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JOURNAL OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN VOL. 46 No. 543 MARCH 1 9 4 5 PAGES 49- 72 JOURNAL OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN CAROL H. WOODWARD, Editor MEMORIALS THAT LIVE WHEN the present war is over we may expect, as after every conflict, a mass movement for the erection of monuments. The men and women who have served their country must be honored for their heroic deeds and sacrifices. As we look back on the monuments bequeathed to this generation from earlier wars, we are faced with the realization that, though well intended, they are often monstrous things, scarcely a credit to the taste or intelligence of the donors. A memorial should be a thing of permanent beauty. At the close of the last world war a few inspired individuals strove for this ideal by having trees planted as memorials to the men who had given their lives, and these today, where they have been given proper care, have grown into magnificent avenues or parks. But there are not enough of them, and there are far too many guns and cannon- balls and crudely fashioned figures of inanimate metal or stone. Type of memorials that can become a source— as they are the result— of inspiration and a means for pleasanter living are suggested in the poem by Millicent Easter published on this page last month. In the few words: " For all the Flyers . . . glorious trees!" there lies the germ of any number of memorial projects, which might with equal suitability be carried out with dogwoods or with oaks, with lilacs or roses or evergreens, or with flowers such as chrysanthemums or annuals planted and cared for in a public place. A memorial created with living plants can serve as a model for the community, to show the effect of well planted trees and shrubs and flowers, while at the same time it helps to keep perpetually alive the brave, youthful spirits of our men and women who have served and sacrificed. For years extending far into the future, a living memorial can enhance community or countryside and exalt the spirit of the people. However, it will give such long- lasting pleasure only if kept at its best from year to year. No garden flowers can be expected to perpetuate themselves without a skilled hand to care for them, and few trees can be expected to thrive without attention to their yearly needs. Those groups of citizens who are planning war memorials will need to think in positive terms about the future. If they are givingi consideration to a " monument" of living plants, which is the ideal memorial, they must provide for the permanent upkeep of those plants, either by a special endowment or by arrangements with reliable authorities. TABLE OF CONTENTS March 1945 FLORAL RED CROSS OF AZALEA " LAMBERTUS C. BOBBINK" Cover photograph by Elmer N. Mitchell A NOTE ON THE VEGETATION OF THE MEDITERRANEAN LITTORAL Rupert C. Barneby 49 AIR PLANTS AND THEIR PROBLEMS OF SURVIVAL E. E. Naylor 55 SPRING PROGRAMS AT THE GARDEN 66 BROADCAST W. D. Turner 67 NOTICES AND REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS 68 NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT 72 The Journal is published monthly by The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx Park, New York 58, N. Y. Printed in U. S. A. Entered at the Post Office in New York, N. Y.. as second- class matter. Annual subscription $ 1.00. Single copies IS cents. Free to members of the Garden. JOURNAL of THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN VOL. 46 MARCH 1945 No. 543 QA zNote on the Vegetation of the { Mediterranean J^ ittoral By Rupert C. Barneby THE casual visitor to the Mediterranean, whatever his means of travel, is apt to return home with the impression that the entire basin, whose shores are lapped by the sparkling and seemingly tideless waters of the Inland Sea, delights the year round in sunshine and the perfect resort climate. This is a fallacy propagated by travel agencies and holiday literature, and is as much a fiction as the old story that it never rains in Miami or Hollywood. The native, and also the traveler who visits the Mediterranean out of season, has a different story to tell. He will have experienced the searching and bitter blast of the BORA ( the Boreas of the ancients), and the noxious vapors of the SIROCCO, the duststorms of Algeria and the violence of the MISTSAL, the searing desert heat of southeastern Spain and the chill winters of Athens. He will know that between the Pillars of Hercules and the shores of Palestine, a distance of some 2,000 miles, there lies a diversified and broken region, embracing such contrasts as the fertile VEGAS of Andalusia, the harsh, snowcapped peaks of the Appenines and Asia Minor, the deserts of Murcia, where three years may pass without a single shower, and the precipitous Adriatic coast where the rainfall may exceed in a year that of watery London. This is the first of a series of articles to appear in this lournal covering the Saturday lectures given during the winter of 1945 at the New' York Botanical Garden on the plants of the regions where our men and women are serving. Another will deal ivith the plant life of Alaska, " From the Alaska Highway to the Aleutians." This will be done by Hugh M. Roup of the Arnold Arboretum, who spoke at the Garden February 10. A scries of three descriptive articles by Otto Degener will cover briefly some of the most common plants that are found in the tropics around the world. 49 50 But in spile of diversity in detail there is also a broad uniformity. The Mediterranean climate, a term which has come to be applied to equable climates throughout the world, does exist; for the moderating influence of the sea provides insurance against those extremes of temperature experienced on the great continental land- masses of the temperate zones. The general maritime influence is felt everywhere, even though accidents of terrain and exposure may vastly modify the normal balance. Since climate is everywhere the chief factor determining the character and density of vegetation, so in the Mediterranean basin the plant cover presents a broadly uniform aspect, modified here and there by physiographic accident. In this short note it will be impossible to examine the exceptional and the extreme, and only a brief sketch of the prevailing vegetation can be attempted. In general, the vegetation of the Mediterranean is that of a dry region. Even where abundant rainfall occurs in the fall and winter months, the summers are hot and dry, and the few native deciduous trees are found only along watercourses, in irrigated land, or in sheltered valleys. Arboreal vegetation of any importance is entirely composed of Coniferae— pine, cypress and juniper— and of evergreen oaks. In the days when the Phoenicians were opening trade- routes into the west, the bays and promontories which they skirted, even those along the now bare shores of Africa, were clothed in green forests of Aleppo pine and ilex. But these exist today only as remnants, in remote, sparsely settled regions or on private estates from which the wood- cutter and the goat, that omnipresent and omnivorous scourge of the Mediterranean, have been excluded. Sod-forming grasses are rare or non- existent, true meadows occurring only under irrigation or occasionally on saline flats along the immediate coast. But perennial bunch- grasses, such as Andropogon species, with harsh dry culms and of little nutrient value, as well as innumerable annual species, mostly of extremely ephemeral duration, are everywhere apparent; while Anmdo Dona. r, a tall, bamboo- like grass, the stems and leaves of which are utilized as fishing- rods and for thatching the cabins of fishermen, is characteristic of ditches near the coast. Plant Inhabitants of the Maquis Except for the relatively restricted areas of desert, the dominant natural vegetation of the Mediterranean littoral is MAQUIS. This term, originally applied to the especially abundant and luxuriant type of shrubbery which is found on the island of Corsica, has been extended to cover the similar association wherever it occurs, though the different peoples have their own local names, such as MACCHIE in Italy or THRYGANA ( a slightly different thing) in Greece. It may be compared with, and very closely corresponds to, the CHAPARRAL of our southwestern states. In essence it is an association of evergreen shrubs marked by the small, inrolled, varnished or densely 51 pubescent leaves, the thick, dry bark, and the tough, sometimes spinescent twigs of the xerophyte. The component species of the maquis, its density and average height, largely depend on the exposure and the composition of the soil, and vary also in the different provinces of the Mediterranean. But maquis in some form is always present, either as a pseudoclim'ax between the primeval woodland and the cultures, or as a true climax on soils unsuitable for pines or ilex. Among characteristic species belonging to the maquis may be noted the numerous kinds of rock- rose, Cistus, with their handsome white or pink roselike flowers; the dwarfer rock- roses ( Helianthcmum), which are also known as sun- roses; Rhus Cotinus, similar to our native smoketrees; the mastic tree, Pistacia Lentiscus; the various shrubs of Phillyrca; scrub- oak ( Quercus Ccrris) ; myrtle, jasmine, bay ( Laurus nobilis); the wild olive, probably introduced by man, at least in the west; the magnificent heathers ( Erica); the strawberry- trees ( Arbutus Lhicilo and Andrachnc) ; species of sagebrush ( Artemisia) ; rosemary, lavender, and the kitchen sage. In the western basin the brooms and gorses ( Ulcx, Cytisus and Spartium) are especially highly developed, and in spring clothe the hillsides in brilliant gold. Over large areas of the Balkan Peninsula, in very impoverished soil, the maquis is reduced to a low scrub, a foot high or so, composed largely of thyme and other suf-fruticose mints'. Many of the maquis shrubs, which form impenetrable thickets or, perhaps more often, are spaced out and intermingled with herbaceous plants or a scattering of live- oaks or pines, are glandular and resinous, and the scent arising from them after rain embalms the air, and when the wind is favorable can be smelt many miles out at sea. To this zone of vegetation belongs the palmetto ( Chamaerops humilis), a dwarf palm with scarcely any trunk and a tuft of fan- shaped leaves, most characteristic of rocky pastures near the coast. In clearings or intervals in the maquis there luxuriates a varied herbaceous flora, sometimes of great brilliance. Already in late winter the first bulbous plants— asphodels, grape- hyacinths, squills, crocus, jonquils and the delicate tazzetta narcissi are in bloom, while the buttercups and the scarlet or multi- colored anemones, the cyclamens, and the charlocks with their countless relatives of the Cabbage family, begin to decorate the hillsides and valley- floors. In spring and early summer these are joined and replaced by the leguminous weeds— vetches, trefoils, medicks and rest-harrows ( Ononis) ; by the terresrrial orchids, by the parsleys ( Umbel-liferae) which have supplied our table with many a succulent vegetable and flavor— fennel and coriander, dill, cumin, carrot, parsnip and opopanax; by the humble but already gaudy ancestors of our garden flowers, the carnation ( Dianthus) ; also larkspur, stock, and snapdragon; and by Compositae in many species and genera. But by July the flowers have retreated to the mountains, and little is left on the lower slopes but a few thistles and robust mulleins ( Verbascum). their leaves coated in white dust. 52 Flora of the Sands and Rocks Along the immediate shore of the Mediterranean, particularly where the land rises at a gentle incline from the sea, there often lie extensive sand-dunes with a specialized vegetation of their own. Here are found thickets of the white broom ( Rctama monospcrma), planted as an ornamental in California, and here and there occur open parklike groves of arborescent junipers. In their shade, as well as in the open sand, partly stabilized perhaps by the running roots of a maritime grass, one comes upon colonies of the little annual Crucifer, Alaithiola maritima, which under cultivation has become the " Virginia Stock"; and one also sees the white- felted bushes of a rayless daisy ( Diolis candidissima), the sea eryngo ( Eryngium maritimum), and the stately amaryllidaceous bulb, Pancratium maritunum, with its umbels of white daffodil- like flowers. Back of the beach itself the dune- flora merges insensibly with the maquis, or, where low- lying land permits water to collect and form a partially saline lagoon, into an estuarine vegetation dominated by fleshy- leaved Salicornia and a bewildering miscellany of sea- lavenders (' Litnonium). The Aiediterranean littoral is to a very large extent built of sedimentary rocks, the commonest being a hard white limestone which weathers into bold bluffs and terraces, into box- canyons, cliffs and GARRIGUES, which lend the landscape a character of its own. and at the same time afford foothold to many plants which without cultivation will grow nowhere but in the crevices of virgin rock. It is to the cliffs that one must turn to find the many species of Campanula, such as the favorite old pot- plant C. pyra-midalis, the sweet sultans ( Ccntaurca. of the same genus as the annual cornflower) with their handsome dissected leaves, the scabiosas, and the rock cabbages, probable ancestors of all our domestic cabbages, cauliflowers and broccoli. Almost every family of seed- plants at all highly developed in the Mediterranean region has at least one member found only on calcareous cliffs, where, protected from browsing animals, it lives isolated and secure, becoming, like all hermits, vastly modified in the process. The Mediterranean People and Their Crops But this is the natural vegetation, the covering of wild and waste places, and a quite small fraction of the whole. The Mediterranean basin supports a dense and ancient human population which for uncounted centuries has been busy changing, by culture and depredation, the natural face of the earth. To gain an approximate idea of the primitive state of a Mediterranean shore, it is necessary to travel to some remote cape on Sardinia, Crete or the Peloponnesus, and even here the charcoal- burner and the goatherd have gone before. To an enormous extent the vegetation and landscape have been shaped and determined by the hand of man. The peoples of the Mediterranean are frugal; they have to be, because of the relative poverty of the natural resources. The areas which would 53 appear suitable for cultivation to an American farmer are small, few and far apart. They are confined, in fact, to valleys where a river or stream debouching from the mountains in the interior has carried down a sediment of silt and soil and at the same time provides water for irrigation. The Sahel of Algeria, the valleys of the Guadalquivir, the Rhone and the Nile ( though this is in reality a long oasis cut through pure desert) and of the lesser streams, often mere torrent beds in summer, along the Italian and Balkan coasts, offer these conditions and are intensively cultivated with alfalfa, cereals, oranges, or vegetables similar to those grown in the subtropical regions of the United States. Outside these favored and fertile spots the earth is dry and stony, the water supply meager and uncertain, and agriculture is an arduous profession. Centuries of deforestation and consequent erosion have denuded the hills of their natural flesh and everywhere the bare bones of the earth show through. The problem of growing anything on these barren slopes has been solved by terrace cultivation, a process which more than anything else has moulded the landscape of the Mediterranean region. Throughout the littoral, and far inland, stone walls, following the contours of the hills, have been built up in tiers along the hillsides, providing flat terraces which catch and retain both soil and moisture and provide level ground for cultivation. Each loose rock turned up by the plow or mattock is laid aside and incorporated in the walls, and as these grow higher the pocket of earth behind grows deeper. Here it is possible to raise cereals and stone fruits such as the peach, apricot, and almond; or, where water can be led by ACEQUIA along the hillside, citrus and herbaceous vegetable will flourish. In the south of France acres of terraced land are planted with roses, violets and lavender, from which are distilled the essences used in perfumery. But by far the greater area is devoted to those two staple crops, on which depends the entire agricultural economy of the Mediterranean— the olive and the vine. Indeed, so ubiquitous are the olive groves and vineyards that one might truly claim that they form, even though artificially maintained and ever prone to slip back into wasteland and eventually maquis, the commonest and most characteristic type of vegetation in the Mediterranean basin. Weeds that Floiver Among the Crops Associated with the cultures and existing side by side or intermingled with the crops, there exists an extensive weed- flora. Many of the component species are natives which find in the annually disturbed soil and in the absence of shrubbery, which would normally limit and control their numbers, an ideal environment. Some are annuals appearing in early spring and ripening with the cereals, while others have tough roots or bulbs, tenacious of life and impossible to eradicate. Among these are the annual species of Veronica, toadflax ( Linaria) of many sorts, poppies, 54 mallows ( Malva and Lavatera), garlics ( Allium), vetches ( Vicia, Lathyrus and Ervum), and borages ( Anchusa and Borago). All luxuriate on cultivated ground, in the light shade of the olives or among the budding vines, and occur in such quantity as to impart color and verdure to