xxvi PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ing on Pine wood in a cellar. It is snow-white, much branching, with 

 pointed ends. Dr. M. C. Cooke reports that it is the very rare species 

 C. Kromhholzi. 



Scientific Committee, January 29, 1901. 

 Dr. M. T. Masters, F.R.S., in the Chair, and three members present. 



Bryonia dioica Boot. — Mr. W. G. Smith sent an enormous root of the 

 common Bryony. He says that the weight, after being kept for two 

 months in a dry room, was just over 21 lbs., and had not the ends of the 

 thick branching roots been broken off, it would have been at least 5 lbs. 

 heavier. The length even in its broken condition was 2 feet ; the cir- 

 cumference at the middle 22| inches. It was dug out of brick-earth at 

 Caddington Hill, near Dunstable. It appears to much exceed the average 

 size, for Dr. R. Hogg writes in his " Vegetable Kingdom " : — " The roots are 

 of an immense size, sometimes a foot or 2 feet long, and as thick as a 

 man's arm." It is occasionally offered for sale as the " Mandrake," but 

 the latter is not a British plant. The root abounds in starch, which could 

 be extracted by grating it to a pulp and straining with cold water ; but 

 the juice is decidedly poisonous, as are also the berries of the Bryony. 



Abies lasiocarpa var. arizonica. — Foliage and bark of this new variety 

 were sent by Herr H. Henkel, from Darmstadt. Though the species 

 ranges from Oregon to New Mexico, this variety only occurs on the moun- 

 tains of Arizona. The bark is remarkable in being of a creamy colour, 

 and corky in nature. The foliage is bright glaucous green above, but 

 white below, probably due to its mountain habitat. Herr Henkel observes 

 that he has succeeded in importing and establishing this tree, which he 

 names yl6zes arizonica (Merriam) vnr. argentca. The plants were collected 

 at an altitude of from 7,250 to 10,000 feet, the temperature being as low 

 as —25° to —30° (C), or —13° to -22° (F.). Writing of it in the 

 Gardeners' ChronicUy Dr. Masters, F.R.S., says : — The bark is of a thick 

 corky texture and of a creamy- white colour. The linear, oblong, notched 

 leaves are silvery-white on both surfaces ; stomata occur also on both 

 faces of the leaves. The resin canals are placed in the centre of the leaf- 

 tissue (parenchymatous). I have not seen the cones, but from the descrip- 

 tion they must be like those of Abies lasiocarpa* Nuttall, to which some 

 years since I referred the A. siibalpina of Engelmann and the A. bifolia 

 of Murray.t 



I have not seen Dr. Merriam's original description, but I may cite 

 what is said in the Botanical Gazette (Chicago), November, 1896 : — 

 " Dr. C. Hart Merriam has described (Proc. Biol. Soc, Washington, 10, 

 115-118, 1896) a new Abies from Arizona. It is from the San Francisco 

 mountain region, and is remarkable for the colour and character of its 

 bark, being one of the most conspicuous trees on the mountain between 



* Abies lasioco.r;pa,^nii&\\, var. arizonica, Jjemmon = A. arizonica,^ See 

 Botanical Gazette (Chicago), November, 1896; Gardeners'' Chronicle, January 11, 

 1897, p. 35 ; Sargent, Silva, xii. p. 113 (1898) ; Ahies arizonica, Merriam, var. 

 argentea, Hort. Henkel. 



t Gardeners' Chronicle, 1889, p. 172 ; and Jotirnal of Botany, xxvii. 129. 



