THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
toria. In bastard toadflax (Comandra) the roots produce globu- 
lar haustoria which emit a process that penetrates the tissues of 
the host. It seems that degradation affects the veg-etative much 
more quickly than the reproductive organs of plants; a fact of 
which the orchid family perhaps offers the best illustration. The 
coral-roots constitute a case in point. — From an article by F. IV. 
Bach elder in Na ture Study. 
THE PERSIMMON. 
Our old lane will probably yield us a persimmon tree or two, 
and it is pleasant to look up into the thinning leaves and see cling- 
ing to the limbs the round, fat persimmons, like rosy little pud- 
dings tied about the throat. There has hardly been frost enough 
yet to soften their asperities — at least, in the neighborhood of 
Philadelphia — and we shall do well to treat very gingerly the 
fruit we may now find upon the ground. Something of the old 
malicious spirit lingers in persimmons which was in that strange 
fruit, sardo, that grew anciently in Sardinia and so contorted the 
faces of those who ate it as to give them a look of unreal laughter 
and so to human speech the adjective sardonic. 
Nevertheless, few wild fruits are so dear to the American 
heart as this, which with many of us is associated with whole- 
some country outings and good times, and has a special place in 
popular song and story. It may not be generally known that 
ebony is the wood of certain species of persimmon trees that grow 
in tropical regions. Our North American variety, while present- 
ing in its heart-wood — which is dark and close-grained — some 
characteristic of the ebony of commerce, does not develop a 
timber of much value. — C. F. Saunders in Philadelphia Record. 
NOTE AND COMMENT. 
\\\\NTED. — Short notes of interest to the general botanist 
are always in demand for this department. Our readers are in- 
vited to make this the place of publication for their botanical 
items. 
