108 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



turn, known to me heretofore only through pictures. I 

 must have given audible expression to my glee for a num- 

 ber of people crow^ded up to see what my prize might be 

 and then turned carelessly away wondering how I could 

 become so excited over a bunch of green leaves. 



I purchased the fronds and then attempted to find out 

 where I might see the fern growing, but all to no purpose. 

 The pretty young negress in charge evidently feared I 

 would uproot all her plants and thus she would be com- 

 pelled to engage in other business. And why should she 

 not? Are not the majority of people Vandals when it 

 comes to their treatment of the wild plants? It was a 

 disappointment but I had a fellow feeling for the girl. Do 

 I not carefully conceal from all but a very few trusted 

 friends the haunts of rare plants? Our motives in pro- 

 tecting the plants differ a little, I suspect, but we had a 

 common fear of the enemy. 



Forced to be content with the detatched fronds I has- 

 tened to press some under my trunk and send some to a 

 fern-loving friend. 



Can any resident of Washington or vicinity tell me 

 whether Lygodium palmatum grows near the city ? My 

 friend , the Cautious One, said she came from twenty miles 

 out, in ' 'Merry lund," which, considering the freshness of 

 the fronds, the delicate nature of the plant and the evident 

 lack of care which had been taken to preserve them, to 

 say the least, made me have my doubts, 



Tena£y^ New Jersey. 



ODD ODORS, 



BY O. W. BARRETT. 

 The flowers of the anacahuita {StercuHa carthaginen- 

 sis) have the rank smell of a menagerie tent or elephant 

 house ; they are believed to be a sure cure for colds. The 

 calabash tret {Crescent ia cujete) proclaims its propinquity 

 by a mephitic odor which is not only disgusting but quite 

 sickening ; it has been stated that this is due to the decay- 

 ing flowers which are nearly always present, but the fresh 



