348 JOURNAL OF THE EOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Seiadopitys verticillata. W. T. T.-D. (Bot. Mag. tab. 8050).— 

 Nat. ord. Con if em, tribe Taxvidece. Japan. An evergreen tree, 100 ft. 

 high, with needle-like cladodia in the axils of scales (leaves), in clusters 

 of twenty to thirty, 2-4 in. long. Male flowers ovoid, | in. long. Female 

 cone terminal. 3 in. long, H in. broad. 0 villiferous scale, j in. wide, 

 longer than and adnate to the bract, orbicular rhomboid, fleshy green below 

 with a brown margin. — G. H. 



Scilla messeniaca. By L. Farmer (Bot. Mag. tab. 8035). — Xat. ord. 

 Liliaeece. tribe Seilleee. Greece. Bulb ovoid, 1 in. in diameter. Raceme 

 10-20-flowered. Flowers pale blue, 3 lines long. — Gf. H. 



Seeds, Dispersal of, by Wind, On the. By H. N. Ridley (Ann. 

 Bot. vol. xix. July 1905, pp. 351-363). — Seeds or fruits adapted for 

 dispersal by wind may be put into three groups : (1) Winged fruits or 

 seeds (e.g. Bignoniace<.e, Dipterocarpaeete) ; (2) Plumed fruits or seeds 

 (e.g. Composites. Apocynaceai) ; (3) Towder-seed, fine and dust-like, as in 

 Ordiidece and Fern spores. 



The author gives an account of his observations in the Malay 

 Peninsula on wind dispersal. Shorca Icprosula may be taken as an 

 example of a winged-fruited plant with slow migration. A single speci- 

 men grows in the Singapore Botanic Garden about 100 feet high in an 

 open spot, and thus having exceptional advantages for dispersing its seeds. 

 One hundred yards from this specimen was the furthest limit that fruit 

 was found, though it was rare for the fruit to be carried further than 

 50 yards. Calculations made, allowing even for most favourable circum- 

 stances, showed that the species would only spread 300 yards in 100 years, 

 and would take 58,000 years to migrate 100 miles. 



Other observations are recorded, and the conclusions are as follows : 

 Of the three classes of fruit and seed modified for wind-dispersal, that of 

 winged seed and fruit is the slowest. The species migrate very slowly, 

 and are, usually at least, unable to cross any large tract of sea by this 

 means alone. Plumed seeds and fruits, though easily and probably 

 quickly disseminated over open country, for which they are most suited, 

 are liable to be stopped in their migrations by dense forests. They can, 

 at least occasionally, cross successfully large areas of sea. Powder-seed, 

 on the other hand, has the most rapid transit, probably, of any form of 

 seed, and is most widely diffused. — A. D. C. 



Seed Selection according to Specific Gravity. By V. A. Clark 



(New York Agr. Exp. Stn. Geneva, X.Y.. Bull. 256, October 1904).— It 

 has long been an axiom of practical gardening that heavier seeds (as 

 separated by salt solutions) produce better crops, and some experimenters 

 claim that specific gravity can be used as the distinguishing character 

 of the kind and quality of the seed. The conclusions of the first season's 

 work, however, tend to show that specific gravity, while a character of the 

 variety, is not a distinguishing character. Other interesting points have 

 suggested themselves during the research. A quite definite correlation 

 exists between the specific character of a seed and its germination. Seeds 

 of low specific gravity do not germinate at all. Seeds of the highest 

 specific gravity show the highest percentage of germination. There also 



