NEW PLANT SPECIES FOUND IN P.E.l.

by R. Bruce MacLaren, 5 Rosemount Dr., Charlottetown

TOOTHWORT (Dentaria diphylla)

This plant was dicovered on May 24, 1983 and is believed to be the first record of this plant in P.E.I.

It was found in boggy soil about 200 yards below Indian Bridge on the Morell River, and about three or four yards from the edge of the stream. There were two colonies, one about ten feet by three feet, the other much smaller. The plants were about 8 « 14 inches in height, with the stem leaves in two's, opposite or nearly so, with three leaflets each. The blooms, six to ten per plant, were about onehalf inch in diameter and arranged in an irregular loose cluster. The color of the petals, when collected, could be described as a faded pink. The root stalks were horizontal, fleshy, and scaled. Identification was verified by.Dr. Catling, a taxonomist at the Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa.

Oddly enough, this plant belongs to the Cruciferae, a family that gives us many of our bad weeds: Wild Radish, Stinkweed, several species of Wild Mustard, and many others.

How about the name, Dentaria diphylla? Dentaria must surely be associated with teeth, while diphyZZa refers to the paired leaves.

WANTED: INFORMATION ON MISSING CANNON

In 1901 the Natural History and Antiquarian Society of P.E.I. placed a 1758 Louisburg cannon in Queen Square in Charlottetown. It is thought that this cannon was located south of the old Post Office Building in Charlottetown, until sometime prior to the construction of the Confederation Center.

Since the present day Natural History Society can be considered the suc- cessor to the earlier group, we are interested in any information on the current whereabouts of "our" cannon. We are also interested in learning what has become of the collections of natural history specimens belonging to the earlier group. These included such items as the Gordon herbarium; collections of rocks and minerals, insects, shells, leaves, and woods; as well as other miscellaneous items like bear‘s paws and walrus skulls. If you can shed any light on these matters, the newsletter editor would be glad to hear from you.

IO