4 
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
Everywhere through the Sierra woods the common 
pteris or bracken fern is abundant, of which John Muir 
says : ''Those who know it only in the Eastern States, can 
form no fair conception of its stately beauty in the sunshine 
of the Sierra. On the level, sandy floors of Yosemite val- 
leys it often attains a height of six to eight feet in fields 
thirty or forty acres in extent, the magnificent fronds out- 
spread in a nearly horizontal position, forming a ceiling 
beneath which one may walk erect in delightful, mellow 
shade." Some Indian tribes are said to have used the root 
as an article of food, though I have not learned how they 
prepared it. The roots are, however, split for use in 
basketry, and in order to give a black color to such strands, 
the squaws are said to chew them for some time, which 
removes the greenish fibre of the root. In the fall its 
warm brown fronds are a prominent feature in the autum- 
nal coloring of the forest. 
Pasadena, Calif. 
HE murmering or whispering of leaves, so often re- 
A ferred to by writers, is not, of course, inherent to 
their structure. It is true that the ancient poets en- 
dowed certain plants with human attributes. Vergil, for 
instance, causes the root of mandrake to call aloud in the 
voice of Polydorus, buried beneath it. The vivid imagi- 
nation of the Greeks created dryads and hamadryads, living 
and dying with special trees. Take such beautiful myths 
as the story of Rhoecus, which Lowell, Arnold, and others 
have rendered into English verse; or the flight of Daphne 
from impassioned Apollo, till, to escape him she assumes 
the form of a laurel tree. These are creations of an ardent 
and exquisite fancy. 
THE LEAF ALERT OR DROWSY. 
BY DR. WM. WHITMAN BAILEY. 
