NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



351 



secreted by the fungus which creeps up the stern from the wound." The 

 only remedy that is at present known is to cut away the infected branches. 



G. S. S. 



Skimmia japonica. By S. A. Skan (Bot. Mag, tab. 8038).— Nat. 

 ord. Butacece, tribe Toddaliece. Japan. An evergreen shrub with alter- 

 nate coriaceous leaves. Flowers fragrant, small, polygamous or dioecious ; 

 fruit globose, red. — G. H. 



Sodium, when used in Nitrate of Soda, Concerning 5 the 



Function Of. By H. J. Wheeler, B. L. Hartwell, and G. E. Adams 

 (U.S.A. Exp. Stn. Bhodc L, Bep. 1903 ; pp. 237-267).— It has frequently 

 been observed that the application of common salt has a beneficial effect 

 upon certain crops, though no marked change is brought about in others. 

 Various authorities state that sodium is a necessary element at certain 

 stages in the growth of plants, while others deny the necessity for it in 

 toto. Quotations are given in the bulletin showing that the question as to 

 the role of sodium in plant nutrition has not yet received a thoroughly 

 satisfactory answer. The principal question discussed in the present 

 contribution is the "rnanurial action of sodium as an explanation of the 

 superiority of nitrate of soda over sulphate of ammonia." The results of 

 numerous pot experiments bearing upon this point are detailed, and the 

 conclusion arrived at is " that the differences in the yields produced by 

 nitrate of soda and sulphate of ammonia are not attributable, at least 

 more than to a limited extent, and then perhaps only with a few kinds of 

 plants, to a direct rnanurial action of the sodium, but often chiefly to the 

 difference in the chemical reaction of the soil which is brought about by 

 the two salts," and further that " the greater efficiency of nitrate of soda, 

 as compared with sulphate of ammonia, was not apparently by virtue of 

 the capacity of soda to act as a carrier of nitric acid to the plant." The 

 annual reports of this station for 1891-1899 contain additional results 

 bearing upon this question. — F. J. C. 



Stanhopea devoniensiS. By Dr. Kranzlin (Gard. Chron. No. 970, 

 p. 92, July 29, 1905). — This plant was figured more than sixty years ago 

 by J. Lindley in his " Sertum Orchidaceum," plate 1, and up to the 

 present time it has. been considered to be a genuine species. Lately, 

 Mr. P. Wolter, a German hybridist, has raised a plant by crossing 

 S. tigrina with S. ins ignis, which bears a flower "so exactly similar to 

 the typical S. dcvoniensls that the most hair-splitting description cannot 

 show any real difference." The question then arises whether S. devo- 

 niensis is not a natural hybrid. — G. S. S. 



Stimuli, The Reactions of the Fruit-bodies of Lentinus 

 lepideus to external. By A. H. R. Buller (Ann. Bot. vol. xix., July 

 1905, pp. 427-436 ; 3 plates). — Lentinus, a genus of the Agaricini, generally 

 grows on tree-trunks ; the material used in the investigation was obtained 

 from rotten paving-blocks taken from the streets. Before the develop- 

 ment of the pileus, the stipe is perfectly indifferent to geotropic stimuli. 

 In the absence of light it is rectipetal, and in its presence positively helio- 

 tropic. Whilst the pileus is developing, the stipe alters its reactions to 