the landscape. A few are immigrants, such as the yellow sorrel ( Oxalis cernua) from South Africa, which has found an equally agreeable home in the citrus groves of California, and is there similarly spectacular and pernicious. Two of the very few weeds originating in the New World are the century- plant ( Agave americana) and the prickly- pear ( Opuntia Ficus- indica), planted in the first place for ornament or in the form of hedges, but now firmly established and abundant along roadsides and in fallow fields. On the whole, however, the Mediterranean has given to America, in vegetation as in other ways, far more than it has received. There is no parallel to the invasion of western North America by the filaree ( Erodium cicutarium), an annual weed only moderately abundant around the Mediterranean but today, in point of number of individuals, California's commonest single species of seed- plant. This short glance at the vegetation of the Mediterraneous littoral would be far from complete without some reference to the desert regions, tracts of coast where one looks in vain for the characteristic interplay of maquis, ilex groves and vineyards. In southwestern Spain and along the African coast from Tunisia, where an arm of the Sahara reaches up to the sea, through northern Egypt to Palestine, the rainfall, by physiographic accident, is far lower than elsewhere, a fact inevitably reflected in the vegetation. Native trees, except for an occasional tamarisk, which here plays the role of the juniper, become very rare or are wholly absent, and sal-solaceous shrubs with small fleshy leaves become abundant. In the Spanish province of Valencia the date palm is cultivated as successfully as in the Saharan oases, while certain shrubs and herbs, otherwise confined to the deserts south of the Atlas Mountains, have isolated stations. It is significant that two Stapeliads ( Stapelia and Caralluma species), belonging to a family of succulents which simulate the Cactaceae of the New World, are found on the desert shores of Spain. But these regions, although lying within1 the Mediterranean basin in a geographic sense, have comparatively little kinship with the Mediterranean floral province, strictly defined, and are largely extraneous to the subject of the present notes. So also are the mountains which encircle the Inland Sea or which rise as islands out of the lowlands of the basin and which, cooler and wetter than the coastal region, support every type of vegetation, from the chestnut forests of Corsica through the arid, elevated steppes of Castile and the Atlas, to the lush meadows of the Alpes Maritimes, the volcanic screes of Mount Etna and the alpine peaks of the Bithynian Olympus. These and many others, which include some of the marvels and delights of the Mediterranean, must await consideration elsewhere. 55 cAir ^ Plants and Their ^ Problems of Survival How Specialized Roots and Leaves Help Them Live Above the Ground By E. E. Naylor EXPLORATIONS into tropical regions abound with tales concerning the finding of rare and beautiful orchids growing high on the branches of jungle trees. Many members of the Orchidaceae, Bromeliaceae, Araceae, and nearly a dozen other families of plants 1 may be found in such lofty places, and for this reason are oftentimes called " air plants." Because they live upon other plants does not mean that they are parasitic. On the contrary, these are green plants that are capable of manufacturing their own food just the same as green plants that live on the ground. These are true epiphytes, 2 growing upon other plants without any structural connection, hence they have no means of exchange of water or foods, such as parasites have. The requirements for the continued growth of epiphytes do not differ in any marked way from those of plants that have their roots in the earth. When they are supplied with water, carbon dioxide from the air, the essential mineral elements, and sunlight, they make their own foods and build up their own bodies. The chief problem is for these plants to obtain the necessary materials in the peculiar places they inhabit. " Air plants" obtain their materials for growth essentially from the atmosphere, and because of this fact, many interesting and important questions arise. For instance, how do they secure the water which makes up some 80 to 90 percent of their total green weight ? And what is the source of the iron, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, and other mineral elements vital to the construction of their bodies? Spanish- moss, Tillandsia ( or Dendropogon) usneoides, is perhaps one of the best examples to illustrate this epiphytic condition. In our southern states it thrives upon the live oaks and upon certain cypress trees, hanging in long twisted strands and forming a conspicuous part of the vegetation. In fact, many people think that the presence of the Spanish- moss gives the common name to the live oak, but the name comes instead from the fact that the leaves of Quercus virginiana are green the, year around. Spanish-moss also occasionally grows upon dead branches of trees, and even on 1 It is not uncommon to find mosses, lichens, liverworts, ferns, and selaginellas growing on the same tree. Several members of the Cactus family also grow upon other plants. 2 Epi means on, or upon, in Greek; PHYTON means plant. 56 telegraph wires and fences, but it does not kill the trees on which it grows, except by occasionally cutting off the light from the leaves to such an extent that the leaves can no longer function in the manufacture of food to maintain the tree's growth. Water Absorption Ground- dwelling plants normally absorb water and dissolved minerals for nourishment through their roots; but Spanish- moss, which has no roots at all, is capable of absorbing the water which falls upon it by the action of numerous scale- like structures which completely cover the leaves and stems. When the plants are relatively dry, these scales separate from each other and curve upward along their edges, giving the plant its whitish appearance. When they are wet, the scales adhere closely to each other and the underlying chlorophyll layers show through. Each scale is attached near its center to a group of living cells known as the STALK CELLS. These stalk cells are embedded within the tissues of the leaf and when the plants Spanish moss, Tillandsia usneoides, covering a tree in Florida. 57 Tillandsia fasciculata, one of the bromeliads \ noum as " wild pines.'' growing on a tree of Spondias lutea in Cuba. are covered with rain or dew, the scales hold the water by capillary action while the living stalk cells underneath slowly absorb it. When the storage cells within the leaf become completely filled with water the plants can exist for days, or even weeks, without an additional water supply. Under experimental conditions they have been subjected to as much as two months of rainless exposure without injury. Since showers and heavy dews are frequent in tropical regions, it is possible for Spanish- moss to secure enough water through these foliar structures to enable it to grow hanging to whatever support may be at hand. This plant belongs to a large family of flowering plants called the Bromeliaceae, and it is related not to the mosses but to the cultivated pineapple. In contrast to the delicate structure of Spanish- moss, many members of this group have long sharp- pointed leaves which become very tough and leathery. Several of these species are common to the Everglades of Florida where they are called " wild pines." These plants belong likewise to the genus Tillandsia, and they are also covered with countless scales 58 Enlarged portions of Spanish moss. At the left, the overlapping, water- absorbing scales which cover the stems. Above, a single scale enlarged, and a section through a scale ( after Billings, Botanical Gazette, 1904), showing the basal stalk, cells which function in water absorption.- which act like microscopic sponges in soaking up water. Some of these Florida epiphytes are found occasionally in the dime stores of cities, where they are sold as " air plants." One of the giant bromeliads of Brazil, known as Vriesia. has very interesting water- absorbing scales on its large leaves. Each scale has a foot portion consisting of one to several cells, and a funnel- shaped stalk part, which is sunk below the level of the epidermis. This stalk is surmounted by a disc which is very thin around the margin and thick in the center. When the air is dry, the thin outer part is turned upward, and the central part is pulled down so that it completely covers the absorbing stalk cells like a tight- fitting lid. When moistened, the lateral parts expand, the lid is raised, and the stalk cells have access to the water held under the scale. The whole apparatus functions as a beautiful device which serves as an absorbing organ during wet spells and prevents the escape of water during drought. Another type of leaf modification which is found in many of the larger bromeliads, such as Aechmea and Billbergia, is perhaps best described as a water reservoir. In these plants the leaf bases are enlarged to form spoon- shaped structures which overlap each other in such a fashion that they hold water. During a shower the water falling on the leaves drains down into these pockets where it is slowly absorbed through the soft tissues of the leaf base. These reservoirs serve as a continuous source of water, and also as small aquaria for certain algae and aquatic mosses— even for 59 small members of the animal kingdom. As much as a gallon of water 3 may be obtained from some of these tropical specimens when they are turned upside down and allowed to drain. The epiphytic orchids, 4 so well known for their beautiful flowers, and also some of the aroids, are quite well adapted for the absorption of water from the air. Instead of having roots like ground- dwelling plants, the majority of the tropical orchids produce large aerial roots which cling to the bark of trees upon which they are growing, or simply hang suspended in the air. These odd- looking structures take up water by means of a special 3 See " Blueprint of the Jungle" by Mulford B. Foster in the January issue of this Journal. 4 See " Epiphytic Orchids of Florida" by Alex D. Hawkes in last month's issue. SCALES OF VRIESIA IN THE DRY AND WET CONDITIONS Above, when dry, the scale is pulled downward to cover the absorbing cells li\ e u tight'fitting lid. Below, when wet, the lid is raised to give the absorbing cells access to the water that is available. ( After Haberkndt). 60 CELL STRUCTURE OF THE VELAMEN OF ORCHIDS Left ( after Gager), the orchid velamen is shown to be the outer, dead part of an orchid root, which acts li\ e blotting paper in absorbing moisture from the air. Right ( after Goebel), on the sides of the orchid root next to the bar\, in Phalaenopsis Schilleriana. the velamen is shown above to be fully developed into a spongy tissue, while on the outer side ( below), it is reduced to a point where its chief function is to prevent drying out. layer called the VELAMEN. This tissue covers the roots and acts like a piece of blotting paper in absorbing and holding water. The velamen consists of a silvery parchment- like sheath of cells which has lost all living contents and has become filled with air. The walls of many of the cells are strengthened in a great variety of ways, but most often by means of spiral thickening fibers. This cellular envelope takes up water by capillary action and is to be regarded as the true absorbing tissue of these aerial roots. After the water is absorbed by the velamen it passes inward through thin-walled living cells, known as " passage cells" to the central portion of the root. Here it enters the specialized conducting strands ( vascular bundles) 61 and moves upward through these definite channels to the leaves where some of it is used in photosynthesis and the remainder is evaporated into the air. When aerial roots of orchids are wet by a shower they change in color from papery white to a pale green, revealing green tissues underneath. These tissues contain chlorophyll and may therefore perform the work of photosynthesis, a function not usually associated with the roots of plants. Water vapor also can be absorbed by the velamen. Experimental results show that certain orchids, when transferred from very dry air to very moist air, will absorb from 8 to 11 percent of their weight in moisture within 24 hours. After a thorough wetting by a tropical shower the velamen may absorb enough water to supply the plant for several days. Some orchids show further peculiarities of structure of the roots to insure maximum absorption and minimum evaporation of water. In EPIPHYTIC PLANTS OF THREE FAMILIES 1 Vnesia * of the Brgi 2 Dendrobium no bile of the Orchi daceae. 3. A spe cies of Rhipsalis |~ the Cactaceae. 62 Phalaenopsis Schilleriana the roots are flattened and lie close to the bark of the tree. Absorption of water takes place largely on the side next to the bark, while the other side is so constructed that it protects the roots against drying out. Structurally, the roots have a two- layered velamen on both sides, but on the upper side it is reduced, while on the lower side it is fully developed, very spongy in texture, and with a high capacity for absorbing water. Root hairs are seldom, if ever, found on the free hanging roots of orchids. Some of the epiphytic ferns, however, such as the giant staghorn ferns of Australia, produce modified types of hairs which are not sensitive to dryness and which therefore may exist for a long period of time. These peculiar brown hairs, which are exposed to the air, serve to hold water by capillarity and act as a sort of root sponge, probably like the velamen of orchids, absorbing vapor as well as actual drops of water from the air. In addition to water- absorbing leaf scales, leaf reservoirs, the velamen of air roots, and the root hairs of certain ferns, there are other adaptations which further enable epiphytes to survive above the ground. Most epiphytes develop a very thick cuticle over their stems and leaves which lessens water loss. Some are covered with waxy scales or possess hairy coverings which likewise function in slowing down evaporation. Sometimes, as in Spanish- moss, the leaves are reduced in size, or, as in certain of the epiphytic cacti, they are nothing more than spines. Occasionally orchids drop the expanded part of the leaf during dry periods and only the bulblike lower portion remains as a water and food storage organ. Mineral Nutrition The source of mineral elements for epiphytes has long been a subject for discussion. Ash analyses of Spanish- moss show that it contains compounds of sodium, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, chlorine, calcium, iron, sulfur, and silica. The amounts of sulfur, chlorine, and silica are higher than in many other plants, and the ferric oxide content is much higher. Obviously these minerals are not supplied through a root system from the soil solution as is true for such common plants as sunflowers and soybeans. It has been argued that the scales of Spanish- moss play the important role of catching and holding dust particles which supply the inorganic materials necessary for growth. To test this hypothesis, scientific studies were conducted by the Bureau of Chemistry of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, and their findings do not give substantial evidence to this The originals of the photographs reproduced on the opposite page were made in 1902 by the German botanist E. Idle, who spent the greater part of his life exploring in Brazil. These pictures are part of a small collection of Ule's which have been deposited in the library of the New Yor\ Botanical Garden. . The bromeliad, Nidularium eleuiheropetalum, shares the upper branches of a Brazilian tree with a 1arge> leaved aroid. 2. The staghornfern, Platycerium anainum, and a tropical polypody, Polypodium Ulei, s lite side by side as epiphytes on a jungle tree. 3. The ' bushy rosette of narrow leaves belongs to the bromc i tliad, Streptocalyx angustifolius. 4. A spineless, tree ^ ty^ fosette of narrow leaves belongs to the n here 64 theory. These investigators were unable to find visible evidence of quartz grains, which are prominent in ordinary dust, when superficial portions of the plants were rubbed off and examined under a polarizing microscope. Washings from the plants also failed to show appreciable amounts of mineral substances. Additional tests were made by comparing ash analyses of plants which had previously been washed with distilled water with unwashed specimens. Final tabulations showed some minor differences between washed and unwashed plants, but the differences were not systematic, and did not exceed variations expected in the sampling of materials. No change in the percentage of total ash was found, and also no differences in the amounts of silica or ferric oxide as would be expected if loosely adherent dust particles were washed away. The general conclusion was reached that, since dust can not be demonstrated in appreciable quantities on the plants or in the washings from them, Spanish- moss does not obtain its mineral elements from dust caught between the scales. This places considerably less emphasis on the importance of the scales as dust traps, and more upon their role as water-absorbing organs. It might also be added that the Spanish- mosses, and many other epiphytes, grow in tropical forests where the air is kept rather free from dust by frequent showers. In addition, it seems reasonable to believe that rain is more likely to wash dust away than to deposit it on a plant hanging in air. Further investigations, especially by Edgar T. Wherry and his associates, point to the possibility that air plants obtain their minerals chiefly from constituents already dissolved in rain water as it falls on the plants. We usually think that rain water is pure, but this is not necessarily true. A chemical analysis of rain water samples, taken near the coast of British Guiana, revealed that it contained minute quantities of iron, aluminum, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and chlorine. Sulfates, carbonates, silicates, and small amounts of ammonia also were present. The elements sodium and chlorine were found to be most abundant, and are accounted for by ocean spray which is carried to high levels by wind action. The source of mineral elements in rain water is traced ultimately to dust particles. As water vapor condenses and falls through the air it comes in contact with dust carried by air currents, and minute amounts of minerals are thus dissolved in this water by the time it falls on the earth. These minerals are not in the same proportions as found in the living plants, but it is well known that plants are capable of extracting relatively large amounts of such substances from very dilute solutions. Frequent showers are therefore most important to the growth of epiphytes since they supply both the necessary moisture and a continuous supply of very dilute mineral elements. 