﻿610 
  Mutations 
  

  

  plants. 
  It 
  was 
  not 
  known 
  until 
  a 
  few 
  years 
  be- 
  

   fore 
  the 
  close 
  of 
  the 
  16th 
  century. 
  Its 
  history 
  

   has 
  been 
  described 
  by 
  the 
  French 
  botanist, 
  Rose. 
  

  

  It 
  was 
  seen 
  for 
  the 
  first 
  time 
  in 
  the 
  garden 
  of 
  

   Sprenger, 
  an 
  apothecary 
  of 
  Heidelberg, 
  where 
  

   the 
  C. 
  majus 
  had 
  been 
  cultivated 
  for 
  many 
  

   years. 
  Sprenger 
  discovered 
  it 
  in 
  the 
  year 
  1590, 
  

   and 
  was 
  struck 
  by 
  its 
  peculiar 
  and 
  sharply 
  de- 
  

   viating 
  characters. 
  He 
  was 
  anxious 
  to 
  know 
  

   whether 
  it 
  was 
  a 
  new 
  plant 
  and 
  sent 
  specimens 
  

   to 
  Clusius 
  and 
  to 
  Plater, 
  the 
  last 
  of 
  whom 
  

   transmitted 
  them 
  to 
  Caspar 
  Bauhin. 
  These 
  

   botanists 
  recognized 
  the 
  type 
  as 
  quite 
  new 
  and 
  

   Bauhin 
  described 
  it 
  some 
  years 
  afterwards 
  in 
  

   his 
  Phytopinax 
  under 
  the 
  name 
  of 
  Clielidomum 
  

   majus 
  foliis 
  quernis, 
  or 
  oak-leaved 
  celandine. 
  

   The 
  new 
  variety 
  soon 
  provoked 
  general 
  interest 
  

   and 
  was 
  introduced 
  into 
  most 
  of 
  the 
  botanical 
  

   gardens 
  of 
  Europe. 
  It 
  was 
  recognized 
  as 
  quite 
  

   new, 
  and 
  repeated 
  search 
  has 
  been 
  made 
  for 
  it 
  

   in 
  a 
  wild 
  state, 
  but 
  in 
  vain. 
  No 
  other 
  origin 
  

   has 
  been 
  discovered 
  than 
  that 
  of 
  Sprenger 
  's 
  

   garden. 
  Afterwards 
  it 
  became 
  naturalized 
  in 
  

   England 
  and 
  elsewhere, 
  but 
  there 
  is 
  not 
  the 
  

   least 
  doubt 
  as 
  to 
  its 
  derivation 
  in 
  all 
  the 
  ob- 
  

   served 
  cases. 
  

  

  Hence 
  its 
  origin 
  at 
  Heidelberg 
  is 
  to 
  be 
  con- 
  

   sidered 
  as 
  historically 
  proven, 
  and 
  it 
  is 
  of 
  course 
  

   only 
  legitimate 
  to 
  assume 
  that 
  it 
  originated 
  in 
  

  

  