82 
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
which now and then exhibit fasciation. He says it is one of the 
most common oif plant malformations. ''Very generally the sur- 
face is striated by the prominence of the woody fibres which, run- 
ning parallel for a time, converge or diverge at the summit ac- 
cording to the shape of the branch. If the rate of growth be 
equal, or nearly so, on both sides, the stem retains its straight di- 
rection, but it more generally happens that the growth on one side 
is more rapid and more vigorous than on the other, and hence 
arise that curvature of the fasciated brand so commonly met with 
— as in Ash, wherein it has been likened to a shepherd's crook." 
Providence, R. I. 
THE MANDRAKE. 
By Bessie L. Putnam. 
*'A flower shaped like a rose, with petals of waxen white, and 
such funny leaves." This was the description given by a child of 
a new plant found in the edge of a cemetery adjoining an old oil 
town of Northwestern Pennsylvania. On being questioned re- 
garding the chances of its being an escaped plant, she was firm in 
her convictions that it was wild. We were then on a rocky hill- 
side some twO' miles from the spot where her treasure was lo^ 
cated, there to gather the mountain laurel, with which the sterile 
hills were covered. And as my own thoughts were concentrating 
on a plan to view her plant beauty she gave a scream of delight 
and triumphantly held up a mandrake leaf. 
It must be confessed that to one who had played with man- 
drakes in childhood this unexpected materialization of imaginary 
camelia-like blossoms brought a tinge of disappointment. But 
the child guide was happy in her treasure though it was only a 
leaf, and I, — well, I was glad to be saved the fatigue and ridicule 
that would have folowed the long walk for ''only mandrake blos- 
soms." 
And yet the plant is a most interesting one, her picture being, on 
the whole, not overdrawn. Her comparison was with a single 
rose! instead of a double one, and as for the waxen petals of 
