THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
67 
parallel to this comes from the Arctic circle where it is said a 
seed of the common sunflower was planted. All went well 
until the flower blossomed. At that season, due to the latitude, 
the sun does not set at all but circles around the horizon for 
the entire twenty-four hours of each day. The sunflower, 
true to her instincts continued to face the sun and soon twisted 
her head off. 
Varying Odor of the Fir. — Five years ago I spent the 
summer in the mountains botanizing. At the time I noticed that 
the firs (Abies concolor var Lowriana) at times gave out a pe- 
culiar strong odor. This summer I have been camping among 
the firs, and noticed that when there were indications of rain 
in the atmosphere the trees throw off this odor more than at 
any other time. I studied them closely for seven weeks. I 
noticed at times I could not detect it at all, while again the air 
was filled with it. I could not smell it as strong if I was close 
to the tree as when I was 15 or 20 feet from it, and it differed 
from the odor the trees have all the time. I would like to 
know if others have noticed this peculiarity and can explain it. 
[It is a peculiarity of the human constitution that most odors 
are more perceptible when the air is moist. Roses which in 
the damp air of the greenhouse have considerable fragrance, 
appear to have much less when transferred to the drier air of 
the living room. A great many night-blooming plants are 
fragrant, but this fragrance is more noticeable to us and pos- 
sibly to insects by reason of the damp air of evening. — Ed.] 
Dissemination of Osage Orange. — With most fruits 
and many seeds, it needs but a glance to discover the 
means by which they are dispersed. The wing on the maple 
fruit, the ash key, the bract on the basswood peduncle, the 
pappus on the thistle achene, the silky awn on the clematis, can 
mean nothing but wind distribution. In the same way the 
burdock and beggar ticks show that they were intended to be 
distributed by catching into the fleece of animals while the 