65 Under natural conditions most epiphytes are subjected to the water which drips from other plants, especially from the bark of branches of the plants supporting them. This would afford an additional source of inorganic substances with every shower. When epiphytes are grown indoors under artificial conditions they do not have the benefit of rain water, yet they may live successfully for a long time. Spanish- moss has been growing here at the New York Botanical Garden in the Rain Forest house for many years. It is sprayed several times each day with the regular city water, and the fact that it grows and produces flowers indicates that it is obtaining the necessary building materials. Some of the minerals are supplied from the city water, some perhaps from the canopy of dead branches above, and some from the washings from other plants. Carefully controlled experiments on the mineral nutrition of this plant might yield some interesting and important facts. Orchids have additional sources of minerals from the considerable vegetable detritus which ultimately collects about the base of long established plants. . This may be composed of decaying leaves, bits of bark, and sometimes lichens and mosses. After some lapse of time the epiphyte may have a small amount of soil at its disposal. This condition is found in the staghorn ferns, as well as in many orchids. Certain orchids also produce aerial roots which are negatively geotropic, and as they grow outward from the plant they form a thick basket- like tangle of roots which sometimes become a foot or more in diameter. These entangled masses are called " nest roots" and serve the important function of holding decaying plant materials which gradually accumulate. Enough humus may become lodged to serve as a source of both moisture and minerals. These " nest roots" are found in certain species of Oncidium and Cymbidium, as well as in some members of the Aroid family. Two important factors concerning the growth of epiphytes have been considered— the source of water, and the source of mineral elements. In addition, they must also have sunlight because it furnishes the energy for the process of food manufacture in all green plants. This problem has been met most successfully by epiphytes. By adapting themselves to aerial habitats they have raised themselves off the shaded forest floor and thus have access to enough sunlight each day to maintain growth and reproduction. Although " air plants," or epiphytes, have no roots in contact with the soil, they can absorb enough water and enough minerals that are dissolved in this water to grow and flourish in competition with hosts of other plants. They constitute a diverse and remarkable group, in which we find a high degree of specialization in the peculiar water- absorbing structures that make their very existence possible. 66 Spring ^ Programs at the Qarden Members Day Programs Wednesdays at 3: 30 P. M. Apr. 4 Daffodils in Your Garden James G. Esson, Editor, Gardeners' Chronicle of America May 2 Pleasures of Rock Gardening in Westchester County Harold Epstein, Member of the New York Botanical Garden June 13 Rose Growers' Day— In co- operation with the New York section of the American Rose Society All- day program to be announced Tivo Motion Pictures with Sound Saturdays at 3 o'clock in the Museum Building Mar. 17 Our Neighbors Down the Road— A scenic trip along the Pan- American Highway, produced by the Co- ordinator of Inter- American Affairs. Apr. 28 New York State Parks— Presented by C. R. Blakelock, Secretary, Long Island State Park Commission. Six Illustrated Lectures by Members of the Botanical Gardens Staff on THE GREAT GROUPS OF PLANTS How They Live From Year to Year Saturdays at 3 o'clock in the Museum Building Mar. 10 Flowering Plants, From Grass to Orchids Frances E. Wynne Mar. 24 More Flowers: Pussy- Willows to Chrysanthemums Frances E. Wynne Mar. 31 Trees That Bear Cones H. W. Rickett Apr. 7 Ferns of Forest and Field H. W. Rickett Apr. 14 Green Plants in Miniature— The Mosses and Liverworts Frances E. Wynne Apr. 21 Plants Without Roots, Stems, or Leaves— The Fungi and Algae ' F. J. Seaver RADIO PROGRAMS Alternate Fridays, 3: 30 p. m. WNYC ( 830 on the dial) Mar. 9 Two Years in the South Pacific Mrs. Elizabeth Williams, Red Cross Overseas Worker Mar. 23 Favorite Flowering Shrubs of Spring P. J. van Melle, Nurseryman, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and Instructor, New York Botanical Garden Apr. 6 How Finer Garden Flowers are Developed A. B. Stout, Curator of Education and Laboratories, New York Botanical Garden Apr. 20 Spring at The N. Y. Botanical Garden Mrs. Robert H. Fife, Chairman of Advisory Council, New York Botanical Garden 67 B R O A D C A S T By W. D. TURNER PL A S T I C ash- trays, bottle- caps, handles, containers of various sorts, and colorful tees for a golfer to use ivere exhibited on the studio table when Dr. W. D. Turner wds interuiezved during the Garden's broadcast Nov. 17 over WNYC on " Plastics from Plant Materials." Dr. Turner is Professor of Chemical Engineering at Columbia University and is also Eastern Technical Director of the Plastics Industries Technical Institute in New York. Excerpts from his talk are given here. PLANTS provide a large percentage of the plastic materials that are now being manufactured, and in the light of present research I can see a vast increase in the use of plants— particularly waste materials from the farm, such as corncobs and nutshells, also cornstalks, oat hulls, and many other products that formerly were a total loss to the producer of farm crops. At present, however, the most important plant used for plastics is cotton. The fibers— the same as are used for weaving cloth— are used for the plastics, but there again, the waste cotton can be used, for when the fibers are too short for spinning, they can be combined with chemicals and turned into plastics. Celluloid, you know, was the first plastic ever made, and it was created out of cotton linters, bits of wood that were ground into a pulp, nitric acid, and camphor. An Albany printer named Hyatt first made it in 1869, and he gave the world the start of an industry with infinite possibilities and with a future which now, 75 years later, is really just beginning. Waste material from lumbering, as well as waste material from farm crops, can be used in the making of plastics. And more than that, some very important by- products come from the use of wood waste in making plastics. The best-smelling factory in the world is probably the one in Wisconsin where about a quarter of all packaging paper used in the United States is manufactured. As a by- product of the sulphite wood pulp that is used for the paper, vanillin1 is made. This is the flavoring most used by bakeries and candy and dessert manufacturers, and it is, of course, much cheaper than the extract prepared from the beans of the vanilla orchid from the tropics. You ask how a flavoring like vanillin was ever discovered in sulphite wood waste. Well, years ago, all such wastes were dumped into rivers with the result that fish died and many people complained. Eventually laws were passed to prevent this pollution, so the mills had to find some other means of disposing of their refuse. The story is briefly told in a little book put out by the Plastics Institute. 2 Mr. Lougee, the author, says, in describing the work of a chemical engineer for one of the big paperVom-panies: " He began by treating waste liquors with lime in a precipitation process, which separates lignin from the residue. Lignin is further cooked with acid into what is called a sulphite lignin base. Treated in one way this base becomes vanillin. Treated another way, it is processed into lignin plastics. A number of chemical products such as calcium, sodium, magnesium, and other salts are recovered and disposed of at a profit. Hardly anything remains except the water that was originally added to wash and float the pulp." Oat hulls are used as a base for many plastics, in that furfural is processed from them— also from corn cobs; and furfural is the chemical base of some of our most important plastics. To explain what furfural is without going into the chemistry of it, I would say that furfural is a colorless oily liquid which has wide use in the manufacture of rubber, glue, disinfectants, lacquers, and dyes, as well as certain plastics. Oat hulls and corn cobs are also used occasionally, as soybeans are, for making plastic articles directly, but the soybeans seldom are used by themselves. It is customary to blend the soybean plastic with other materials. The best and most extensive soybean application has been 1. Pronounced with the accent on the first syllable. 2. Reviewed in this Journal in November, 1943. 68 made by Henry Ford. He purifies the soybean meal to remove all oils and then blends the protein part and the fibre part, which are left over, with a composition similar to bakelite. This blend makes strong and beautiful parts for automobile trim especially. Nutshells, a few years ago, started out to have tremendous possibilities for plastics manufacturing, and they are still used to a considerable extent. They figure in the manufacture of certain small parts for airplanes and are used for dies for casting; but since they were first developed in 1935, other waste products have outstripped them. They are now used chiefly as filler for plastics that are made from other materials. A promising new industry for Brazil is the production of bottle caps and such items made from coffee beans. 3 The plastics industry should become a great boon to farmers and producers of this and other countries. It is always dangerous to make predictions, but I believe that if corncobs or cornstalks or other light- weight materials are to find wide use in production of plastics, it will be necessary to use small portable plastic manufacturing plants which can be sent into farm districts. This is because these materials are so bulky that it will be more economical to carry the processing plant into the area than to transport the farm wastes by rail to distant centers for processing. Notices and Reviews of Recent ^ Books ( All publications mentioned here may be consulted in the Library of The New York Botanical Garden or may be purchased on order through the Library.) Four Who Opened a Continent S< H TH AMERICA CALLED THEM. Victor Wolfgang von Hagen. 311 pages, illustrations, bibliography, index. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. 1945. $ 3.75. " South America Called Them" by Victor von Hagen stands out like a peak in the Andes among the plethora of books on South America. The author gives vivid accounts of the expeditions of four great naturalist- explorers, La Condamine, Humboldt, Darwin, and Spruce, each of them a pioneer in his field, two of them supreme in their achievement. Their travels covered a century and a half. La Condamine came to Quito in 1735, Darwin published " The Origin of Species" in 1859, the year of Humboldt's death. During this period South America emerged as a free and independent continent, thanks to the leadership of Bolivar. La Condamine's purpose in going to Ecuador was to find out if Newton's theory that the earth is a globe flattened at the poles and bulging at the equator was correct. He proved it by nine years of laborious measurements in the Andes. While he was doing this La Condamine was shown the first map that had been made of the Amazon by a Jesuit Padre. This aroused that " curiosite ardente" which Voltaire found so characteristic of: him. He immediately planned to return to France by way of the Amazon and to make an accurate chart of that river which no Frenchman had ever seen. On this journey he unknowingly became the first rubber manufacturer for he made himself a pouch of rubber for his quadrant. Rubber was of course known to all the explorers since Cortez, who had seen the Aztecs play a game witli solid rubber balls. Next in line was one of the greatest naturalist of all times— Baron von Humboldt, the friend of Goethe, and possibly ( as Dr. von Hagen ingeniously suggests) the inspirer oE Bolivar. From 1799 to 1804 Humboldt and Bonpland, the botanist, explored Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru and established the connection between the Amazon and the Orinoco which La Condamine had heard of fifty years earlier. In Venezuela Humboldt Found coffee and chocolate 69 growing. Arab traders had brought cot-fee out of Ethiopia into Spain, from where it had reached the New World in 1720. Cacao, which when roasted and ground becomes chocolate, had been developed by the Incas under the name of Kakua and had I'eached Mexico before Cortez. Linnaeus had named the cacao tree " Theobroma Cacao" but it was Humboldt who described its cultivation and growth. Bonpland, returning to France, was made superintendent of her gardens at Malmaison by the Empress Josephine, the beautiful Creole who adored flowers. Baron von Humboldt was the first modern geographer who became a great traveler; he was a human geographer, a field in which he was the originator. His influence in his way was as great in the world of thought as Napoleon's in the world oE action. Animals, trees, plants, rivers, cities, streets, and currents bear his honored name. Thomas Jefferson invited him lo come to North America and they spent three weeks together at Monticello. There Jefferson communicated to Humboldt an extraordinary project for the future division of the continent of America into three great republics into which were to be incorporated Mexico and the South American countries. Humboldt's comment on bis visit to North America was " that the institution of slavery was the only cloud." He returned lo Europe with a mighty corpus oE knowledge which filled many volumes and was eagerly read. Humboldt's words and deeds fired the mind of the young Englishman, Charles Darwin, and lie grasped the first opportunity of going to South America. Captain Fitzroy needed a naturalist aboard the Beagle which was to make a survey of both coasts of South America. Darwin accepted the post. This was the only journey he ever made but it fertilized Ins thought the way guano fertilized the dry coastal land of Peru. And from the observations and deductions he made on the Galapagos Islands, the " Origin of Species" was born and zoology in its modern phase began. The last but not unworth}- successor of these great naturalists was Richard Spruce, a self- taught and painstaking botanist from Yorkshire. For seventeen years he explored the Amazon basin, sending home thousands of specimens to the museums of Europe. Kew alone received thirty thousand. He sent Cinchona to India. He made a careful study of rubber- yielding trees, and passed this information on to Kew, at that time the British government's adviser on rubber. Twenty years later, thanks to this information, another Englishman, Henry Wickham, made his famous— or rather, we might say infamous—" seed snatch" through which a whole industry was taken bodily from Amazonia to India and Malaya. Spruce had never intended this to happen. The pioneer age of South American exploration comes to a close with him. He is the last link between the Colonial and Industrial eras. Much remains to be explored; the author enumerates many of the things that are still waiting to be done. He ends with a trumpet call— " South America is Calling." Note: It seems almost invidious to single out for special mention any part of this superb book, but the 14th chapter stands out for its sympathetic interpretation of an important question, that confront one everywhere in the Andes— the problem of the Indian since the Conquest. AMY SPIXGARN. Crop- Plants of Georgia And Nearby States SOUTHERN HORTKILTIRE. H. P. Rtuckey. 