﻿594 
  Mutations 
  

  

  is 
  now 
  so 
  universally 
  cultivated. 
  I 
  take 
  the 
  fol- 
  

   lowing 
  statements 
  from 
  an 
  interesting 
  historical 
  

   essay 
  of 
  Prof. 
  Jaggi. 
  He 
  describes 
  three 
  orig- 
  

   inal 
  localities. 
  One 
  is 
  near 
  the 
  Swiss 
  village, 
  

   Buch 
  am 
  Irchel, 
  and 
  is 
  located 
  on 
  the 
  Stamrn- 
  

   berg. 
  During 
  the 
  17th 
  century 
  five 
  purple 
  

   beeches 
  are 
  recorded 
  to 
  have 
  grown 
  on 
  this 
  spot. 
  

   Four 
  of 
  them 
  have 
  died, 
  but 
  one 
  is 
  still 
  alive. 
  

   Seedlings 
  have 
  germinated 
  around 
  this 
  little 
  

   group, 
  and 
  have 
  been 
  mostly 
  dug 
  up 
  and 
  trans- 
  

   planted 
  into 
  neighboring 
  gardens. 
  Nothing 
  is 
  

   known 
  about 
  the 
  real 
  origin 
  of 
  these 
  plants, 
  but 
  

   according 
  to 
  an 
  old 
  document, 
  it 
  seems 
  that 
  

   about 
  the 
  year 
  1190 
  the 
  purple 
  beeches 
  of 
  Buch 
  

   were 
  already 
  enjoying 
  some 
  renown, 
  and 
  at- 
  

   tracting 
  large 
  numbers 
  of 
  pilgrims, 
  owing 
  to 
  

   some 
  old 
  legend. 
  The 
  church 
  of 
  Embrach 
  is 
  said 
  

   to 
  have 
  been 
  built 
  in 
  connection 
  with 
  this 
  legend, 
  

   and 
  was 
  a 
  goal 
  for 
  pilgrimages 
  during 
  many 
  

   centuries. 
  

  

  A 
  second 
  native 
  locality 
  of 
  the 
  purple 
  beech 
  

   is 
  found 
  in 
  a 
  forest 
  near 
  Sondershausen 
  in 
  

   Thiiringen, 
  Germany, 
  where 
  a 
  fine 
  group 
  of 
  

   these 
  trees 
  is 
  to 
  be 
  seen. 
  They 
  were 
  mentioned 
  

   for 
  the 
  first 
  time 
  in 
  the 
  latter 
  half 
  of 
  the 
  

   eighteenth 
  century, 
  but 
  must 
  have 
  been 
  old 
  spec- 
  

   imens 
  long 
  before 
  that 
  time. 
  The 
  third 
  locality 
  

   seems 
  to 
  be 
  of 
  much 
  later 
  origin. 
  It 
  is 
  a 
  forest 
  

   near 
  Eoveredo 
  in 
  South 
  Tyrol, 
  where 
  a 
  new 
  

  

  