NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



297 



NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



/Echmea lavandulacea. By C. H. Wright (Bot. Mag. tab. 8005). 

 Nat. ord. Bromeliacece, tribe Bromeliece ; West Indies. A stemless 

 perennial with rosulate leaves 18 in. long, 1| in. broad. Panicle dis- 

 tichous of many- flowered spikes. Scape, 14 in. long, rosy ; bracts rosy ; 

 bracteoles green, with white scurf ; margins lavender ; petals, deep 

 violet. — G. H. 



iEseulus parviflora Jacq. & Her. By A. Pucci (Bull. B. Soc. 

 Tosc. Ort. 8, p. 222 ; Aug. 1905). — The synonyms of this plant are : 

 Msculus macrostachya Pers. ; A. nana Desf. ; Pavia macrostachya 

 DC. ; P. alba Pers. ; P. edulis Poir. ; Macrothyrsus discolor Spach. 



x\ndre has stated that, according to the law of priority, it should bear 

 the name A. parviflora ; but the author prefers retaining A. macrostachya. 



It is a native of various regions in America, and more especially 

 California and Florida. It is more of a shrub than a tree, but under 

 special conditions may reach the height of 3 metres (10 ft.). It has a 

 luxuriant growth, and emits at its base a large number of suckers. The 

 bark is brown and full of lenticels, of an ash-grey on young branches ; the 

 digitate leaves have five, sometimes seven, obovate and elliptical leaflets ; 

 dark green above, yellowish-green and tomatose beneath, regularly and 

 finely dentate, with reddish stalklets, which are much swollen at the base. 

 The terminal inflorescences are 40 cm. ins.) long ; the flowers white, 

 with chocolate-brown stamens. The fruit only matures in warm, temperate 

 countries ; in colder climes it either aborts or does not reach proper 

 maturity. The rotund, glabrous fruits contain roundish, slightly depressed 

 seeds, which are rather small for the genus, and are good to eat. The 

 plant prefers a clayey-sandy soil, which must not be humid ; it will also 

 live in arid, calcareous soil, but the growth is weak under such conditions. 



It is propagated by layering and division ; the last mentioned is best, 

 as the layered shoots take too long to make roots. If seeds are available, 

 then that is the best method of multiplication ; they should be sown 

 immediately after gathering, or, if that is impossible, they may be kept 

 in good condition in sand until the following spring. — W. C. W. 



Agricultural Conference, Queensland, 1905 (Qu. Agr. Joum. 

 vol. xvi. part 1, August 1905). — This journal contains a full report of the 

 Agricultural Conference held at Cairns, at which several questions were 

 discussed relating to agriculture in Queensland, including fruit parasites, 

 animal and insect pests, notes on the fruit industry of North Queens- 

 land, the Queensland fruit industry, diseases in pineapples, &c, all of 

 which appear to be chiefly of interest to the colonists themselves. — 



M. C. C. 



Aieyrodes vaporariorum (White Fly). By L. O. Howard 

 (U.S. Dept. Agriculture, Bur. Ent., Circular No. 57). — This insect, 



