222 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



NOTES AND ABSTEACTS. 



Abutilon Sinense. By S. Mottet {Rev. Hort. Oct. 1, 1909, 

 pp. 450-453 ; 1 illus. and col. plate). — Introduced from Eastern China. 

 It forms a shrub about 20 feet high. The flowers are large, well 

 expanded, and of a brilliant yellow with purplish-red veins radiating 

 from the centre to half-way up, forming a very attractive inflorescence. 

 Flowers in the spring. Eequires protection during the winter. 



C. T. D. 



Acanthorhiza aculeata, Aerial Roots of. By Bertha Chandler 



(Trans. Roy. Bot. Soc. Edin. vol. xxiv. part iv. pp. 20 to 24 ; 2 plates). 

 — A reinvestigation, revising Freidrich's paper of 1880, of the remark- 

 able aerial roots of this palm. The roots, after reaching a certain 

 length, shed their root cap and harden into thorn -like structures. 



E. A. Bel. 



Agrave, Key to the Genus. By Carl Mufler {Bot. Zeit. Ixvii. 

 1 Abt. Hefte v./vii. July 1909, pp. 93-139 ; with 22 figs, and 2 plates.— 

 The comparative anatomy of the leaf in all the species of Agave culti- 

 vated in Europe is described fully. There is a very full key to the 

 various species, from which it should' be possible to name any of 

 them from leaf characters only. Some of the characters used might 

 require a certain microscopical skill, as e.g. the following: 



" Breadth of epidermis cells, 0'0392 mm. Inner opening of stomata 

 rather small. A. multiflora. 



" Breadth of epidermis cells, 0*0196 mm. Inner opening of stomata 

 rather 1 arge. A . Goeppertiana. ' ' 



But most of them should not give any very great trouble. 



G. F. S.-E. 



Agfonis maPg^inata. By J. Hutchinson {Bot. Mag. tab. 8301). 

 l^B^t. ord. Myrtaceae; tribe Leptospermeae. Western Australia. Shrub 

 6-10 ft. high. Leaves obovate-oblong, ^-1^ in. long. Flowers 

 clustered, axillary, almost globose, 10-20 flowered. Corolla white. , 



G. H. 



Alfalfas, Wild, and Clovers of Siberia. By N. Hansen {U.S.A. I 

 Dep. Agr., Bur. PI. hid., Bull. 150, May 1909; map).— There is ap- ( 

 parently no native American alfalfa or lucerne {Medicago). The plant I 

 was originally introduced into South America, and later into California, | 

 by the Spaniards, and most of the varieties now in cultivation in the ! 

 United States owe their origin to species which were originally natives 

 of the temperate regions of Western Asia. It is one of the favourite 

 crops in the oases of North Africa, and it is probable that its original 

 habitat extended from the N.W. frontier of India to tlie shores of 



