36 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
Seeds and Light. — It is commonly supposed that 
seeds need light to g-erminate. This error is, no doubt, due 
to a confusion of the requirements of seeds and seedlings. 
Seedlings need light, of course, but we have only to re- 
flect that nearly all seeds germinate too deep in the earth to 
receive any light. We may say, then, that ordinarj^ seeds do 
not need light for germination; in fact, it is said that the 
seeds of larkspur and poppy will not germinate when ex- 
posed to the light, and the same has been proven true in the 
case of Acanthostachys strohilacea and Phacelia tamceti- 
folia. Notwithstanding this, the seeds of plants that do not 
naturally grow in soil may require the light. In Drosera 
cal>ensis, one of the sundews, and in the mistletoe ( Viscum 
album) light is said to be necessary' to germination. 
The Tubers of the Arrow-leaf. — Man has appar- 
ently made use of but a small part of the plants that are avail- 
able for food. Xearly all the species of arrow-leaf (Sagit- 
taria) produce tubers in the fall which in some cases reach 
the diameter of an inch or more. They are filled with 
starch, somewhat like the ordinary- potato, and designed to 
continue the life of the plant in spring. The Indians, who 
from necessity used many articles of food that we do not, 
knew and relished these Sagittaria tubers, and the Indians 
of the Northwest called them by a name which means swan 
potatoes. No doubt the size of the tubers could be easily in- 
creased by cultivation and there are at present many acres of 
wild, boggy land in which the wild plants grow almost to the 
exclusion of all else. All we need is a botanist with Bur- 
bankian tendencies to acquire a new food plant. 
The Mullein in the Rockies.— Since writing the 
note for the October number of the American Botanist I 
have found other data in regard to the distribution of mul- 
lein in Colorado. I find it is frequently found around Boul- 
der and other places not familiar to me. However, the 
