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370

THE

AMERICAN

NA TURALIST.

[VOL. XXXIJ.

Rondele/iacombsii,Calesbaea Pania, Atiaslrachia nor1/ropolypyrzgcenes,

and C/doriseleusiioidles,
var. veslila,are new.
piaunr,T-Zbebiiia
pelrop/ilca,
In addition to the enumerationof the species, full notes on the abundance and character of the soil on which the plants occurred are
given. (Ecologically, the flora may be divided into seven regions:
the maritime,(2) the river bottoms, (3) inland swamps or
(i)
"cieneuas," (4) upland woods, (5) the mountain regions, (6) the
savannahs or wooded grass lands, and (7) a kind of arid, desert-like
region. Each region has many typical plants. These regions, however, grade into each other; some plants occur in one or more
regions. The orders Leguminosoe,Compositoe,Rubiaceo, Euphorbiacece, Malvaceze, and Graminex lead in point of numbers,and it is
probable that the Graminex and Cyperace are more numerousthan
given in the catalogue, and that the number could be considerably
augmented by another season's collecting. It is to be hoped that
Mr. Combs may again visit this region. The catalogue is, however,
a representative one, since the collecting was done during both the
dry and the wet season, the dry season, when Composite are most
abundant, corresponding to our winter. The determinationswere
made by J. M. Greenman, of Cambridge, who is well qualified to
speak on the Cuban flora, having previously studied the Northrop
collection. The paper contains the vernacular Spanish names, and
these are quite numerous because of the many uses that Cubans
make of the native plants for medicinal purposes. Mr. Combs has
furthergiven a short account of Cuban medical plants in another
paper.'
- L. H. PAMMEL.
Central American Botany. - Captain J. Donnell Smith,who for
a number of years has been concentratinghis energy on the Central
American flora,publishes his twentiethinstallmentof descriptionsof
new plants from Guatemala and other Central American republics
in the Boltauic& Gazelle for March. One new genus, Prosthecidiscus, of the Asclepiadaceo, is characterized and well figured.
Epiphyllous Flowers. - The knowledge of this unusual type of
inflorescence, summarized by C. de Candolle 2 and Gravis 3a few
years since, is enriched by a study of C/ti-iba,lamosa
conducted
under the direction of Professor Warming,of the Copenhagen Uni1 Some Cuban Medical Plants.
Pha/crmaceuticalReview, 15: 87-9I,
I36, i8972 Ale'nm.
Soc. de Pagys. et d'Hist. Aat. de Geizeve, i890, suppl. vol.
3 ComojtesReend.Soc. Roy. de Bot. de Belg., i89i.

109-II2,

No. 377.] REVIEWS

OF RECENT

LITERATURE.

371

versity,by C. E. Boldt,the resultsof whichappear in the Videnzsfor i897 of the Natural History Society of that
kabelizreMedde/eleser

city.

]i3sgen, of the Eisenach Forestry

Forest Trees.-Professor
School, has recentlypublished a handbook of informationconcerning-the structureand life processes of forest trees,' which are considered as to their winter aspect, the causes of their forms,buds,
tissues, wood and bark structure,annual or growthrings,formation
of heart wood, leaves, root activity,uses and source of water and
mineral matters,metabolism and the transportationof food, fructification and germination. The illustrations, many of which are
original, contribute materiallyto the elucidation of the subjects disT.
cussed.

The Work of Aldrovandus. In December last the city of

Bologna celebrated the opening of a hall commemorativeof one
of her firstbotanists, and the proceedings on that occasion, accompanied by an analysis of his works,form an attractive octave pamphlet2 which has recentlybeen published.
/alsas
volume of 7)-ansactionsof tihe
Botanical Notes.-The
AcadeImyof Sciencefor i895-96, issued in the early part of the present year,contains the followingpapers on botany: " Additions to the
Grasses of Kansas," by A. S. Hitchcock; " Additions to the Flora
of Kansas," by B. B. Smyth; "The Propagation of Erythroniums,"
by E. B. Knerr; and " A Provisional List of the Flowering Plants
of McPherson County," by H. J. Harnly.
Dr. B. L. Robinson brings together,in the Botanical Gazelte for
March, notes extendingthe range of several North American species
of Caryophyllaceoewhich have come to his notice since the publicaFlora, and adds to the flora
tion of the last fascicle of the Synooptical
both from
two new species (Stellaia oxjliylla and S. zoas/zingloniana,
the Northwest),and two (Arenaria idigiriosa and Dr;ynaariacordat)
previously described fromwithoutour range.
Under the title of " Contributionsto Western Botany, No. 8 "
unfortunatelywithout evident indication of place of publication
1 Biisgen,M. Ban und Lebenunzsrer Wica/dbd-ume.Jena,Fischer,I897. SvO,
viii+ 230 pp., IOO ills.
2 Mattirolo,0.
Bologna,
L'OOpera botanica di Ulisse AidSDovalzdi (I 549-I605).
Fratelli Merlani,I897. Svo, xxx + I37 pp., withportrait.