152  An  Exudation  from  Larix  Occident alis.  {AmMSc£?8h98.rm' 
In  Elliott's  Botany  (vol.  I,  p.  531)  we  learn  that  A.  Canadense,  has 
the  calyx  woolly,  deeply  3-parted,  segments  nearly  lanceolate, 
reflected." 
From  these  citations  we  might  be  inclined  to  think  that  the  A. 
Canadense  described  by  writers  of  medical  botany  has  been  really 
A.  reflexum.  According  to  Bicknell,  "  Rafinesque  really  knew  both 
of  our  plants,  but  made  the  mistake  of  renaming  true  Canadense, 
assuming  that  to  be  the  one  which  was  undescribed."  As  to  what 
plant  yields  the  "wild  ginger"  of  medicine,  whether  A.  Canadense, 
or  A.  reflexum,  and  as  to  whether  any  change  ought  to  be  made  in  our 
present  nomenlature,  further  investigations  are  necessary.  Accord- 
ing to  Britton  and  Brown  {Flora  of  Northern  United  States  and 
Canada),  A.  Canadense,  L.,  perhaps  includes  two  species. 
That  the  medical  and  pharmaceutical  professions  ought  to  be  slow 
to  adopt  new  names  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  scientific  system- 
atic botany  cannot  be  made  until  all  of  the  returns  are  in  from  the 
various  departments  of  botany,  including  inner  as  well  as  outer 
morphology,  biology  and  ecology.  Consequently  the  names  by 
which  we  have  recognized  plants  ought  to  be  held  as  the  safest 
means  of  carrying  on  the  work  of  the  two  professions,  so  that 
little  friction  and  misunderstanding  may  occur. 
AN  EXUDATION  FROM  LARIX  OCCIDENTALS. 
By  Henry  Trimble. 
Contribution  from  the  Chemical  Laboratory  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of 
Pharmacy.    No.  174. 
Resinous  exudations  from  conifers  are  very  common,  but  there 
are  a  few  instances  where  the  secretion  resembles  in  physical  proper- 
ties the  carbohydrates.  One  of  the  most  notable  of  these  is  that 
from  the  Pinus  Lambertiana  or  sugar  pine  of  California,  and 
known  as  picite.  Another  exudation  is  that  from  Larix  Europaea, 
and  known  as  Briancon  Manna.  Berthelot  determined  this  to  con- 
sist chiefly  of  a  sugar  which  he  termed  melezitose.  Recently  I 
received  from  Prof.  C.  S.  Sargent,  of  Harvard  University,  a  small 
specimen  of  a  sweetish  substance  collected  by  him  from  the  Larix 
occidentalis  on  the  upper  Columbia  river  in  British  Columbia.  He 
stated  that  it  is  used  to  some  extent  as  a  food  by  the  Indians.  It 