688 pages, illustrated, indexed. Turner K. Smith and Co., Atlanta. Georgia. J2- 56. " Dedicated to the Farmers of Tomorrow," this book is a school book, and the material is so clearly and simply presented that even grade school students could understand it. In the preface, Paul Chapman, Editor, affirms that the nation's trend in agriculture is towards fruit and vegetables and away from field crops, and that the South is largely responsible for providing said fruit and vegetables, especially in winter. The author follows this lead and leatures orchards, groves, berry acreage, and other food- producing land, for commercial purposes and also for home use. Peaches have the spot- light, naturally, for Dr. Stuckey is a loyal Georgian, the Director of the Georgia Experiment Sta- 70 tion. Apples, pecans, figs, the several berries, melons and vegetables— all are given detailed attention from planting to marketing, not forgetting to brush off insects and ward off diseases. Questions for class discussion, references for further study, and many maps add to the value of the text. In conclusion, space is given to the home vegetable garden, and the beautifying of home grounds, which makes the happy ending. However, some southern horticulturists will look in vain for cotton and tobacco, and those who live across the Florida line will not find oranges in the index, but only okra and onions under " O"; likewise, no grapefruit under " G", but only garlic and grapes. The title of the book covers a large territory, but from the Georgian viewpoint, the great sub- tropical crops fade out in the distance. " Southern Horticulture'' gives a very practical discussion of the subjects chosen from the wealth of plant material of the southern states. EVA NOBLE, Jacksonville, Fla. Guide for Successful Fruit- Growing F R U I T S FOR THE HOME GARDEN. U. P. Hedrick. 171 pages, illustrated, indexed. Oxford University Press, New York, 1944. S3. Here is an excellent book on fruit growing, designed particularly for the person who is entering this field but none the less valuable to the fruit grower in general. Its main point of distinction lies in the concise and easily understood manner in which directions are given, instruction which the amateur may readily grasp and put to practical use. Commencing with the essentials of soil, site and cjimate selection, the author goes on to describe the various fundamental practices necessary to assure a successful outcome. It is evident that the information dispensed is the culmination of many years o F close observation and association with this work. The chapter on propagating fruits will no doubt be especially intriguing to the novice, as too the spraying calendar, both of which are clearly set forth without over- much confusing detail. Separate chapters are devoted to each of the main fruits or fruit groups, giving detailed information of their care together with a selection of varieties, many of which are of recent introduction, in their order of ripening. The illustrations add much to the value of this work. EDWIN BECKETT, Middlcfozen Farm, Red Bank, N. J. Orchids of a Distant Land THE ORCHIDS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. H. Jl. R. Rupp. 152 pages, illustrated, indexed. Australasian Medical Publishing Co. Ltd., N. S. W. 1943. The first volume in a projected new Flora of New South Wales, issued by the National Herbarium, has been prepared by an honorary member of the staff who has made the study of the native flora a major interest during half a century. For the past 20 years the Rev. Rupp has specialized in the orchids oE that part of Australia. Twenty- three plates illustrate characteristic plants of different types. The addendum includes five newly discovered species of Diuris, described and named by Mrs. Pearl R. Messmer. While the book is technical and complete enough for the taxonomist, its style is such that, with the help of the introduction and glossary, botanically untrained persons should be able to use it too. CAROL H. WOODWARD. Far Western Plants, Continued ILLUSTRATED FLORA OF THE PACIFIC STATES, Vol. II. Le Roy Abrams. 635 pages, illustrated, indexed. Stanford University Press, Calif. 1944. $ 7.50. Plant lovers who for years have been waiting for the second volume of Professor Le Roy Abrams' Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States will be gratified to know that it has appeared and that there will apparently be a relatively short delay in tlie publication of the third volume. The book covers the flora from the Buckwheat Family to the Krameria Family, inclusive, and offers descriptions and illustrations of 1,663 species. 71 The style of the book has been conspicuously changed. Instead of a separate cut for each species, the illustrations have been assembled into plates, mostly full page and dealing with nine species each. The book will certainty be extremely useful to all botanists, whether professional or amateur, who are interested in western plants. H. A. GLEASON. Science in Retrospect A SHORTER HISTORY OF SCIENCE. Sir William Cecil Dampier. 189 pages, illustrated, indexed. Macmillan, New York. 1944. $ 2. Some years ago, Sir William Cecil Dampier of Cambridge University wrote a rather extensive history of science which considered the philosophic as well as the chronological and more tangible aspects of the subject. In referring to that volume, Sir William has written: " Some, however, have found the philosophic part difficult to read, and have asked for a straightforward story of the growth of science reduced to its simplest terms." The present pocket- sized volume is a result of that thought, and the author, in preparing it, had in mind primarily two groups of people, tlie general reader and the scientifically inclined schoolboy who needs to look at his subject, as he says, " from a humanist standpoint." E. H. FULLING. Monograph on Cellulose CELLULOSE and CELLULOSE DERIVATIVES ( Hijrh Polymers, Volume 5). Emil Ott. Editor. 1,176 pages. Author and subject index. Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York, 1943. ¥ 15. In the words of the Editor, this is "? thorough introduction for work on any cellulose problem by any person with reasonably wide general technical training." After a short introduction on the occurrence of cellulose, comprehensive monographs which do not presuppose an understanding of a later section deal with the fundamental properties of cellulose, structure and properties of cellulose fibers, carbohydrates normally associated with cellulose in nature, lignin and other noncarbohydrates, preparation and purification of cellulose, derivatives of cellulose, physical properties of cellulose and its derivatives, and a summary oi technical application. This compilation is written by a number of experts thoroughly conversant with their respective fields. However, a more extensive study of the work, for example of Bose or Falck and others, should have prevented the editor from publishing statements as occur on page 152 with reference to enzymatic degradations. F. F. NORD, Fordham University, Garden Photography ALL ABOUT PHOTOS IN THE GARDEN AND YOUR CAMERA. R. Jl. Fanstone. 58 pages, illustrated. Transatlantic Arts, New York. 1941. 50c. Reading Mr. Fanstone's book on photos in the garden gave me pleasure, and friends who borrowed the book agreed with my own opinion that it is interesting and instructive, and that it discusses the various problems one encounters in garden photography. The only criticism we had to make concerned the illustrations, which were either cropped too much or taken too close to the subject, with the result that portions of anatomy are missing. For example, the five pictures by H. Gorny are clear and sharp only in parts, and look as though they were prints taken out of the heart of the original negative. FREDERICK W. RAETZ. Negro Biography DR. GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER, Scientist. Shirley Graham and George D. Lipscomb. Illustrated by Elton C. Fax. 248 pages, appendix, index. Julian Jlessner, Inc., 1944. $ 2.50. Two people of his own race have written about the great Negro scientist in a documented but somewhat Actionized biography, and a third has illustrated the work. Enlivened with conversation, the book develops the character of Dr. Carver in an easy manner, showing him chiefly in his relations with other people, but not neglecting his contributions to agricultural economy. CAROL H. WOODWARD. 72 Notes, News, and Comment Red Cross Display. When the doors were opened to the public after the ceremony for the unveiling of the Garden's Red Cross display in the conservatories the afternoon of Sunday, March 4, there were 15,000 people waiting on the paths outside and in the adjacent houses, to view the floral red cross ( pictured on the cover) and the Philippine jungle scene with the Red Cross recreation hut erected among the trees. A description of the display and a report of the program will be given in next month's Journal. Conference. F. L. Arland of White Plains, a member of the Botanical Garden, who has worked for many years on the culture and breeding of Epigaea repens, the trailing arbutus or mayflower, spoke on his experiences with these plants at the conference of the staff and registered students of the Garden Feb. 16. The second half of the program was given by Arthur Cronquist, who described some of his recent taxonomic studies in the Sapotaceae. Addresses. Dr. William J. Robbins, after attending a board meeting of the Biological Stain Commission at the Cornell Medical College in New York on Feb. 17, left for Providence where he gave an address that evening at Brown University on " Growth Substance Deficiencies of the Fungi." The evening of Feb. 21 he addressed an audience at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on " Penicillin and Similar Substances." This was the third lecture in a course being given there on " Recent Discoveries in Plant Science." On March 2 Dr. Robbins attended a meeting of the National Science Fund in Boston, where, as chairman, he accepted a fund of $ 50,000 from the National Sugar Research Foundation to be distributed as prizes for research on new uses for cane sugar. Dr. A. B. Stout spoke on " Hemerocallis, Old and New" Feb. 5 in the course in floriculture given by the Horticultural Society of New York. On March 6 he addressed the Bronxville Woman's Club, an Affiliate of the Garden, on the same subject. Elizabeth C. Hall addressed the Rye Garden Club, an Affiliate, Feb. 6 on " What Makes the Library of the New York Botanical Garden Unique." On Feb. 21 she spoke before the North Atlantic group of the American Rock Garden Society on " A Five- Foot Shelf for Rock Gardeners." ' Dr. Roberta Ma spoke at Adelphi College in Garden City Feb. 12 on " Chinese Women in Science and their Oppor- Visitors. Dow V. Baxter of the University of Michigan spent two days at the Garden, Feb. 26 and 27, working on the fungi of Puerto Rico. While here he showed the staff his motion pictures taken during a recent trip to the West Indies. Josiah L. Lowe of the College of Forestry at Syracuse, Rene Pomereau of the College of Forestry in Quebec, and J. M. Waterston of Bermuda, currently of Cornell, were other February visitors in the mycological herbarium. Among other visitors of the month were Helena Azevedo, Librarian in the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro; Margarita Silva, mycologist in the School of Tropical Medicine at San Juan, Puerto Rico; Oscar P. Chiesa, of the Botanical Garden in Buenos Aires; Jose G. Rivas of the Department of Education in Buenos Aires; George W. Irving, Biochemist in charge of biologically active compounds for the U. S. D. A. at Beltsville, Md., who came to discuss research problems and visit Dr. Robbins's laboratory; Dr. Walter Carter of the University of Hawaii, who is working on pineapple wilt caused by insects, and who came to confer with Drs. Robbins and Dodge. Groups. School and Scout groups which have toured the Garden in recent weeks under the guidance of staff members include a nature study class from the Spence Girls' School, classes from Bronx Public Schools Nos. 27 and 114, and a Zionist Scout troop. THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN Officers JOSEPH R. SWAN, President HENRY DE FOREST BALDWIN, Vice- president JOHN L. MERRILL, Vice- president ARTHUR M, ANDERSON, Treasurer HENRY DE LA MONTAGNE, Secretary Elective Managers E. C. AucHTER MRS. ELON HUNTINGTON H. HOBART PORTER WILLIAM FELTON BARRETT HOOKER FRANCIS E POWELL JR EDWIN DE T. BECHTEL PIERRE JAY M HAROLD T PR A T T' HENRY F. DU PONT CLARENCE MCK. LEWIS M R S " hAB< fD T, L ™ A Tr MARSHALL FIELD E. D. MERRILL WILLIAM J. ROBBINS REV. ROBT. I. GANNON, S. J ROBERT H. MONTGOMERY A. PERCY SAUNDERS Ex- Officio Managers FIORELLO H. LAGUARDIA, Mayor of the City of Nezv York MARY E. DILLON, President of the Board of Education ROBERT MOSES, Park Commissioner Appointive Managers By the Torrey Botanical Club H. A. GLEASON By Columbia University MARSTON T. BOGERT MARCUS M. RHOADES CHARLES W. BALLARD SAM F. TRELEASE THE STAFF WILLIAM J. ROBBINS, P H . D . , SC. D. Director H. A. GLEASON, P H . D . Assistant Director and Curator HENRY DE LA MONTAGNE Assistant Director FRED J, SEAVER, P H . D . , SC. D. Head Curator A. B. STOUT, P H . D . Curator of Education and Laboratories BERNARD O. DODGE, P H . D . Plant Pathologist JOHN HENDLEY BARNHART, A. M., M. D. Bibliographer Emeritus H. W. RICKETT, P H . D . Bibliographer BASSETT MAGUIRE, P H . D . Curator HAROLD N. MOLDENKE, P H . D . ( On leave of absence) Associate Curator ELIZABETH C HALL, A. B., B. S. Librarian ELMER N. MITCHELL Photographer ROBERT S. WILLIAMS Research Associate in Bryology E. J. ALEXANDER, B. S. Assistant Curator and Curator of the Local Herbarium W. H. CAMP, P H . D . ( On leave of absence) Assistant Curator FRANCES E. WYNNE, P H . D . Assistant Curator E. E. NAYLOR, P H . D . Assistant Curator ARTHUR CRONQUIST, P H . D . Assistant Curator SELMA KOJAN, B. S. Technical Assistant ROSALIE WEIKERT Technical Assistant CAROL H. WOODWARD, A. B. Editor of the Journal THOMAS H. EVERETT, N. D. HORT. Horticulturist G. L. WITTROCK, A. M. Custodian of the Herbarium OTTO DEGENER, M. S. Collaborator in Hawaiian Botany A. J. GROUT, P H . D . Honorary Curator of Mosses ROBERT HAGELSTEIN Honorary Curator of Myxomycetes JOSEPH F. BURKE Honorary Curator of the Diatomaceae B. A. KRUKOFF Honorary Curator of Economic Botany ETHEL ANSON S. PECK HAM Honorary Curator, Iris and Narcissus Collections A. C PFANDER Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds To reach the Botanical Garden, take the Independent Subway to Bedford Park Blvd. station; use the Bedford Park Blvd. exit and walk east. Or take the Third Avenue Elevated to the Bronx Park or the 200th St. station, or the New York Central to the Botanical Garden station. THE CORPORATION OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN The New York Botanical Garden was incorporated by a special act of the Legislature of the State of New York in 1891. The Act of Incorporation provides, among other things, for a self- perpetuating body of incorporators, who meet annually to elect members of the Board of Managers. They also elect new members of their own body, the present roster ( if which is Kiven below. The Advisory Council consists of 12 or more women who are elected by the Board. By custom, they are also elected to the Corporation. Officers are: Mrs. Robert H. Fife, Chairman; Mrs. Elon Huntington Hooker, First Vice- Chairman; Mrs. William A. Lockwood, Second Vice- Chairman; Mrs. Nelson B. Williams, Recording Secretary; Mrs. Townsend Scudder, Corresponding Secretary; and Mrs. F. Leonard Kellogg, Treasurer. Arthur M. Anderson Mrs. Arthur M. Anderson Mrs. George Arents, Jr. George Arents. Jr. E. C. Auchter Dr. Raymond F. Bacon Prof. L. H. Bailey Stephen Baker Henry de Forest Baldwin Sherman Baldwin Charles W. Ballard Mrs. James Barnes William Felton Barrett Mrs. William Felton Barrett Edwin De T. Bechtel William B. Bell Prof. Charles P. Berkey Prof. Marston T. Bogert Prof. William J. Bonisteel George P. Brett Mrs. Richard de Wolfe Brixey Dr. Nicholas M. Butler Mrs. Andrew Carnegie Miss Mabel Choate Miss E. Mabel Clark W. R. Coe Richard C. Colt Mrs. Jerome W. Coombs Mrs. Henry S. Fcnimore Cooper Mrs. William Redmond Cross Mrs. C. I. DcBevoise Mrs. Thomas M. Debevotse Edward C. Dclafield Mrs. John Ross Delafield Julian F. Dctmer Mrs. Charles D. Dickey Mrs. Walter Douglas Mrs John W. Draper Henry F. du Pont Mrs. Moses W. Faitmite Marshall Field William B, O. Field Mrs. Robert H. Fife Mrs Henry J. Fisher Harry Harkness Flagler Mrs Murtimer J. Fox Childs Frick Rev. Robert I. Gannon, S. J. Dr. H. A. Gleason Mrs. Frederick A. Godlcy Mrs. George McM. Godley Prof. R. A. Harper Mrs. William F. Hencken Mrs. A. Barton Hepburn Mrs. Elon H. Hooker Mrs. Clement Houghton Archer M. Huntington Pierre Jay Mrs. Walter Jennings Mrs. Alfred C. Kay Mrs. F. Leonard Kellogg Mrs. Warren Kinney H. R. Kunhardt. Jr. Mrs. Barent Lefferts Clarence McK. Lewis Mrs. William A. Lockwood Dr. D. T. MacDougal Mrs. David Ives Mackie Mrs. H. Edward Manville Parker McCollester Miss Mildred McCormick Louis E. McFadden Mrs. John R. McGinley Dr. E. D. Merrill John L. Merrill Roswell Miller. Jr. Mrs. Roswcll Miller, Jr. Mrs. Roswcll Miller, Sr. S. P. Miller George M. Moffctt H. de la Montagne Col. Robert H. Montgomery Mrs. Robert H. Montgomery Harrington Moore Mrs. William H. Moore B. Y. Morrison Mrs. Augustus G. Paine Mrs. James R. Parsons Rufus L. Patterson Mrs. Wheeler H. Peckham Mrs. George W. Perkins Howard Phipps Rutherford Piatt H. Hobart Porter Francis E. Powell, Jr. Mrs. Harold I. Pratt Mrs. Rodney Procter Mrs. Henry St. C. Putnam Stanley G. Ranger Johnston L. Redmond Ogden Mills Reid Prof. Marcus M. Rhoades Dr. William J. Robbins Prof. A. Percy Saunders Mrs. Melvin Sawin John M. Schiff Mrs. Henry F. Schwan Mrs. Arthur Hoyt Scott Mrs. Arthur H. Scribner Mrs. Townsend Scudder Mrs. Samuel Seabury Mrs. Guthrie Shaw Prof. Edmund W. Sinnott Mrs. Samuel Sloan Edgar B. Stern Nathan Straus Mrs. Theron G. Strong Mrs. Arthur H. Sulzberger Joseph R. Swan Mrs. Joseph R. Swan Prof. Sam F. Trelease Mrs. Harold McL. Turner Mrs. Antonie P. Voislawsky Manfred Wall! Allen Wardwell Nelson M. Wells Alain C. White Mrs. Nelson B. Williams Mrs. Percy H. Williams John C. Wister Richardson Wright
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Contributor | New York Botanical Garden |
Date | 1945-03 |
Description-Table Of Contents | A Note on the Vegetation of the Mediterranean Littoral; Air Plants and their Problems of Survival; Spring Programs at the Garden; Broadcast. |
Format | application/pdf |
Format-Extent | 51 v. : ill. ; 25 cm. |
Identifier | 0885-4165 |
Language | eng |
Publisher | Bronx : New York Botanical Garden, 1900-1950 |
