very rare phenomenon; of upwards of fifty specimens in 
the Kew Herbarium not one has a pod. Iam not aware 
whether the structure of the embryo and the germination of 
D. polyphylla have been observed, but I find that the cotyle- 
dons are longitudinally folded, one embracing the other, 
and the radicle is bipartite almost to its tip, forming a long 
stalk as it were to each cotyledon. 
D. polyphylla is one of the most elegant of early spring 
flowering plants, and admirably suited for the rock garden, 
from the bright green of the leaves and the grace of its 
drooping corymbs of white or pale straw-coloured flowers. 
It has rather a restricted range, inhabiting wooded moun- 
tains from Central Switzerland eastwards to Carniola and © aq 
Croatia, and southward in Italy to Etruria. 
The Royal Gardens are indebted to Messrs. Froebel, of 
Zurich, for plants, which flowered in February and March. 
Descr. Quite glabrous. Jtootstock six to ten inches long, 
including the tubercles nearly three-quarters of an inch in 
diameter. Stem one to one and a half feet high, stout, 
cylindric, green. Leaves two to four at the top of the stem, 
opposite, or if alternate near together, or forming a whorl 
of three, pinnatisect; petiole short, stout; segments two 
to three and a half inches long, subsessile, linear-lanceolate, 
acuminate, coarsely serrate. Corymb many-flowered; 
flowers long pedicelled, drooping. Sepals white or pale 
green, one-third of an inch long, oblong, obtuse, erect. 
Petals three times as long, claw long, limb obovate retuse 
or emarginate. Anthers yellow. Pod two to two and a half 
inches long, straight, sword-shaped, gradually narrowed 
into a distinct style; valves coriaceous, inelastic, nerveless. 
Seeds oblong, one-eighth of an inch long; cotyledons 
‘stalked.—J. D. H. 
Fig. 1, Stamens, hypogynous glands and ovary; 2, ovary :—all enlarged. 
@, beim ty of the natural size; and 4, seed, enlarged,—both from the Her- 
arium, 
