290 JOUKNAL OF THE KOYAL HOKTIC ULTUEAL SOCIETY. 



NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



Aloe Ciliaris. By F. Morel (Bev. Hort., August 16, 1909, pp. 380- 

 381 ; coloured plate). — A very beautiful winter-flowering Aloe, bearing 

 trusses of brilliant deep orange red tubular flowers, as in Kniphofia, but 

 laxer. A rampant climbing Aloe of much beauty. — G. T. D. 



Amygdalus nana. By S. Mottet (Le Jard. xxiii. 527, p. 69 ; 

 March 5, 1909 ; 1 fig.). — A too-neglected type of flowering almond. A 

 distinct species from the South of Eussia, whence it was imported in 

 1783. A. nana is only 1 metre high. It has deep pink flowers, and is 

 very useful for cutting. Other species are alba, argentea, fruticosa, 

 Gesleriana, georgica (one of the most distinct), microcarpa, serrata, &c. 

 All these are quite hardy and are most useful as foreground shrubs, for 

 rock work, and in forcing for cut flowers. — F. A. W. 



Anthocyane. By B. Combes (Ann. Sc. Nat. vol. ix. Nos. 4-5, 

 pp. 274-303). — Anthocyane, the pigment present in the autumnal tinted 

 leaves of Ampelopsis hederacea, Bosa canina, Berberis Aquifolium, &c, 

 is a glucoside. The red leaves are richer in sugars and glucosides, but 

 poorer in dextrine than the green leaves of the same plant. The pigment 

 is only formed in the presence of oxygen. The rate of respiration of 

 plants is increased by the presence of sugar, hence the accumulation of 

 sugar in the leaves favours the formation of the pigment. — S. E. W. 



Aphides, Orchard. By C. P. Gillette (Jour. Econ.Fmtom. i. (1908) 

 5. p. 302 ; and 6. p. 359). — Technical descriptions of aphides attacking 

 orchard trees are given together with figures. The insects dealt with are 

 the green apple aphis (Aphis pomi de Geev=A. mail Buckton) ; the 

 woolly apple aphis (Schizoneura lanigera Hausm) : the black peach aphis 

 (Aphis persicae-niger Smith) ; the green peach aphis (Myzus persicae 

 Sulz.) a great pest with a very wide range of food plants ; the black cherry 

 (Myzus cerasi Fab.) ; and Aphis baheri Co wen, which has its winter eggs 

 and spring forms on the apple and pear and later migrates to the clover. 



F. J. C. 



Apple Blotch. By W. M. Scott and J. B. Borer (U.S. A. Dep. Agr., 

 Bur. PI. Lid,, Bull. 144 ; March 1909 ; 6 plates).— A widely distributed 

 disease of apple, called blotch, does great damage in the Southern States, 

 often rendering 50 per cent, of the fruit unfit for marketing. It is due 

 to the fungus Phyllosticta solitaria. The fruits, leaves and twigs are 

 all attacked, and the attack upon the twigs, which are caused to become 

 cankered, plays an important part in the life cycle of the fungus. The 

 blotch on the fruit is very small, inconspicuous and light brown at first, 

 but it spreads rapidly, increases in size up to | in. in diameter, and 

 becomes darker in colour. The margin of the blotch is irregular and 

 jagged and has a fringed appearance. When young apples are attacked, 



