76 
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
Common Names and Genera. — It has often been 
pointed out that nearly all the common names of plants 
refer to the genus rather than to the species. Familiar 
instances are found in such words as violet, buttercup, 
rose, willow, clover and hawthorne. All this indicates 
that the common names of plants were given at a time 
when the genus and not the species was the unit of classi- 
fication. 
Marsh Plants in Dry Peaces, — Pro!. Isaac Bayley 
Balfour told the Botanical Society of America at a recent 
meeting that many supposedly marsh plants are really 
drouth plants, because, though rooted in water, the loca- 
tion is phj^siologically dry to them. Because of some sub- 
stance in the water, the roots are unable to take up the 
moisture that is all around them. It sounds paradoxi- 
cal," he said, "that a soaking peat soil is to plants in. 
respect to water like a desert sand, a salt strand, a tufa, a 
half frozen loam or a tree bark. Yet all are physiologi- 
cally dry to the plant." This explains why marsh plants 
can thrive in dry, sandy garden soil. They are able to get 
as much moisture there as in the swamps. 
Cleistogamous Flowers. — The editor of Nature 
NoteSy commenting on a note in our journal regarding 
cleistogamous flowers in the sundew, points out that 
while the term cleistogene commonly connotes a reduc- 
tion of parts a cleistogamous flower is not necessarilj^ a 
flower with reduced parts for cleistogene means simply 
"produced closed." Any flower that does not open, 
therefore, may be termed cleistogamous. A remarkable 
transition between showy and cleistogamous flowers 
may usually be noted in the Canada violet ( Viola Cana- 
densis) which early in the season produces showy flowers 
only, but as the weather becomes warmer the showy 
petals decrease in size until the flowers are scarcely notice- 
able. The plant continues blooming, however, and when 
the cool days of autumn come begins to produce petals 
again. It would seem that all the cleistogamous violet 
flowers have originated in this way. 