Relation-Is Part Of | Journal of the New York Botanical Garden : v. 1, no. 1-v. 51, no. 612 |
Relation-IsVersionOfURI | http://opac.nybg.org/record=b1104879 |
Rights | http://www.nybg.org/library/ |
Subject | Plants--Periodicals; Gardening--Periodicals; Plants, Cultivated--Periodicals; New York Botanical Garden--Periodicals. |
Title | Journal of the New York Botanical Garden |
Volume, Number | Vol. 46, no. 543 |
Type | text |
Transcript | JOURNAL OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN VOL. 46 No. 543 MARCH 1 9 4 5 PAGES 49- 72 JOURNAL OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN CAROL H. WOODWARD, Editor MEMORIALS THAT LIVE WHEN the present war is over we may expect, as after every conflict, a mass movement for the erection of monuments. The men and women who have served their country must be honored for their heroic deeds and sacrifices. As we look back on the monuments bequeathed to this generation from earlier wars, we are faced with the realization that, though well intended, they are often monstrous things, scarcely a credit to the taste or intelligence of the donors. A memorial should be a thing of permanent beauty. At the close of the last world war a few inspired individuals strove for this ideal by having trees planted as memorials to the men who had given their lives, and these today, where they have been given proper care, have grown into magnificent avenues or parks. But there are not enough of them, and there are far too many guns and cannon- balls and crudely fashioned figures of inanimate metal or stone. Type of memorials that can become a source— as they are the result— of inspiration and a means for pleasanter living are suggested in the poem by Millicent Easter published on this page last month. In the few words: " For all the Flyers . . . glorious trees!" there lies the germ of any number of memorial projects, which might with equal suitability be carried out with dogwoods or with oaks, with lilacs or roses or evergreens, or with flowers such as chrysanthemums or annuals planted and cared for in a public place. A memorial created with living plants can serve as a model for the community, to show the effect of well planted trees and shrubs and flowers, while at the same time it helps to keep perpetually alive the brave, youthful spirits of our men and women who have served and sacrificed. For years extending far into the future, a living memorial can enhance community or countryside and exalt the spirit of the people. However, it will give such long- lasting pleasure only if kept at its best from year to year. No garden flowers can be expected to perpetuate themselves without a skilled hand to care for them, and few trees can be expected to thrive without attention to their yearly needs. Those groups of citizens who are planning war memorials will need to think in positive terms about the future. If they are givingi consideration to a " monument" of living plants, which is the ideal memorial, they must provide for the permanent upkeep of those plants, either by a special endowment or by arrangements with reliable authorities. TABLE OF CONTENTS March 1945 FLORAL RED CROSS OF AZALEA " LAMBERTUS C. BOBBINK" Cover photograph by Elmer N. Mitchell A NOTE ON THE VEGETATION OF THE MEDITERRANEAN LITTORAL Rupert C. Barneby 49 AIR PLANTS AND THEIR PROBLEMS OF SURVIVAL E. E. Naylor 55 SPRING PROGRAMS AT THE GARDEN 66 BROADCAST W. D. Turner 67 NOTICES AND REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS 68 NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT 72 The Journal is published monthly by The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx Park, New York 58, N. Y. Printed in U. S. A. Entered at the Post Office in New York, N. Y.. as second- class matter. Annual subscription $ 1.00. Single copies IS cents. Free to members of the Garden. JOURNAL of THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN VOL. 46 MARCH 1945 No. 543 QA zNote on the Vegetation of the { Mediterranean J^ ittoral By Rupert C. Barneby THE casual visitor to the Mediterranean, whatever his means of travel, is apt to return home with the impression that the entire basin, whose shores are lapped by the sparkling and seemingly tideless waters of the Inland Sea, delights the year round in sunshine and the perfect resort climate. This is a fallacy propagated by travel agencies and holiday literature, and is as much a fiction as the old story that it never rains in Miami or Hollywood. The native, and also the traveler who visits the Mediterranean out of season, has a different story to tell. He will have experienced the searching and bitter blast of the BORA ( the Boreas of the ancients), and the noxious vapors of the SIROCCO, the duststorms of Algeria and the violence of the MISTSAL, the searing desert heat of southeastern Spain and the chill winters of Athens. He will know that between the Pillars of Hercules and the shores of Palestine, a distance of some 2,000 miles, there lies a diversified and broken region, embracing such contrasts as the fertile VEGAS of Andalusia, the harsh, snowcapped peaks of the Appenines and Asia Minor, the deserts of Murcia, where three years may pass without a single shower, and the precipitous Adriatic coast where the rainfall may exceed in a year that of watery London. This is the first of a series of articles to appear in this lournal covering the Saturday lectures given during the winter of 1945 at the New' York Botanical Garden on the plants of the regions where our men and women are serving. Another will deal ivith the plant life of Alaska, " From the Alaska Highway to the Aleutians." This will be done by Hugh M. Roup of the Arnold Arboretum, who spoke at the Garden February 10. A scries of three descriptive articles by Otto Degener will cover briefly some of the most common plants that are found in the tropics around the world. 49 50 But in spile of diversity in detail there is also a broad uniformity. The Mediterranean climate, a term which has come to be applied to equable climates throughout the world, does exist; for the moderating influence of the sea provides insurance against those extremes of temperature experienced on the great continental land- masses of the temperate zones. The general maritime influence is felt everywhere, even though accidents of terrain and exposure may vastly modify the normal balance. Since climate is everywhere the chief factor determining the character and density of vegetation, so in the Mediterranean basin the plant cover presents a broadly uniform aspect, modified here and there by physiographic accident. In this short note it will be impossible to examine the exceptional and the extreme, and only a brief sketch of the prevailing vegetation can be attempted. In general, the vegetation of the Mediterranean is that of a dry region. Even where abundant rainfall occurs in the fall and winter months, the summers are hot and dry, and the few native deciduous trees are found only along watercourses, in irrigated land, or in sheltered valleys. Arboreal vegetation of any importance is entirely composed of Coniferae— pine, cypress and juniper— and of evergreen oaks. In the days when the Phoenicians were opening trade- routes into the west, the bays and promontories which they skirted, even those along the now bare shores of Africa, were clothed in green forests of Aleppo pine and ilex. But these exist today only as remnants, in remote, sparsely settled regions or on private estates from which the wood- cutter and the goat, that omnipresent and omnivorous scourge of the Mediterranean, have been excluded. Sod-forming grasses are rare or non- existent, true meadows occurring only under irrigation or occasionally on saline flats along the immediate coast. But perennial bunch- grasses, such as Andropogon species, with harsh dry culms and of little nutrient value, as well as innumerable annual species, mostly of extremely ephemeral duration, are everywhere apparent; while Anmdo Dona. r, a tall, bamboo- like grass, the stems and leaves of which are utilized as fishing- rods and for thatching the cabins of fishermen, is characteristic of ditches near the coast. Plant Inhabitants of the Maquis Except for the relatively restricted areas of desert, the dominant natural vegetation of the Mediterranean littoral is MAQUIS. This term, originally applied to the especially abundant and luxuriant type of shrubbery which is found on the island of Corsica, has been extended to cover the similar association wherever it occurs, though the different peoples have their own local names, such as MACCHIE in Italy or THRYGANA ( a slightly different thing) in Greece. It may be compared with, and very closely corresponds to, the CHAPARRAL of our southwestern states. In essence it is an association of evergreen shrubs marked by the small, inrolled, varnished or densely 51 pubescent leaves, the thick, dry bark, and the tough, sometimes spinescent twigs of the xerophyte. The component species of the maquis, its density and average height, largely depend on the exposure and the composition of the soil, and vary also in the different provinces of the Mediterranean. But maquis in some form is always present, either as a pseudoclim'ax between the primeval woodland and the cultures, or as a true climax on soils unsuitable for pines or ilex. Among characteristic species belonging to the maquis may be noted the numerous kinds of rock- rose, Cistus, with their handsome white or pink roselike flowers; the dwarfer rock- roses ( Helianthcmum), which are also known as sun- roses; Rhus Cotinus, similar to our native smoketrees; the mastic tree, Pistacia Lentiscus; the various shrubs of Phillyrca; scrub- oak ( Quercus Ccrris) ; myrtle, jasmine, bay ( Laurus nobilis); the wild olive, probably introduced by man, at least in the west; the magnificent heathers ( Erica); the strawberry- trees ( Arbutus Lhicilo and Andrachnc) ; species of sagebrush ( Artemisia) ; rosemary, lavender, and the kitchen sage. In the western basin the brooms and gorses ( Ulcx, Cytisus and Spartium) are especially highly developed, and in spring clothe the hillsides in brilliant gold. Over large areas of the Balkan Peninsula, in very impoverished soil, the maquis is reduced to a low scrub, a foot high or so, composed largely of thyme and other suf-fruticose mints'. Many of the maquis shrubs, which form impenetrable thickets or, perhaps more often, are spaced out and intermingled with herbaceous plants or a scattering of live- oaks or pines, are glandular and resinous, and the scent arising from them after rain embalms the air, and when the wind is favorable can be smelt many miles out at sea. To this zone of vegetation belongs the palmetto ( Chamaerops humilis), a dwarf palm with scarcely any trunk and a tuft of fan- shaped leaves, most characteristic of rocky pastures near the coast. In clearings or intervals in the maquis there luxuriates a varied herbaceous flora, sometimes of great brilliance. Already in late winter the first bulbous plants— asphodels, grape- hyacinths, squills, crocus, jonquils and the delicate tazzetta narcissi are in bloom, while the buttercups and the scarlet or multi- colored anemones, the cyclamens, and the charlocks with their countless relatives of the Cabbage family, begin to decorate the hillsides and valley- floors. In spring and early summer these are joined and replaced by the leguminous weeds— vetches, trefoils, medicks and rest-harrows ( Ononis) ; by the terresrrial orchids, by the parsleys ( Umbel-liferae) which have supplied our table with many a succulent vegetable and flavor— fennel and coriander, dill, cumin, carrot, parsnip and opopanax; by the humble but already gaudy ancestors of our garden flowers, the carnation ( Dianthus) ; also larkspur, stock, and snapdragon; and by Compositae in many species and genera. But by July the flowers have retreated to the mountains, and little is left on the lower slopes but a few thistles and robust mulleins ( Verbascum). their leaves coated in white dust. 52 Flora of the Sands and Rocks Along the immediate shore of the Mediterranean, particularly where the land rises at a gentle incline from the sea, there often lie extensive sand-dunes with a specialized vegetation of their own. Here are found thickets of the white broom ( Rctama monospcrma), planted as an ornamental in California, and here and there occur open parklike groves of arborescent junipers. In their shade, as well as in the open sand, partly stabilized perhaps by the running roots of a maritime grass, one comes upon colonies of the little annual Crucifer, Alaithiola maritima, which under cultivation has become the " Virginia Stock"; and one also sees the white- felted bushes of a rayless daisy ( Diolis candidissima), the sea eryngo ( Eryngium maritimum), and the stately amaryllidaceous bulb, Pancratium maritunum, with its umbels of white daffodil- like flowers. Back of the beach itself the dune- flora merges insensibly with the maquis, or, where low- lying land permits water to collect and form a partially saline lagoon, into an estuarine vegetation dominated by fleshy- leaved Salicornia and a bewildering miscellany of sea- lavenders (' Litnonium). The Aiediterranean littoral is to a very large extent built of sedimentary rocks, the commonest being a hard white limestone which weathers into bold bluffs and terraces, into box- canyons, cliffs and GARRIGUES, which lend the landscape a character of its own. and at the same time afford foothold to many plants which without cultivation will grow nowhere but in the crevices of virgin rock. It is to the cliffs that one must turn to find the many species of Campanula, such as the favorite old pot- plant C. pyra-midalis, the sweet sultans ( Ccntaurca. of the same genus as the annual cornflower) with their handsome dissected leaves, the scabiosas, and the rock cabbages, probable ancestors of all our domestic cabbages, cauliflowers and broccoli. Almost every family of seed- plants at all highly developed in the Mediterranean region has at least one member found only on calcareous cliffs, where, protected from browsing animals, it lives isolated and secure, becoming, like all hermits, vastly modified in the process. The Mediterranean People and Their Crops But this is the natural vegetation, the covering of wild and waste places, and a quite small fraction of the whole. The Mediterranean basin supports a dense and ancient human population which for uncounted centuries has been busy changing, by culture and depredation, the natural face of the earth. To gain an approximate idea of the primitive state of a Mediterranean shore, it is necessary to travel to some remote cape on Sardinia, Crete or the Peloponnesus, and even here the charcoal- burner and the goatherd have gone before. To an enormous extent the vegetation and landscape have been shaped and determined by the hand of man. The peoples of the Mediterranean are frugal; they have to be, because of the relative poverty of the natural resources. The areas which would 53 appear suitable for cultivation to an American farmer are small, few and far apart. They are confined, in fact, to valleys where a river or stream debouching from the mountains in the interior has carried down a sediment of silt and soil and at the same time provides water for irrigation. The Sahel of Algeria, the valleys of the Guadalquivir, the Rhone and the Nile ( though this is in reality a long oasis cut through pure desert) and of the lesser streams, often mere torrent beds in summer, along the Italian and Balkan coasts, offer these conditions and are intensively cultivated with alfalfa, cereals, oranges, or vegetables similar to those grown in the subtropical regions of the United States. Outside these favored and fertile spots the earth is dry and stony, the water supply meager and uncertain, and agriculture is an arduous profession. Centuries of deforestation and consequent erosion have denuded the hills of their natural flesh and everywhere the bare bones of the earth show through. The problem of growing anything on these barren slopes has been solved by terrace cultivation, a process which more than anything else has moulded the landscape of the Mediterranean region. Throughout the littoral, and far inland, stone walls, following the contours of the hills, have been built up in tiers along the hillsides, providing flat terraces which catch and retain both soil and moisture and provide level ground for cultivation. Each loose rock turned up by the plow or mattock is laid aside and incorporated in the walls, and as these grow higher the pocket of earth behind grows deeper. Here it is possible to raise cereals and stone fruits such as the peach, apricot, and almond; or, where water can be led by ACEQUIA along the hillside, citrus and herbaceous vegetable will flourish. In the south of France acres of terraced land are planted with roses, violets and lavender, from which are distilled the essences used in perfumery. But by far the greater area is devoted to those two staple crops, on which depends the entire agricultural economy of the Mediterranean— the olive and the vine. Indeed, so ubiquitous are the olive groves and vineyards that one might truly claim that they form, even though artificially maintained and ever prone to slip back into wasteland and eventually maquis, the commonest and most characteristic type of vegetation in the Mediterranean basin. Weeds that Floiver Among the Crops Associated with the cultures and existing side by side or intermingled with the crops, there exists an extensive weed- flora. Many of the component species are natives which find in the annually disturbed soil and in the absence of shrubbery, which would normally limit and control their numbers, an ideal environment. Some are annuals appearing in early spring and ripening with the cereals, while others have tough roots or bulbs, tenacious of life and