74 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
The Impatient BLOODROOT.--At least seven months before it 
is ready to^ bloom, the flower bud of the blood-root {Sangiiinarea 
Canadensis) is formed. One may dig up the plant in early au- 
tumn and pulling apart the sheathing bracts, disclose within them 
the flower, half an inch o-r more in length, snugly wrapped in 
the single leaf. The blood-root is not unique in this characteris- 
tic, however, for the buds of nearly all the plants composing the 
early spring flora are formed in autumn ; but its flower bud is pro- 
bably the largest and most easily seen. 
Fruit of the Polygalaceae.— The milkwort family, to which 
our flowering wintergreen or fringed poly gala {Poly gala pauci- 
flora) belongs is seldom thought of as producing edible fruits. In 
fact according tO' Indian Gardening, the only eatable fruit of this 
order is that of Xanthophyllum ohsciirtun, a large, often huge, 
tree with deep shining green leaves and white flowers. The fruit 
is as large as a cricket ball or larger, with a thick rind enclosing 
several seeds wrapped in a sweet white pulp. 
The Largest Fruit in the WoRLD.—When we are ready to 
award the prize for the largest fruit borne by any plant it is pro- 
bable that the humble pumpkin vine will bear ofif the honors. If 
asked tO' instantly name the largest fruit, the pumpkin wortld 
scarcely come to mind, but more leisurely reflection points tO' this 
as the correct answer. One would naturally look tO' the Torrid 
Zone, the home of botanical wonders, for such a prodigy. In this 
connectio<n the question which is the largest seed? comes up. Is 
it the cocoanut ? Will some reader familiar with the botany of the 
world tell us ? 
Tea Drinking in Britain. —If they are looked at in a proper 
light statistics are by no means dull reading and may supply some 
most interesting facts and subjects for speculation. The returns 
of the imports into Great Britain of tea and coffee open up some 
very curious questions. The average Englishman drinks in the 
course of the year, six times as much tea as the average Ameri- 
can or Dutchman and very nearly lOO times as much as the aver- 
age Frenchman. On the other hand, the Englishman does not 
drink coffee and only gets throiig in a year about a twentieth part 
of that which the average Dutchman consumes. —Indian Garden- 
ing. 
