ABSTRACTS. 



293 



formation of callus, and that its share in the production of intumescences 

 is minimal. — M. H. 



Celastraceae, Review of the hitherto known Chinese Species. 



By Th. Loesener (Engl. Bot. Jahrb. xxx. pp. 446-474; 31/1/1902).— A 

 critical revision of the Chinese species, which number sixty-seven, and are 

 included in six genera, of which Euonymus contains forty-six and Celastrus 

 fourteen species. 



The author describes a number of new species and varieties, the 

 majority of which were collected by Dr. Henry in Southern China. 



A. B. B. 



Centaurea nigra and C. Jacea. By H. and J. Groves (Joum. Bot. 



472, p. 159; 4/1902). — A contention that these two British species, 

 though separable by their phyllaries, are not so by the presence or absence 

 of pappus. — G. S. B. 



Chama^dorea, Hybrid. By Wilhelm Haberman (Gartenflora, 

 p. 70; fig. 9 ; 1/2 /1902). — C. Arembergiana, H. Wendl., ?, was crossed 

 with G. concolor, Mart., $ . The hybrid had the luxuriant growth and 

 folded leaves of the mother with the hardiness of the father. 



The seeds germinate after lying six months in the soil. Complaint 

 is often made that the imported seeds of species of Chamcedorea do not 

 germinate. This difficulty is apparently not due to age, for the author 

 kept seeds in sawdust for eighteen months and found them capable of 

 germination at the end of that time. It may be due to the absence of an 

 embryo in the seeds, where male and female plants do not grow in the 

 same neighbourhood. — J". P. 



Charts of the Geographical Distribution of certain Trees. 



By A. Engler, F. Pax, and P. Graebner (Not.-Konig. Bot. Berlin, vol. iii. 

 No. 28, p. 181 ; 1902). — An interesting series of five maps showing the 

 distribution in space of the Yew, Araucaria, Pinus, of P. Cembra and 

 P. pumila, and of the distribution of recent and fossil Taxodium. 



H. M. W. 



Cherry: Leaf Disease in the Cherry Orchards of Kent. 



William Carruthers (Jour. B.A.S. vol. lxii. pp. 241-246 ; figs. 1-6 ; 1901). 

 " A leaf disease of Cherries was reported in December 1900 from 

 several orchards in the county of Kent. In the early summer it affects 

 the leaves and fruit simultaneously, rendering the latter unfit for market. 

 In autumn and winter its presence is easily detected. The diseased 

 leaves remain attached to the branches, as if the tree had been killed in 

 full vigour of growth, just as the withered leaves remain on a branch 

 that has been severed from its stem. 



" The fall of the foliage in autumn is a normal process carried out by 

 the living leaf, which forms at the point of its attachment to the branch 

 a cicatrice that secures when completed the easy severance of the leaf 

 from the branch, leaving a clear scar. The speedy and fatal injury to 

 the leaf caused by the fungus prevents the formation of the cicatrice, and 

 the leaf remains attached to the tree. 



