448 
The Ohio Naturalist. 
[Vol. XV, No. 4, 
11. Trifolium hybridum L. Alsike Clover. 
Perennial; erect or ascending; stem 3 ft. high; leaves 2-5 in. 
long, 3 in. wide; leaflets \% in. long, Y, in. wide, obovate, euneate 
at the base, serrate; flowers pinkish. Open woodlands and waste 
places. General. From Europe. 
12. Trifolium repens L. White Clover. 
Perennial; branching at the base; branches creeping, often 
rooting at the nodes; leaves 5 in. long, 1 in. wide; leaflets 1 in. 
long, k+ hi. wide, euneate at the base, denticulate, usually with a 
prominent white or reddish ornamental spot in the center; flowers 
white; pod about 4-seeded. General and abundant. Naturalized 
from Europe. 
Essentials or College Botany —This new textbook by 
Dr. C. E. Bessey and his son E. A. Bessey, published by Henry 
Holt and Company, shows a decided advance over the senior 
author’s “The Essentials of Botany” first published 35 years 
ago. In comparing the two books one cannot but be profoundly 
impressed with the - great change that botany has undergone in 
this short period of time. 
The book is well balanced in its presentation of the various 
fundamental subjects usually covered in the first course of college 
botany in America and should be found ideal for use in many 
colleges and normal schools. One of its highly desirable features 
is its modem presentation of plant classification, the authors 
having entirely discarded the antiquated systems still in general 
use. The phyletic arrangement given will certainly lead the 
student to a thoughtful study of plant relationships and the 
evolutionary processes which have brought about the system as 
one finds it in living plants. The reviewer can well remember 
some desperate straggles in attempting to harmonize the facts of 
morphology and evolution as an abstract principle with the 
classification which was in vogue when he first began the serious 
study of plants. The student who begins with the “Essentials” 
will experience no such difficulty and save time for a deeper study 
of the facts involved. 
It appears that just as Bessey’s original text presented a new 
phase in botanical study in America so will the present bock 
lead to a new and better method in the teaching of plant phylogeny 
and in the arrangement of plant groups and series in taxonomic 
work and systematic manuals. 
J. H. S. 