impossible to eradicate. Among these are the annual species of Veronica, toadflax ( Linaria) of many sorts, poppies, 54 mallows ( Malva and Lavatera), garlics ( Allium), vetches ( Vicia, Lathyrus and Ervum), and borages ( Anchusa and Borago). All luxuriate on cultivated ground, in the light shade of the olives or among the budding vines, and occur in such quantity as to impart color and verdure to the landscape. A few are immigrants, such as the yellow sorrel ( Oxalis cernua) from South Africa, which has found an equally agreeable home in the citrus groves of California, and is there similarly spectacular and pernicious. Two of the very few weeds originating in the New World are the century- plant ( Agave americana) and the prickly- pear ( Opuntia Ficus- indica), planted in the first place for ornament or in the form of hedges, but now firmly established and abundant along roadsides and in fallow fields. On the whole, however, the Mediterranean has given to America, in vegetation as in other ways, far more than it has received. There is no parallel to the invasion of western North America by the filaree ( Erodium cicutarium), an annual weed only moderately abundant around the Mediterranean but today, in point of number of individuals, California's commonest single species of seed- plant. This short glance at the vegetation of the Mediterraneous littoral would be far from complete without some reference to the desert regions, tracts of coast where one looks in vain for the characteristic interplay of maquis, ilex groves and vineyards. In southwestern Spain and along the African coast from Tunisia, where an arm of the Sahara reaches up to the sea, through northern Egypt to Palestine, the rainfall, by physiographic accident, is far lower than elsewhere, a fact inevitably reflected in the vegetation. Native trees, except for an occasional tamarisk, which here plays the role of the juniper, become very rare or are wholly absent, and sal-solaceous shrubs with small fleshy leaves become abundant. In the Spanish province of Valencia the date palm is cultivated as successfully as in the Saharan oases, while certain shrubs and herbs, otherwise confined to the deserts south of the Atlas Mountains, have isolated stations. It is significant that two Stapeliads ( Stapelia and Caralluma species), belonging to a family of succulents which simulate the Cactaceae of the New World, are found on the desert shores of Spain. But these regions, although lying within1 the Mediterranean basin in a geographic sense, have comparatively little kinship with the Mediterranean floral province, strictly defined, and are largely extraneous to the subject of the present notes. So also are the mountains which encircle the Inland Sea or which rise as islands out of the lowlands of the basin and which, cooler and wetter than the coastal region, support every type of vegetation, from the chestnut forests of Corsica through the arid, elevated steppes of Castile and the Atlas, to the lush meadows of the Alpes Maritimes, the volcanic screes of Mount Etna and the alpine peaks of the Bithynian Olympus. These and many others, which include some of the marvels and delights of the Mediterranean, must await consideration elsewhere. 55 cAir ^ Plants and Their ^ Problems of Survival How Specialized Roots and Leaves Help Them Live Above the Ground By E. E. Naylor EXPLORATIONS into tropical regions abound with tales concerning the finding of rare and beautiful orchids growing high on the branches of jungle trees. Many members of the Orchidaceae, Bromeliaceae, Araceae, and nearly a dozen other families of plants 1 may be found in such lofty places, and for this reason are oftentimes called " air plants." Because they live upon other plants does not mean that they are parasitic. On the contrary, these are green plants that are capable of manufacturing their own food just the same as green plants that live on the ground. These are true epiphytes, 2 growing upon other plants without any structural connection, hence they have no means of exchange of water or foods, such as parasites have. The requirements for the continued growth of epiphytes do not differ in any marked way from those of plants that have their roots in the earth. When they are supplied with water, carbon dioxide from the air, the essential mineral elements, and sunlight, they make their own foods and build up their own bodies. The chief problem is for these plants to obtain the necessary materials in the peculiar places they inhabit. " Air plants" obtain their materials for growth essentially from the atmosphere, and because of this fact, many interesting and important questions arise. For instance, how do they secure the water which makes up some 80 to 90 percent of their total green weight ? And what is the source of the iron, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, and other mineral elements vital to the construction of their bodies? Spanish- moss, Tillandsia ( or Dendropogon) usneoides, is perhaps one of the best examples to illustrate this epiphytic condition. In our southern states it thrives upon the live oaks and upon certain cypress trees, hanging in long twisted strands and forming a conspicuous part of the vegetation. In fact, many people think that the presence of the Spanish- moss gives the common name to the live oak, but the name comes instead from the fact that the leaves of Quercus virginiana are green the, year around. Spanish-moss also occasionally grows upon dead branches of trees, and even on 1 It is not uncommon to find mosses, lichens, liverworts, ferns, and selaginellas growing on the same tree. Several members of the Cactus family also grow upon other plants. 2 Epi means on, or upon, in Greek; PHYTON means plant. 56 telegraph wires and fences, but it does not kill the trees on which it grows, except by occasionally cutting off the light from the leaves to such an extent that the leaves can no longer function in the manufacture of food to maintain the tree's growth. Water Absorption Ground- dwelling plants normally absorb water and dissolved minerals for nourishment through their roots; but Spanish- moss, which has no roots at all, is capable of absorbing the water which falls upon it by the action of numerous scale- like structures which completely cover the leaves and stems. When the plants are relatively dry, these scales separate from each other and curve upward along their edges, giving the plant its whitish appearance. When they are wet, the scales adhere closely to each other and the underlying chlorophyll layers show through. Each scale is attached near its center to a group of living cells known as the STALK CELLS. These stalk cells are embedded within the tissues of the leaf and when the plants Spanish moss, Tillandsia usneoides, covering a tree in Florida. 57 Tillandsia fasciculata, one of the bromeliads \ noum as " wild pines.'' growing on a tree of Spondias lutea in Cuba. are covered with rain or dew, the scales hold the water by capillary action while the living stalk cells underneath slowly absorb it. When the storage cells within the leaf become completely filled with water the plants can exist for days, or even weeks, without an additional water supply. Under experimental conditions they have been subjected to as much as two months of rainless exposure without injury. Since showers and heavy dews are frequent in tropical regions, it is possible for Spanish- moss to secure enough water through these foliar structures to enable it to grow hanging to whatever support may be at hand. This plant belongs to a large family of flowering plants called the Bromeliaceae, and it is related not to the mosses but to the cultivated pineapple. In contrast to the delicate structure of Spanish- moss, many members of this group have long sharp- pointed leaves which become very tough and leathery. Several of these species are common to the Everglades of Florida where they are called " wild pines." These plants belong likewise to the genus Tillandsia, and they are also covered with countless scales 58 Enlarged portions of Spanish moss. At the left, the overlapping, water- absorbing scales which cover the stems. Above, a single scale enlarged, and a section through a scale ( after Billings, Botanical Gazette, 1904), showing the basal stalk, cells which function in water absorption.- which act like microscopic sponges in soaking up water. Some of these Florida epiphytes are found occasionally in the dime stores of cities, where they are sold as " air plants." One of the giant bromeliads of Brazil, known as Vriesia. has very interesting water- absorbing scales on its large leaves. Each scale has a foot portion consisting of one to several cells, and a funnel- shaped stalk part, which is sunk below the level of the epidermis. This stalk is surmounted by a disc which is very thin around the margin and thick in the center. When the air is dry, the thin outer part is turned upward, and the central part is pulled down so that it completely covers the absorbing stalk cells like a tight- fitting lid. When moistened, the lateral parts expand, the lid is raised, and the stalk cells have access to the water held under the scale. The whole apparatus functions as a beautiful device which serves as an absorbing organ during wet spells and prevents the escape of water during drought. Another type of leaf modification which is found in many of the larger bromeliads, such as Aechmea and Billbergia, is perhaps best described as a water reservoir. In these plants the leaf bases are enlarged to form spoon- shaped structures which overlap each other in such a fashion that they hold water. During a shower the water falling on the leaves drains down into these pockets where it is slowly absorbed through the soft tissues of the leaf base. These reservoirs serve as a continuous source of water, and also as small aquaria for certain algae and aquatic mosses— even for 59 small members of the animal kingdom. As much as a gallon of water 3 may be obtained from some of these tropical specimens when they are turned upside down and allowed to drain. The epiphytic orchids, 4 so well known for their beautiful flowers, and also some of the aroids, are quite well adapted for the absorption of water from the air. Instead of having roots like ground- dwelling plants, the majority of the tropical orchids produce large aerial roots which cling to the bark of trees upon which they are growing, or simply hang suspended in the air. These odd- looking structures take up water by means of a special 3 See " Blueprint of the Jungle" by Mulford B. Foster in the January issue of this Journal. 4 See " Epiphytic Orchids of Florida" by Alex D. Hawkes in last month's issue. SCALES OF VRIESIA IN THE DRY AND WET CONDITIONS Above, when dry, the scale is pulled downward to cover the absorbing cells li\ e u tight'fitting lid. Below, when wet, the lid is raised to give the absorbing cells access to the water that is available. ( After Haberkndt). 60 CELL STRUCTURE OF THE VELAMEN OF ORCHIDS Left ( after Gager), the orchid velamen is shown to be the outer, dead part of an orchid root, which acts li\ e blotting paper in absorbing moisture from the air. Right ( after Goebel), on the sides of the orchid root next to the bar\, in Phalaenopsis Schilleriana. the velamen is shown above to be fully developed into a spongy tissue, while on the outer side ( below), it is reduced to a point where its chief function is to prevent drying out. layer called the VELAMEN. This tissue covers the roots and acts like a piece of blotting paper in absorbing and holding water. The velamen consists of a silvery parchment- like sheath of cells which has lost all living contents and has become filled with air. The walls of many of the cells are strengthened in a great variety of ways, but most often by means of spiral thickening fibers. This cellular envelope takes up water by capillary action and is to be regarded as the true absorbing tissue of these aerial roots. After the water is absorbed by the velamen it passes inward through thin-walled living cells, known as " passage cells" to the central portion of the root. Here it enters the specialized conducting strands ( vascular bundles) 61 and moves upward through these definite channels to the leaves where some of it is used in photosynthesis and the remainder is evaporated into the air. When aerial roots of orchids are wet by a shower they change in color from papery white to a pale green, revealing green tissues underneath. These tissues contain chlorophyll and may therefore perform the work of photosynthesis, a function not usually associated with the roots of plants. Water vapor also can be absorbed by the velamen. Experimental results show that certain orchids, when transferred from very dry air to very moist air, will absorb from 8 to 11 percent of their weight in moisture within 24 hours. After a thorough wetting by a tropical shower the velamen may absorb enough water to supply the plant for several days. Some orchids show further peculiarities of structure of the roots to insure maximum absorption and minimum evaporation of water. In EPIPHYTIC PLANTS OF THREE FAMILIES 1 Vnesia * of the Brgi 2 Dendrobium no bile of the Orchi daceae. 3. A spe cies of Rhipsalis |~ the Cactaceae. 62 Phalaenopsis Schilleriana the roots are flattened and lie close to the bark of the tree. Absorption of water takes place largely on the side next to the bark, while the other side is so constructed that it protects the roots against drying out. Structurally, the roots have a two- layered velamen on both sides, but on the upper side it is reduced, while on the lower side it is fully developed, very spongy in texture, and with a high capacity for absorbing water. Root hairs are seldom, if ever, found on the free hanging roots of orchids. Some of the epiphytic ferns, however, such as the giant staghorn ferns of Australia, produce modified types of hairs which are not sensitive to dryness and which therefore may exist for a long period of time. These peculiar brown hairs, which are exposed to the air, serve to hold water by capillarity and act as a sort of root sponge, probably like the velamen of orchids, absorbing vapor as well as actual drops of water from the air. In addition to water- absorbing leaf scales, leaf reservoirs, the velamen of air roots, and the root hairs of certain ferns, there are other adaptations which further enable epiphytes to survive above the ground. Most epiphytes develop a very thick cuticle over their stems and leaves which lessens water loss. Some are covered with waxy scales or possess hairy coverings which likewise function in slowing down evaporation. Sometimes, as in Spanish- moss, the leaves are reduced in size, or, as in certain of the epiphytic cacti, they are nothing more than spines. Occasionally orchids drop the expanded part of the leaf during dry periods and only the bulblike lower portion remains as a water and food storage organ. Mineral Nutrition The source of mineral elements for epiphytes has long been a subject for discussion. Ash analyses of Spanish- moss show that it contains compounds of sodium, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, chlorine, calcium, iron, sulfur, and silica. The amounts of sulfur, chlorine, and silica are higher than in many other plants, and the ferric oxide content is much higher. Obviously these minerals are not supplied through a root system from the soil solution as is true for such common plants as sunflowers and soybeans. It has been argued that the scales of Spanish- moss play the important role of catching and holding dust particles which supply the inorganic materials necessary for growth. To test this hypothesis, scientific studies were conducted by the Bureau of Chemistry of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, and their findings do not give substantial evidence to this The originals of the photographs reproduced on the opposite page were made in 1902 by the German botanist E. Idle, who spent the greater part of his life exploring in Brazil. These pictures are part of a small collection of Ule's which have been deposited in the library of the New Yor\ Botanical Garden. . The bromeliad, Nidularium eleuiheropetalum, shares the upper branches of a Brazilian tree with a 1arge> leaved aroid. 2. The staghornfern, Platycerium anainum, and a tropical polypody, Polypodium Ulei, s lite side by side as epiphytes on a jungle tree. 3. The ' bushy rosette of narrow leaves belongs to the bromc i tliad, Streptocalyx angustifolius. 