THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
117 
yellow flowers have, when young, a palate of a deeper 
shade of yellow, this changing later to the deepest shade 
•of orange. It would be interesting to make a list of the 
flowers in Avhich the whole flower changes color, and 
another in which the spots and lines of the flower do so. 
The first list msij be started by the hound's-tongue which 
changes from dull red to purplish, and the bush honey- 
suckle {DierviUa tri£da) which changes from yellow to 
orange. Who can add others? 
Ferns for Orchids, — The Ames Botanical Labora- 
tory, North East on, Mass., has duplicates of some rare 
Florida ferns which are offered in exchange for orchids. 
Further particulars may be obtained by addressing the 
Laboratory stating what species can be furnished. 
Poisonous Honey from Poppies.— According to a 
writer in a bee-keepers' journal, bees that have free access 
to a large number of poppies may be destroyed by the 
narcotic principle of the plants. In one instance eight 
colonies were destroyed in this way. The question 
whether or not certain flowers secrete poisonous nectar 
has often come up for discussion without being certainly 
settled. The mountain laurel and various other heaths 
have been suspicioned. If the bass-wood, clover and buck- 
wheat can each add an unmistakable flavor to the nectar 
it produces, it seems possible for poisonous plants to add 
more or less of their noxious elements. 
PoLYPODiUM Fibre. — Growers of orchids often make 
use of a potting material made from the rootstocks of the 
bracken (Pteris) or the cinnamon ferns (Osmunda) and 
now according to an advertisement in The Gardening 
World an enterprising inhabitant of Germany is offering 
polypodium fibre made from the rootstocks of the common 
polypody {Polypodium vuJgare) for the same purpose. 
The bracken and cinnamon ferns often grow in such quan- 
tit^^ that the use of their rootstocks as potting material 
is scarcely likely to cause them to be exterminated, but if 
polypody fibre ever becomes the fashion in this country we 
may soon expect to place the common poWpody among 
the rarities. 
