a tied sheaf of wooden nursery tags whose pencilled names match the next tree found dead on the grounds.

Twenty-three nursery tags are present, pierced and strung on a length of twine. Each tag bears a plant name in a single hand, usually binomial, with occasional cultivar marks. When one tag is detached and placed in soil within the glasshouse, a living tree on the premises bearing the written name is found dead within forty-eight hours. Death is complete. Leaves, if present, are desiccated. No insects are present in unusual number. Cutting the twine does not alter the effect. Burning a tag results in the same outcome; the ash retains legible strokes until dispersed. Tags left unhandled for several weeks show new writing on the reverse faces. The added names correspond to subsequent losses. No tag has been observed to name a tree not already on the grounds.