4. A spineless, tree ^ ty^ fosette of narrow leaves belongs to the n here 64 theory. These investigators were unable to find visible evidence of quartz grains, which are prominent in ordinary dust, when superficial portions of the plants were rubbed off and examined under a polarizing microscope. Washings from the plants also failed to show appreciable amounts of mineral substances. Additional tests were made by comparing ash analyses of plants which had previously been washed with distilled water with unwashed specimens. Final tabulations showed some minor differences between washed and unwashed plants, but the differences were not systematic, and did not exceed variations expected in the sampling of materials. No change in the percentage of total ash was found, and also no differences in the amounts of silica or ferric oxide as would be expected if loosely adherent dust particles were washed away. The general conclusion was reached that, since dust can not be demonstrated in appreciable quantities on the plants or in the washings from them, Spanish- moss does not obtain its mineral elements from dust caught between the scales. This places considerably less emphasis on the importance of the scales as dust traps, and more upon their role as water-absorbing organs. It might also be added that the Spanish- mosses, and many other epiphytes, grow in tropical forests where the air is kept rather free from dust by frequent showers. In addition, it seems reasonable to believe that rain is more likely to wash dust away than to deposit it on a plant hanging in air. Further investigations, especially by Edgar T. Wherry and his associates, point to the possibility that air plants obtain their minerals chiefly from constituents already dissolved in rain water as it falls on the plants. We usually think that rain water is pure, but this is not necessarily true. A chemical analysis of rain water samples, taken near the coast of British Guiana, revealed that it contained minute quantities of iron, aluminum, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and chlorine. Sulfates, carbonates, silicates, and small amounts of ammonia also were present. The elements sodium and chlorine were found to be most abundant, and are accounted for by ocean spray which is carried to high levels by wind action. The source of mineral elements in rain water is traced ultimately to dust particles. As water vapor condenses and falls through the air it comes in contact with dust carried by air currents, and minute amounts of minerals are thus dissolved in this water by the time it falls on the earth. These minerals are not in the same proportions as found in the living plants, but it is well known that plants are capable of extracting relatively large amounts of such substances from very dilute solutions. Frequent showers are therefore most important to the growth of epiphytes since they supply both the necessary moisture and a continuous supply of very dilute mineral elements. 65 Under natural conditions most epiphytes are subjected to the water which drips from other plants, especially from the bark of branches of the plants supporting them. This would afford an additional source of inorganic substances with every shower. When epiphytes are grown indoors under artificial conditions they do not have the benefit of rain water, yet they may live successfully for a long time. Spanish- moss has been growing here at the New York Botanical Garden in the Rain Forest house for many years. It is sprayed several times each day with the regular city water, and the fact that it grows and produces flowers indicates that it is obtaining the necessary building materials. Some of the minerals are supplied from the city water, some perhaps from the canopy of dead branches above, and some from the washings from other plants. Carefully controlled experiments on the mineral nutrition of this plant might yield some interesting and important facts. Orchids have additional sources of minerals from the considerable vegetable detritus which ultimately collects about the base of long established plants. . This may be composed of decaying leaves, bits of bark, and sometimes lichens and mosses. After some lapse of time the epiphyte may have a small amount of soil at its disposal. This condition is found in the staghorn ferns, as well as in many orchids. Certain orchids also produce aerial roots which are negatively geotropic, and as they grow outward from the plant they form a thick basket- like tangle of roots which sometimes become a foot or more in diameter. These entangled masses are called " nest roots" and serve the important function of holding decaying plant materials which gradually accumulate. Enough humus may become lodged to serve as a source of both moisture and minerals. These " nest roots" are found in certain species of Oncidium and Cymbidium, as well as in some members of the Aroid family. Two important factors concerning the growth of epiphytes have been considered— the source of water, and the source of mineral elements. In addition, they must also have sunlight because it furnishes the energy for the process of food manufacture in all green plants. This problem has been met most successfully by epiphytes. By adapting themselves to aerial habitats they have raised themselves off the shaded forest floor and thus have access to enough sunlight each day to maintain growth and reproduction. Although " air plants," or epiphytes, have no roots in contact with the soil, they can absorb enough water and enough minerals that are dissolved in this water to grow and flourish in competition with hosts of other plants. They constitute a diverse and remarkable group, in which we find a high degree of specialization in the peculiar water- absorbing structures that make their very existence possible. 66 Spring ^ Programs at the Qarden Members Day Programs Wednesdays at 3: 30 P. M. Apr. 4 Daffodils in Your Garden James G. Esson, Editor, Gardeners' Chronicle of America May 2 Pleasures of Rock Gardening in Westchester County Harold Epstein, Member of the New York Botanical Garden June 13 Rose Growers' Day— In co- operation with the New York section of the American Rose Society All- day program to be announced Tivo Motion Pictures with Sound Saturdays at 3 o'clock in the Museum Building Mar. 17 Our Neighbors Down the Road— A scenic trip along the Pan- American Highway, produced by the Co- ordinator of Inter- American Affairs. Apr. 28 New York State Parks— Presented by C. R. Blakelock, Secretary, Long Island State Park Commission. Six Illustrated Lectures by Members of the Botanical Gardens Staff on THE GREAT GROUPS OF PLANTS How They Live From Year to Year Saturdays at 3 o'clock in the Museum Building Mar. 10 Flowering Plants, From Grass to Orchids Frances E. Wynne Mar. 24 More Flowers: Pussy- Willows to Chrysanthemums Frances E. Wynne Mar. 31 Trees That Bear Cones H. W. Rickett Apr. 7 Ferns of Forest and Field H. W. Rickett Apr. 14 Green Plants in Miniature— The Mosses and Liverworts Frances E. Wynne Apr. 21 Plants Without Roots, Stems, or Leaves— The Fungi and Algae ' F. J. Seaver RADIO PROGRAMS Alternate Fridays, 3: 30 p. m. WNYC ( 830 on the dial) Mar. 9 Two Years in the South Pacific Mrs. Elizabeth Williams, Red Cross Overseas Worker Mar. 23 Favorite Flowering Shrubs of Spring P. J. van Melle, Nurseryman, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and Instructor, New York Botanical Garden Apr. 6 How Finer Garden Flowers are Developed A. B. Stout, Curator of Education and Laboratories, New York Botanical Garden Apr. 20 Spring at The N. Y. Botanical Garden Mrs. Robert H. Fife, Chairman of Advisory Council, New York Botanical Garden 67 B R O A D C A S T By W. D. TURNER PL A S T I C ash- trays, bottle- caps, handles, containers of various sorts, and colorful tees for a golfer to use ivere exhibited on the studio table when Dr. W. D. Turner wds interuiezved during the Garden's broadcast Nov. 17 over WNYC on " Plastics from Plant Materials." Dr. Turner is Professor of Chemical Engineering at Columbia University and is also Eastern Technical Director of the Plastics Industries Technical Institute in New York. Excerpts from his talk are given here. PLANTS provide a large percentage of the plastic materials that are now being manufactured, and in the light of present research I can see a vast increase in the use of plants— particularly waste materials from the farm, such as corncobs and nutshells, also cornstalks, oat hulls, and many other products that formerly were a total loss to the producer of farm crops. At present, however, the most important plant used for plastics is cotton. The fibers— the same as are used for weaving cloth— are used for the plastics, but there again, the waste cotton can be used, for when the fibers are too short for spinning, they can be combined with chemicals and turned into plastics. Celluloid, you know, was the first plastic ever made, and it was created out of cotton linters, bits of wood that were ground into a pulp, nitric acid, and camphor. An Albany printer named Hyatt first made it in 1869, and he gave the world the start of an industry with infinite possibilities and with a future which now, 75 years later, is really just beginning. Waste material from lumbering, as well as waste material from farm crops, can be used in the making of plastics. And more than that, some very important by- products come from the use of wood waste in making plastics. The best-smelling factory in the world is probably the one in Wisconsin where about a quarter of all packaging paper used in the United States is manufactured. As a by- product of the sulphite wood pulp that is used for the paper, vanillin1 is made. This is the flavoring most used by bakeries and candy and dessert manufacturers, and it is, of course, much cheaper than the extract prepared from the beans of the vanilla orchid from the tropics. You ask how a flavoring like vanillin was ever discovered in sulphite wood waste. Well, years ago, all such wastes were dumped into rivers with the result that fish died and many people complained. Eventually laws were passed to prevent this pollution, so the mills had to find some other means of disposing of their refuse. The story is briefly told in a little book put out by the Plastics Institute. 2 Mr. Lougee, the author, says, in describing the work of a chemical engineer for one of the big paperVom-panies: " He began by treating waste liquors with lime in a precipitation process, which separates lignin from the residue. Lignin is further cooked with acid into what is called a sulphite lignin base. Treated in one way this base becomes vanillin. Treated another way, it is processed into lignin plastics. A number of chemical products such as calcium, sodium, magnesium, and other salts are recovered and disposed of at a profit. Hardly anything remains except the water that was originally added to wash and float the pulp." Oat hulls are used as a base for many plastics, in that furfural is processed from them— also from corn cobs; and furfural is the chemical base of some of our most important plastics. To explain what furfural is without going into the chemistry of it, I would say that furfural is a colorless oily liquid which has wide use in the manufacture of rubber, glue, disinfectants, lacquers, and dyes, as well as certain plastics. Oat hulls and corn cobs are also used occasionally, as soybeans are, for making plastic articles directly, but the soybeans seldom are used by themselves. It is customary to blend the soybean plastic with other materials. The best and most extensive soybean application has been 1. Pronounced with the accent on the first syllable. 2. Reviewed in this Journal in November, 1943. 68 made by Henry Ford. He purifies the soybean meal to remove all oils and then blends the protein part and the fibre part, which are left over, with a composition similar to bakelite. This blend makes strong and beautiful parts for automobile trim especially. Nutshells, a few years ago, started out to have tremendous possibilities for plastics manufacturing, and they are still used to a considerable extent. They figure in the manufacture of certain small parts for airplanes and are used for dies for casting; but since they were first developed in 1935, other waste products have outstripped them. They are now used chiefly as filler for plastics that are made from other materials. A promising new industry for Brazil is the production of bottle caps and such items made from coffee beans. 3 The plastics industry should become a great boon to farmers and producers of this and other countries. It is always dangerous to make predictions, but I believe that if corncobs or cornstalks or other light- weight materials are to find wide use in production of plastics, it will be necessary to use small portable plastic manufacturing plants which can be sent into farm districts. This is because these materials are so bulky that it will be more economical to carry the processing plant into the area than to transport the farm wastes by rail to distant centers for processing. Notices and Reviews of Recent ^ Books ( All publications mentioned here may be consulted in the Library of The New York Botanical Garden or may be purchased on order through the Library.) Four Who Opened a Continent S< H TH AMERICA CALLED THEM. Victor Wolfgang von Hagen. 311 pages, illustrations, bibliography, index. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. 1945. $ 3.75. " South America Called Them" by Victor von Hagen stands out like a peak in the Andes among the plethora of books on South America. The author gives vivid accounts of the expeditions of four great naturalist- explorers, La Condamine, Humboldt, Darwin, and Spruce, each of them a pioneer in his field, two of them supreme in their achievement. Their travels covered a century and a half. La Condamine came to Quito in 1735, Darwin published " The Origin of Species" in 1859, the year of Humboldt's death. During this period South America emerged as a free and independent continent, thanks to the leadership of Bolivar. La Condamine's purpose in going to Ecuador was to find out if Newton's theory that the earth is a globe flattened at the poles and bulging at the equator was correct. He proved it by nine years of laborious measurements in the Andes. While he was doing this La Condamine was shown the first map that had been made of the Amazon by a Jesuit Padre. This aroused that " curiosite ardente" which Voltaire found so characteristic of: him. He immediately planned to return to France by way of the Amazon and to make an accurate chart of that river which no Frenchman had ever seen. On this journey he unknowingly became the first rubber manufacturer for he made himself a pouch of rubber for his quadrant. Rubber was of course known to all the explorers since Cortez, who had seen the Aztecs play a game witli solid rubber balls. Next in line was one of the greatest naturalist of all times— Baron von Humboldt, the friend of Goethe, and possibly ( as Dr. von Hagen ingeniously suggests) the inspirer oE Bolivar. From 1799 to 1804 Humboldt and Bonpland, the botanist, explored Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru and established the connection between the Amazon and the Orinoco which La Condamine had heard of fifty years earlier. In Venezuela Humboldt Found coffee and chocolate 69 growing. Arab traders had brought cot-fee out of Ethiopia into Spain, from where it had reached the New World in 1720. Cacao, which when roasted and ground becomes chocolate, had been developed by the Incas under the name of Kakua and had I'eached Mexico before Cortez. Linnaeus had named the cacao tree " Theobroma Cacao" but it was Humboldt who described its cultivation and growth. Bonpland, returning to France, was made superintendent of her gardens at Malmaison by the Empress Josephine, the beautiful Creole who adored flowers. Baron von Humboldt was the first modern geographer who became a great traveler; he was a human geographer, a field in which he was the originator. His influence in his way was as great in the world of thought as Napoleon's in the world oE action. Animals, trees, plants, rivers, cities, streets, and currents bear his honored name. Thomas Jefferson invited him lo come to North America and they spent three weeks together at Monticello. There Jefferson communicated to Humboldt an extraordinary project for the future division of the continent of America into three great republics into which were to be incorporated Mexico and the South American countries. Humboldt's comment on bis visit to North America was " that the institution of slavery was the only cloud." He returned lo Europe with a mighty corpus oE knowledge which filled many volumes and was eagerly read. Humboldt's words and deeds fired the mind of the young Englishman, Charles Darwin, and lie grasped the first opportunity of going to South America. Captain Fitzroy needed a naturalist aboard the Beagle which was to make a survey of both coasts of South America. Darwin accepted the post. This was the only journey he ever made but it fertilized Ins thought the way guano fertilized the dry coastal land of Peru. And from the observations and deductions he made on the Galapagos Islands, the " Origin of Species" was born and zoology in its modern phase began. The last but not unworth}- successor of these great naturalists was Richard Spruce, a self- taught and painstaking botanist from Yorkshire. For seventeen years he explored the Amazon basin, sending home thousands of specimens to the museums of Europe. Kew alone received thirty thousand. He sent Cinchona to India. He made a careful study of rubber- yielding trees, and passed this information on to Kew, at that time the British government's adviser on rubber. Twenty years later, thanks to this information, another Englishman, Henry Wickham, made his famous— or rather, we might say infamous—" seed snatch" through which a whole industry was taken bodily from Amazonia to India and Malaya. Spruce had never intended this to happen. The pioneer age of South American exploration comes to a close with him. He is the last link between the Colonial and Industrial eras. Much remains to be explored; the author enumerates many of the things that are still waiting to be done. He ends with a trumpet call— " South America is Calling." Note: It seems almost invidious to single out for special mention any part of this superb book, but the 14th chapter stands out for its sympathetic interpretation of an important question, that confront one everywhere in the Andes— the problem of the Indian since the Conquest. AMY SPIXGARN. Crop- Plants of Georgia And Nearby States SOUTHERN HORTKILTIRE. H. P. Rtuckey. 