THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



99 



Birch Sap. — Apropos of the interesting note on the 

 sap of Betula Lenta in the March number, I would Hke to 

 add that there is rather more than a "suggestion" of 

 sugar in it ; for, when boiled down it requires only a few 

 quarts of the fresh sap to make a generous dish of a highly 

 flavored, reddish, waxj'- sugar„ As a boy on the old Ver- 

 mont farm I UvSed to delight to drink the clear, cool, aro- 

 matic sap of an old black birch w^hich stood among the 

 maples and w^as tapped in the ordinary manner,— partly 

 for fun and partly for the delicious and healthful (?) bever- 

 age it afforded. The sap of Betula lutea has a rather fiat 

 taste, and that of B. papyracea has a slight amdity. — O. 

 W. Barrett, Mayaguez, Porto Rico. 



Showers of Sulphur. — From various points in the 

 south have recently come reports of sulphur showers which 

 inthepopular opinion were occasioned by volcanic disturb- 

 ances in some out-of-the-way part of the world. Investiga- 

 tion soon showed, however, that the "sulphur" originated 

 much nearer home, being, in fact, nothing else than the 

 pollen from the pines. The pines, as most plant students 

 know, bear their pistillate flowers in the cones, with which 

 we are familiar, but the staminate flowers are in little cat- 

 kins on other parts of the tree. The trees are wind pollen- 

 ated and to insure that some pollen will reach the pistils 

 this is borne in great quantity- and at the time of bloom- 

 ing sowed on every passing breeze, hence the showers. 



Arab Tea. — If Arabia is mentally associated with any 

 drink, it is likely to be with coffee, but it appears that the 

 Arabs have a tea that is much more characteristic of the 

 country. This tea is made from the leaves of a plant 

 called qat (Catha edulis) and according to Indian Plant- 

 ing and Gardening \s much used in Arabia and Abyssinia. 

 Unlike tea, coffee and kola the plant does not contain caf- 

 feine. Its stimulating qualities are due to an alkaloid 

 named cathine. Recent investigations have shown this to 

 be a valuable drug-plant. It has a powerful stimulating 

 action on the nervous sj-stem, banishes sleep, restores the 

 physical forces and sustains muscular activity. The 



