THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
53 
;growth ot small trees among which the swamp spruce 
(Picea brevifolia) seems to predominate. Among the 
spruces arc a few individuals of the mountain holly 
{Nemopanthes fascicularis) and a great many bushes of 
the poison sumach {Rhus venenata). It is wxll to handle 
the latter literalh^ ''with gloves." 
In this bog I found for the first time the white moss 
(Leucobryum glaucum) is fruit and in the hollow made by 
the upturned roots of a fallen spruce I found the liverwort 
(Marchantia polymorpha) also abundantly in fruit. The 
trees are thickly covered with different species of lichens, 
among which Usnea barbata is conspicuous, and last 
autumn under the spruces I found the mushroom 
(Cantharellus infudibaliformis) a near relative of the 
Cantharellas illustrated in the December Botanist. 
Here I have only attempted to name some of the more 
conspicuous and characteristic plants of sphagnum bogs. 
If one disregard wet feet and mudd3' clothing, an hour 
spent in such a place is apt to prove a very interesting one, 
Shushan, New York. 
LUMINOUS PLANTS. 
There are many things in nature of which the average 
person is ignorant. Close observers, for instance, have 
noticed that our common tuberose lily {Polyanthes 
tuberosa) gives off sparks on a hot evening. We have 
noticed these sparkling from a bunch of tuberoses on a 
dark hot night, and they have seemed to us to partake of 
the nature of electric sparks. Of course, the light may 
have been phosphorescent, but it is not improbable that, 
under the influences of heat and electricity, combined with 
moisture, several tropical plants might exhibit a brilliant 
light. A writer in the Journal of Horticulture recalls an 
incident of some sixty years ago when there was exhibited 
before the Royal Asiatic Society, the roots of a singular 
plant, presumably a species of orchis, which grew amidst 
the jungle below the Madura Hills, in India. It was 
phosphorescent, and even if dried could be made to shine 