688 pages, illustrated, indexed. Turner K. Smith and Co., Atlanta. Georgia. J2- 56. " Dedicated to the Farmers of Tomorrow," this book is a school book, and the material is so clearly and simply presented that even grade school students could understand it. In the preface, Paul Chapman, Editor, affirms that the nation's trend in agriculture is towards fruit and vegetables and away from field crops, and that the South is largely responsible for providing said fruit and vegetables, especially in winter. The author follows this lead and leatures orchards, groves, berry acreage, and other food- producing land, for commercial purposes and also for home use. Peaches have the spot- light, naturally, for Dr. Stuckey is a loyal Georgian, the Director of the Georgia Experiment Sta- 70 tion. Apples, pecans, figs, the several berries, melons and vegetables— all are given detailed attention from planting to marketing, not forgetting to brush off insects and ward off diseases. Questions for class discussion, references for further study, and many maps add to the value of the text. In conclusion, space is given to the home vegetable garden, and the beautifying of home grounds, which makes the happy ending. However, some southern horticulturists will look in vain for cotton and tobacco, and those who live across the Florida line will not find oranges in the index, but only okra and onions under " O"; likewise, no grapefruit under " G", but only garlic and grapes. The title of the book covers a large territory, but from the Georgian viewpoint, the great sub- tropical crops fade out in the distance. " Southern Horticulture'' gives a very practical discussion of the subjects chosen from the wealth of plant material of the southern states. EVA NOBLE, Jacksonville, Fla. Guide for Successful Fruit- Growing F R U I T S FOR THE HOME GARDEN. U. P. Hedrick. 171 pages, illustrated, indexed. Oxford University Press, New York, 1944. S3. Here is an excellent book on fruit growing, designed particularly for the person who is entering this field but none the less valuable to the fruit grower in general. Its main point of distinction lies in the concise and easily understood manner in which directions are given, instruction which the amateur may readily grasp and put to practical use. Commencing with the essentials of soil, site and cjimate selection, the author goes on to describe the various fundamental practices necessary to assure a successful outcome. It is evident that the information dispensed is the culmination of many years o F close observation and association with this work. The chapter on propagating fruits will no doubt be especially intriguing to the novice, as too the spraying calendar, both of which are clearly set forth without over- much confusing detail. Separate chapters are devoted to each of the main fruits or fruit groups, giving detailed information of their care together with a selection of varieties, many of which are of recent introduction, in their order of ripening. The illustrations add much to the value of this work. EDWIN BECKETT, Middlcfozen Farm, Red Bank, N. J. Orchids of a Distant Land THE ORCHIDS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. H. Jl. R. Rupp. 152 pages, illustrated, indexed. Australasian Medical Publishing Co. Ltd., N. S. W. 1943. The first volume in a projected new Flora of New South Wales, issued by the National Herbarium, has been prepared by an honorary member of the staff who has made the study of the native flora a major interest during half a century. For the past 20 years the Rev. Rupp has specialized in the orchids oE that part of Australia. Twenty- three plates illustrate characteristic plants of different types. The addendum includes five newly discovered species of Diuris, described and named by Mrs. Pearl R. Messmer. While the book is technical and complete enough for the taxonomist, its style is such that, with the help of the introduction and glossary, botanically untrained persons should be able to use it too. CAROL H. WOODWARD. Far Western Plants, Continued ILLUSTRATED FLORA OF THE PACIFIC STATES, Vol. II. Le Roy Abrams. 635 pages, illustrated, indexed. Stanford University Press, Calif. 1944. $ 7.50. Plant lovers who for years have been waiting for the second volume of Professor Le Roy Abrams' Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States will be gratified to know that it has appeared and that there will apparently be a relatively short delay in tlie publication of the third volume. The book covers the flora from the Buckwheat Family to the Krameria Family, inclusive, and offers descriptions and illustrations of 1,663 species. 71 The style of the book has been conspicuously changed. Instead of a separate cut for each species, the illustrations have been assembled into plates, mostly full page and dealing with nine species each. The book will certainty be extremely useful to all botanists, whether professional or amateur, who are interested in western plants. H. A. GLEASON. Science in Retrospect A SHORTER HISTORY OF SCIENCE. Sir William Cecil Dampier. 189 pages, illustrated, indexed. Macmillan, New York. 1944. $ 2. Some years ago, Sir William Cecil Dampier of Cambridge University wrote a rather extensive history of science which considered the philosophic as well as the chronological and more tangible aspects of the subject. In referring to that volume, Sir William has written: " Some, however, have found the philosophic part difficult to read, and have asked for a straightforward story of the growth of science reduced to its simplest terms." The present pocket- sized volume is a result of that thought, and the author, in preparing it, had in mind primarily two groups of people, tlie general reader and the scientifically inclined schoolboy who needs to look at his subject, as he says, " from a humanist standpoint." E. H. FULLING. Monograph on Cellulose CELLULOSE and CELLULOSE DERIVATIVES ( Hijrh Polymers, Volume 5). Emil Ott. Editor. 1,176 pages. Author and subject index. Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York, 1943. ¥ 15. In the words of the Editor, this is "? thorough introduction for work on any cellulose problem by any person with reasonably wide general technical training." After a short introduction on the occurrence of cellulose, comprehensive monographs which do not presuppose an understanding of a later section deal with the fundamental properties of cellulose, structure and properties of cellulose fibers, carbohydrates normally associated with cellulose in nature, lignin and other noncarbohydrates, preparation and purification of cellulose, derivatives of cellulose, physical properties of cellulose and its derivatives, and a summary oi technical application. This compilation is written by a number of experts thoroughly conversant with their respective fields. However, a more extensive study of the work, for example of Bose or Falck and others, should have prevented the editor from publishing statements as occur on page 152 with reference to enzymatic degradations. F. F. NORD, Fordham University, Garden Photography ALL ABOUT PHOTOS IN THE GARDEN AND YOUR CAMERA. R. Jl. Fanstone. 58 pages, illustrated. Transatlantic Arts, New York. 1941. 50c. Reading Mr. Fanstone's book on photos in the garden gave me pleasure, and friends who borrowed the book agreed with my own opinion that it is interesting and instructive, and that it discusses the various problems one encounters in garden photography. The only criticism we had to make concerned the illustrations, which were either cropped too much or taken too close to the subject, with the result that portions of anatomy are missing. For example, the five pictures by H. Gorny are clear and sharp only in parts, and look as though they were prints taken out of the heart of the original negative. FREDERICK W. RAETZ. Negro Biography DR. GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER, Scientist. Shirley Graham and George D. Lipscomb. Illustrated by Elton C. Fax. 248 pages, appendix, index. Julian Jlessner, Inc., 1944. $ 2.50. Two people of his own race have written about the great Negro scientist in a documented but somewhat Actionized biography, and a third has illustrated the work. Enlivened with conversation, the book develops the character of Dr. Carver in an easy manner, showing him chiefly in his relations with other people, but not neglecting his contributions to agricultural economy. CAROL H. WOODWARD. 72 Notes, News, and Comment Red Cross Display. When the doors were opened to the public after the ceremony for the unveiling of the Garden's Red Cross display in the conservatories the afternoon of Sunday, March 4, there were 15,000 people waiting on the paths outside and in the adjacent houses, to view the floral red cross ( pictured on the cover) and the Philippine jungle scene with the Red Cross recreation hut erected among the trees. A description of the display and a report of the program will be given in next month's Journal. Conference. F. L. Arland of White Plains, a member of the Botanical Garden, who has worked for many years on the culture and breeding of Epigaea repens, the trailing arbutus or mayflower, spoke on his experiences with these plants at the conference of the staff and registered students of the Garden Feb. 16. The second half of the program was given by Arthur Cronquist, who described some of his recent taxonomic studies in the Sapotaceae. Addresses. Dr. William J. Robbins, after attending a board meeting of the Biological Stain Commission at the Cornell Medical College in New York on Feb. 17, left for Providence where he gave an address that evening at Brown University on " Growth Substance Deficiencies of the Fungi." The evening of Feb. 21 he addressed an audience at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on " Penicillin and Similar Substances." This was the third lecture in a course being given there on " Recent Discoveries in Plant Science." On March 2 Dr. Robbins attended a meeting of the National Science Fund in Boston, where, as chairman, he accepted a fund of $ 50,000 from the National Sugar Research Foundation to be distributed as prizes for research on new uses for cane sugar. Dr. A. B. Stout spoke on " Hemerocallis, Old and New" Feb. 5 in the course in floriculture given by the Horticultural Society of New York. On March 6 he addressed the Bronxville Woman's Club, an Affiliate of the Garden, on the same subject. Elizabeth C. Hall addressed the Rye Garden Club, an Affiliate, Feb. 6 on " What Makes the Library of the New York Botanical Garden Unique." On Feb. 21 she spoke before the North Atlantic group of the American Rock Garden Society on " A Five- Foot Shelf for Rock Gardeners." ' Dr. Roberta Ma spoke at Adelphi College in Garden City Feb. 12 on " Chinese Women in Science and their Oppor- Visitors. Dow V. Baxter of the University of Michigan spent two days at the Garden, Feb. 26 and 27, working on the fungi of Puerto Rico. While here he showed the staff his motion pictures taken during a recent trip to the West Indies. Josiah L. Lowe of the College of Forestry at Syracuse, Rene Pomereau of the College of Forestry in Quebec, and J. M. Waterston of Bermuda, currently of Cornell, were other February visitors in the mycological herbarium. Among other visitors of the month were Helena Azevedo, Librarian in the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro; Margarita Silva, mycologist in the School of Tropical Medicine at San Juan, Puerto Rico; Oscar P. Chiesa, of the Botanical Garden in Buenos Aires; Jose G. Rivas of the Department of Education in Buenos Aires; George W. Irving, Biochemist in charge of biologically active compounds for the U. S. D. A. at Beltsville, Md., who came to discuss research problems and visit Dr. Robbins's laboratory; Dr. Walter Carter of the University of Hawaii, who is working on pineapple wilt caused by insects, and who came to confer with Drs. Robbins and Dodge. Groups. School and Scout groups which have toured the Garden in recent weeks under the guidance of staff members include a nature study class from the Spence Girls' School, classes from Bronx Public Schools Nos. 27 and 114, and a Zionist Scout troop. THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN Officers JOSEPH R. SWAN, President HENRY DE FOREST BALDWIN, Vice- president JOHN L. MERRILL, Vice- president ARTHUR M, ANDERSON, Treasurer HENRY DE LA MONTAGNE, Secretary Elective Managers E. C. AucHTER MRS. ELON HUNTINGTON H. HOBART PORTER WILLIAM FELTON BARRETT HOOKER FRANCIS E POWELL JR EDWIN DE T. BECHTEL PIERRE JAY M HAROLD T PR A T T' HENRY F. DU PONT CLARENCE MCK. LEWIS M R S " hAB< fD T, L ™ A Tr MARSHALL FIELD E. D. MERRILL WILLIAM J. ROBBINS REV. ROBT. I. GANNON, S. J ROBERT H. MONTGOMERY A. PERCY SAUNDERS Ex- Officio Managers FIORELLO H. LAGUARDIA, Mayor of the City of Nezv York MARY E. DILLON, President of the Board of Education ROBERT MOSES, Park Commissioner Appointive Managers By the Torrey Botanical Club H. A. GLEASON By Columbia University MARSTON T. BOGERT MARCUS M. RHOADES CHARLES W. BALLARD SAM F. TRELEASE THE STAFF WILLIAM J. ROBBINS, P H . D . , SC. D. Director H. A. GLEASON, P H . D . Assistant Director and Curator HENRY DE LA MONTAGNE Assistant Director FRED J, SEAVER, P H . D . , SC. D. Head Curator A. B. STOUT, P H . D . Curator of Education and Laboratories BERNARD O. DODGE, P H . D . Plant Pathologist JOHN HENDLEY BARNHART, A. M., M. D. Bibliographer Emeritus H. W. RICKETT, P H . D . Bibliographer BASSETT MAGUIRE, P H . D . Curator HAROLD N. MOLDENKE, P H . D . ( On leave of absence) Associate Curator ELIZABETH C HALL, A. B., B. S. Librarian ELMER N. MITCHELL Photographer ROBERT S. WILLIAMS Research Associate in Bryology E. J. ALEXANDER, B. S. Assistant Curator and Curator of the Local Herbarium W. H. CAMP, P H . D . ( On leave of absence) Assistant Curator FRANCES E. WYNNE, P H . D . Assistant Curator E. E. NAYLOR, P H . D . Assistant Curator ARTHUR CRONQUIST, P H . D . Assistant Curator SELMA KOJAN, B. S. Technical Assistant ROSALIE WEIKERT Technical Assistant CAROL H. WOODWARD, A. B. Editor of the Journal THOMAS H. EVERETT, N. D. HORT. Horticulturist G. L. WITTROCK, A. M. Custodian of the Herbarium OTTO DEGENER, M. S. Collaborator in Hawaiian Botany A. J. GROUT, P H . D . Honorary Curator of Mosses ROBERT HAGELSTEIN Honorary Curator of Myxomycetes JOSEPH F. BURKE Honorary Curator of the Diatomaceae B. A. KRUKOFF Honorary Curator of Economic Botany ETHEL ANSON S. PECK HAM Honorary Curator, Iris and Narcissus Collections A. C PFANDER Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds To reach the Botanical Garden, take the Independent Subway to Bedford Park Blvd. station; use the Bedford Park Blvd. exit and walk east. Or take the Third Avenue Elevated to the Bronx Park or the 200th St. station, or the New York Central to the Botanical Garden station. THE CORPORATION OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN The New York Botanical Garden was incorporated by a special act of the Legislature of the State of New York in 1891. The Act of Incorporation provides, among other things, for a self- perpetuating body of incorporators, who meet annually to elect members of the Board of Managers. They also elect new members of their own body, the present roster ( if which is Kiven below. The Advisory Council consists of 12 or more women who are elected by the Board. By custom, they are also elected to the Corporation. Officers are: Mrs. Robert H. Fife, Chairman; Mrs. Elon Huntington Hooker, First Vice- Chairman; Mrs. William A. Lockwood, Second Vice- Chairman; Mrs. Nelson B. Williams, Recording Secretary; Mrs. Townsend Scudder, Corresponding Secretary; and Mrs. F. Leonard Kellogg, Treasurer. Arthur M. Anderson Mrs. Arthur M. Anderson Mrs. George Arents, Jr. George Arents. Jr. E. C. Auchter Dr. Raymond F. Bacon Prof. L. H. Bailey Stephen Baker Henry de Forest Baldwin Sherman Baldwin Charles W. Ballard Mrs. James Barnes William Felton Barrett Mrs. William Felton Barrett Edwin De T. Bechtel William B. Bell Prof. Charles P. Berkey Prof. Marston T. Bogert Prof. William J. Bonisteel George P. Brett Mrs. Richard de Wolfe Brixey Dr. Nicholas M. Butler Mrs. Andrew Carnegie Miss Mabel Choate Miss E. Mabel Clark W. R. Coe Richard C. Colt Mrs. Jerome W. Coombs Mrs. Henry S. Fcnimore Cooper Mrs. William Redmond Cross Mrs. C. I. DcBevoise Mrs. Thomas M. Debevotse Edward C. Dclafield Mrs. John Ross Delafield Julian F. Dctmer Mrs. Charles D. Dickey Mrs. Walter Douglas Mrs John W. Draper Henry F. du Pont Mrs. Moses W. Faitmite Marshall Field William B, O. Field Mrs. Robert H. Fife Mrs Henry J. Fisher Harry Harkness Flagler Mrs Murtimer J. Fox Childs Frick Rev. Robert I. Gannon, S. J. Dr. H. A. Gleason Mrs. Frederick A. Godlcy Mrs. George McM. Godley Prof. R. A. Harper Mrs. William F. Hencken Mrs. A. Barton Hepburn Mrs. Elon H. Hooker Mrs. Clement Houghton Archer M. Huntington Pierre Jay Mrs. Walter Jennings Mrs. Alfred C. Kay Mrs. F. Leonard Kellogg Mrs. Warren Kinney H. R. Kunhardt. Jr. Mrs. Barent Lefferts Clarence McK. Lewis Mrs. William A. Lockwood Dr. D. T. MacDougal Mrs. David Ives Mackie Mrs. H. Edward Manville Parker McCollester Miss Mildred McCormick Louis E. McFadden Mrs. John R. McGinley Dr. E. D. Merrill John L. Merrill Roswell Miller. Jr. Mrs. Roswcll Miller, Jr. Mrs. Roswcll Miller, Sr. S. P. Miller George M. Moffctt H. de la Montagne Col. Robert H. Montgomery Mrs. Robert H. Montgomery Harrington Moore Mrs. William H. Moore B. Y. Morrison Mrs. Augustus G. Paine Mrs. James R. Parsons Rufus L. Patterson Mrs. Wheeler H. Peckham Mrs. George W. Perkins Howard Phipps Rutherford Piatt H. Hobart Porter Francis E. Powell, Jr. Mrs. Harold I. Pratt Mrs. Rodney Procter Mrs. Henry St. C. Putnam Stanley G. Ranger Johnston L. Redmond Ogden Mills Reid Prof. Marcus M. Rhoades Dr. William J. Robbins Prof. A. Percy Saunders Mrs. Melvin Sawin John M. Schiff Mrs. Henry F. Schwan Mrs. Arthur Hoyt Scott Mrs. Arthur H. Scribner Mrs. Townsend Scudder Mrs. Samuel Seabury Mrs. Guthrie Shaw Prof. Edmund W. Sinnott Mrs. Samuel Sloan Edgar B. Stern Nathan Straus Mrs. Theron G. Strong Mrs. Arthur H. Sulzberger Joseph R. Swan Mrs. Joseph R. Swan Prof. Sam F. Trelease Mrs. Harold McL. Turner Mrs. Antonie P. Voislawsky Manfred Wall! Allen Wardwell Nelson M. Wells Alain C. White Mrs. Nelson B. Williams Mrs. Percy H. Williams John C. Wister Richardson Wright |
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