This new book on microtechnical methods brings together a tremendous amount of information from the literature, and years of experience on the part of the author. The book is basically in three parts which might be called general microtechnique, specific applications, and histochemistry.
“You acquire a ‘green thumb’ only when you understand what goes on in the plants themselves.” So says the preface to this book which tells you what does go on in plants. Taken up in order are the life story of a plant, the way it secures the raw materials it needs, what it does with them, and how these and many other factors enter into the production of successful growth. The book is written in non-technical language and style, by a team (Dr. and Mrs. Northen) well qualified for the job. Profuse illustrations help explain the text material, and aid the reader’s understanding. Specific examples of cultivated and native plants are used abundantly.
This pamphlet is an excellent report on these groups and their distribution in Virginia, and will be of use to all people interested in botany or nature in the mid-Appalachians. Dr. Massey has had much experience in this area, and should speak with authority.
This book is intended to provide a survey of the field of paleobotany for the non-specialist. It is the second edition of a work published 20 years ago, and adds new coal-ball flora, Cambrian and Proterozoic finds, Triassic angiosperms, and Mesozoic conifers to the record of the first edition. The author begins with chapters on biological and geological principles, as well as paleobotanical techniques. Subsequent chapters take up plant groups in a phylogenetic sequence, covering and explaining relationships between the various members. There are four chapters on angiosperms and their related floras. The book ends with chapters on pollen analysis, fossil plants, evolution and phylogeny. Rather extensive reference lists at the end of each chapter should prove of value to the student or researcher, while separate author subject indices lead to any item.
The Twelfth Annual Wildflower Pilgrimage will be held at Gatlinburg, Tennessee, April 26, 27, and 28, 1962. There will be the usual guided botanical hikes and motorcades and bird walks sponsored by the Department of Botany of the University of Tennessee and by the Naturalist Service of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Inquiries may be directed to Dr. A. J. Sharp, of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Fernald has called attention to the existence of two separate plants which had been passing under the name of Rudbeckia hirta L. One of these, which he interprets as genuine R. hirta, is native in open woods and thickets from western Massachusetts to Illinois, south to Georgia and Alabama; in other words, a member of the old Appalachian forest flora, characterized by the conservatism of that flora. It has mostly ovate cauline leaves, 2.5-6.5 cm. broad, usually coarsely toothed. The other, which he calls R. serotina Nutt., apparently originated on the Great Plains and, with the clearing of the forests, rapidly spread as an aggressive weed into the eastern states, in this, newly invaded area giving rise to an innumerable number of varieties and forms.
The distribution for Froelichia gracilis (Hook.) Moq. is given in Fernald’s Manual of Botany as Iowa to Colorado, south to Arkansas, Texas and Mexico, being adventive eastward to New York, New Jersey and Virginia. Gleason’s New Illustrated Britton and Brown Flora gives Indiana to Iowa and Colorado, south to Arkansas, Texas, and northern Mexico, and being adventive in New York and Virginia.
West Virginia University plans to open for its first season during the summer of 1962 a new instructional and research facility, The Terra Alta Biological Station. The name Terra Alta has a double significance, indicating the location of the Station (elev. 2,575 ft.) on “high land” atop the Allegheny Mountains, as well as designating the post office address. Terra Alta, a town with a population of 1,504 (1960 census), is within two miles of the Station.
The northern Triassic area of Virginia is rather sharply defined topographically and geologically. On the north it is delimited by the Potomac River and on the south by the Rapidan River. Topographically its western limit is the highlands of the Catoctin, Hogback Mountain, Bull Run, Pond Mountain and Baldwin ridges as far as Meetze on the Southern Railway. Below Meetze southward as far as the Rapidan River, highlands composed of ancient crystalline schists continue the western boundary.