Wanted.— Short notes of interest to the <reneral bot- 
anist are ahva\'S in demand for this department. Our 
readers are invited to make this the place of publication 
for their botanical items. 
ijamous flowers wdl produce the closed or cleistogamous 
ones. These latter are said to be due in many cases to 
poor soil, lack of certain mineral constituents or insuffici- 
ent light. The editor of this journal long ago pointed out 
that the Canada violet annuall_v goes through all the 
changes from showy flowers to cleistogamous ones and 
back again, in this case the changes being probably due to 
temperature. 
Largest Flowers ix the World.— The flowers of 
the rafflesia (R. Scbadenhergiana), expanding more than 
thirty inches, are easily the largest flowers in the world. 
If our measurements were mereh'from the tip of one j>etal 
to the tip of another, however, a South American orchid 
{CypripecUum caudatum) would lead, for the lateral 
petals, from which the plant gets its scientific name, grow 
to the enormous length of twenty- -eight inches, according 
to Kerner. The same author states that one of the 
tropical aristolochias, with whose relatives, the Dutch- 
man's pipe and Canada ginger, we are all familiar, often 
grows to be fifteen inches long and somewhat wider. 
Children use them for caps in play and are able to draw 
them down over their ears. The largest flower growing 
on a tree is said by Kerner to be a species of magnolia 
{M. Campbelli). The petals are bright red and spread 
nearly ten inches. Other large flowers are, the lotus, 
various water lilies, cacti, and the opium poppy, which 
reach diameters of from eight to fifteen inches. 
