Eriophorum Research Articles

British Empire Naturalists' Association in Gloucestershire

THE council of the British Empire Naturalists' Association has decided to make the North Cotswolds the subject for its 1936 field-meeting and holiday, which will take place on June 13-27; most of the local arrangements will be made by the North Cotswold Branch of the B.E.N.A., of which Mrs. A. B. Lane is honorary secretary. Though with little out of the ordinary in the way of birds and mammals, the area is especially rich in flora. It contains one of the two British haunts of the adder's tongue spear-wort, Ranunculus ophioglossifolius, which has been safeguarded by the generosity of the Cotswold Naturalists' Field Club. Other rare plants in the flora include the lizard orchid, which was recorded from Birdlip in east Gloucestershire; the rare green-berried ‘virescens' variety of elder by the side of the Chelt near College Road, Cheltenham; the great earth-nut, Carum bulbocastamim, in a cornfield near Cheltenham, previously thought only an eastern county plant; one of the rare vetches, Lathy rus tuberosus, previously thought to be confined to eastern counties, but now recorded from near Cirencester; and three stations for the rare cotton grass, Eriophorum latifolium. The flora of the area also includes grass-of-Parnassus, wintergreen, pasqueflower, lily-of-the-valley, fritillary (including an albino form that persists near Elmore), herb Paris, deadly nightshade, meadow-saffron and the two sundews. Regarding fauna, the hobby and hoopoe are much rarer than formerly, but specimens of these occur on migration most years; hawfinches nest in many woods in large numbers, and it will be interesting to see if any of the crossbills, immigrants from the Continent last year, remain to this year.

CALCIUM ARSENATE AND UNPRODUCTIVENESS IN CERTAIN SOILS

Soil that contained thirty parts per million of arsenic and a soil of similar type containing eight parts per million were transferred to a greenhouse. Oats and cowpeas were planted and samples of roots and tops were obtained and analyzed. In all cases the concentration of arsenic in the tops and roots was appreciably higher in the plants grown on the high arsenic soil although the tops had much lower concentrations of arsenic than did the roots. Portions of the soil from the low arsenic soil were then spiked with additional calcium arsenate and planted to cowpeas. Marked differences in germination and rates of growth were apparent. The addition of large amounts of calcium arsenate to gray light sandy loam soils may be expected to interfere seriously, sooner or later with the subsequent growing of such arsenic sensitive crops such as cowpeas, oats, cotton, and various grasses. 1 table.

The Physiology and Ecology of the Calcifuge Habit in Eriophorum Angustifolium

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS. 5 (1) Calcium effects.. 5 (2) Effects of basic ratio.. 6 (3) Anatomical characters associated with calcium and basic ratio effects 8 Influence of the cell wall on water relations . . .10 (4) The effect of magnesium ..11 (5) Effects of acidity ..12 (6) Germination of Eriophorum ..15 (7) Climatic influences ..16 (8) Natural habitat factors ..20 THE COMPOSITION OF NATURAL SOLUTIONS IN WHICH HEATH AND MOOR PLANTS GROW 26 THE PROBLEM OF CALCIFUGE HABIT IN THE LIGHT OF THHE EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS 27 APPENDIX. COMPOSITION OF CULTURE SOLUTIONS USED ..31 REFERENCES TO LITERATURE ..32

Scirpus Eriophorum and Some Related Forms

Scirpus Eriophorum and Some Related Forms