 common scouring-rush {Equisetum hyemale) 

 fruits in summer, but the statement needs qual- 

 ifying. While there is undoubtedly an increase 

 in the number of fruiting cones about the middle 

 of June, in this latitude, it is also true that fruit 

 may be found at almost any time of the year. 

 June may be called the fruiting season ; it is then 

 that the cones lengthen until each of the six 

 sided plates composing its exterior are drawn 

 apart to enable the spores to escape and allow- 

 ing us to see that the plates are merely the 

 tops of the six celled sporophylls. But June is 

 not the only season at which ripe spores occur ; 

 the compact little heads that are found on the 

 plants in winter (fig. 1.) have fully formed 

 spores snugly packed away until a warmer 

 season. 



If one will split some of these winter cones 

 from tip to base with a sharp knife (fig. 2) and 



1 



