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42 



MR. JAMES BRITTEN ON SOME 



effects, give ine any 



information concerning it 



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of Musson's botanical 

 [see J). 50]. 



Occasionally there are in the Sohuuler MSS. notes from Masson of con- 

 siderahle length as well as descriptions taken from liis MSS* : that under 

 Leucodendron conocarinun^ R.Br., may be cited as an example of his careful 

 observation : 



**This tree grows on the skirts of the mountains in hard stony soil and 

 somethnes in sandy and gravelly earth ; grows to the height of 8 or 10 feet, 

 with many irregular brunches, wdiich spread on all sides, and never aspires, 

 with an upright stem. The leaves are 5-dentated and all over liairy and of a 

 white silvery colour, but shine not as the P. (ivf/entea \_Let(i'odendron ai'fjenfeuni, 

 R. Br.]. They flower iu Sept. Octob. and Novemb. The flowers are of a 

 beautiful gold colour collected into a head, but naked without squamre. The 

 stile is long, a little bent.. The flower is burst by the stile, is hairy and curls 

 back. The stile afterwards becomes a down or pappus, which adheres to the 

 seed; the seed is ripe in March ; it contains within a hard coat 

 but comes up plentifully from the seeds which spread themselves sometinu's 

 over the adjacent vineyards. It is very plentiful at Constantia. When the 

 fields are set a-fire, and the undershrub and grass are burnt off, the young 

 plants come up [jlentifully next year. In the time of flowering tlie irecs nre 

 plentifully stocked with birds ; viz. Certhia formosa violacea [ Cinnyns 

 violaceus (L.) ] and a brown sort with a renuirkablo long tail, where they 

 feed on the nectar of the flowers which they extract with their long arched 

 bills. The people of the Cape Town use it for burn wood which is dug up 

 and carried by their slaves for 5 or 6 miles on a stick about 5 feet long, 

 with a large bundle on each end, which they carry over the shoulders. 

 It would make a fine ornament among tlie green liouse plants in Europe, 

 and is to be raised only by seeds, to be managed in the same manner as the 



It was owing to inquiries instituted with regard to Masson's herbarium 



'that the Department came into possession of a large number of his drawings 



whichj so far as they go, are of almost equal importance with his specimens. 



A certain number of these drawinos were known to have belono-ed to Banks, 



and a question as to (he whereabouts of these led to the pul)lication of an 

 account of them in Journ, Bot. 1884, pp. 144-148. This in turn led to the 

 presentation to the Department by Mr. Charles Lee, great-grandson of the 

 original James Lee in whose possession they had been, of nearly a 

 hundred drawings, the value of which may be gauged b}' the fact that 

 Mr. J. G. Baker based upon them descriptions of new species of Gefhyllis 

 and other monocotyledonous genera dt^scribed in the Journal referred to 

 in 1885-G. All the drawings are now arranged iu one series and form a 

 large folio volume. 



* Space here in MS» 



