HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



BOTANY. 



A Protest. — I cannot but protest against the 

 practice of inserting the particular locality of some 

 rare and cherished native plant for the benefit of 

 those whose first object would be to secure, for 

 their own selfish gratification, the plant, root and 

 all. We must look to you to perform the duty of 

 conservators as far as may be in your power. Now 

 it is somewhere about twenty years ago since I had 

 the gratification of viewing a Bee Orchis, and that 

 in North Somersetshire, and I would rather forego 

 the same pleasure for the remainder of my days 

 than that one single plant should be wantonly 

 plucked from its native soil only to pine away and 

 die. I know a wood, too, in Somerset where I 

 could pluck an armful of the Butterfly Orchis, so 

 sweetly perfumed ; but I only let a friend or two 

 into the secret, who I know will not do anything 

 worse than pluck a head or two for their parlour vase, 

 where it will scent the room for five or six days. I 

 wish I could feel "J. S. William Durham's" com- 

 munication were a hoax. — Chas. Delaney. 



White Varieties of Plowers. — Seeing in 

 Science-Gossip some notices of white varieties, I 

 may mention that I have found the following albino 

 specimens this season : — Agraphis nutans and Ajuga 

 reptans, a specimen of each. Geranium Robertianum 

 in plenty, growing with the typical form. In this 

 case the whole plant partook of the albino cha- 

 racter; for the leaves were very pale green, instead 

 of reddish, as is usually the case. Ouopordum 

 acanthoides, many specimens. In all the above 

 cases the typical forms were close at hand. Your 

 correspondent " R. B. S." (p. 201) seems to think 

 albinism more especially connected with calcareous 

 soils, which I think probable ; but the above were 

 all found in the Wealden district of Sussex, where 

 the soil is clay and sand. — /. R, A. Jenner. 



Pitcher-Plants. — The most curious, perhaps, 

 of all the pitcher-plants at present known is one 

 which has hitherto only been observed in India, 

 growing in its native forests : it is called Dischidia 

 Rafflesiana. It is a creeping plant, having a long, 

 twining stem, which is destitute of leaves until near 

 its summit ; and this may be a hundred or more feet 

 from the roots, on which, therefore, it can scarcely 

 depend for nourishment by absorption of fluid from 

 the ground. Its supplies of moisture from a tropical 

 atmosphere would be very uncertain if there were 

 no provision for storing up what it occasionally 

 collects ; but with such a one it is furnished. The 

 pitcher seems formed of a leaf with its edges rolled 

 towards each other and adherent ; and the upper 

 end or mouth from which it is suspended is quite 

 open, and adapted to receive whatever moisture 

 may descend from the air, whether in the form of 



rain or dew. It is accordingly always found to con- 

 tain a considerable quantity of fluid, in which a 

 number of small black ants are generally seen. 

 These are probably attracted by it, and their decom- 

 position may, as in the case of the Sarracenia, render 

 it yet most nutritious to the plant. 



But the most curious part of the whole apparatus 

 is a tuft of absorbent fibres resembling those of the 

 roots : these arc prolonged from the nearest part of 

 the branch, or even from the stalk, to which the 

 pitcher is attached and spread through the cavity. 

 They may be regarded in the light of secondary 

 roots, serving to introduce into the plant the fluid 

 collected in the curious reservoirs, which may be 

 compared to the stomachs of animals.— Carpenter, 

 " Vegetable Physiology" 



Transmission oe Plants by Post.— Specimens 

 of living plants are often sent to me by post ; and 

 many of these, although they may only have 

 been a day upon the road, arrive in a state of par- 

 tial decomposition, . from the fact of too great an 

 amount of moisture having been packed up with 

 them. Many people put plants into small tin boxes, 

 with a wet rag, or a piece of saturated blotting- 

 paper, above and below them ; and 1 fancy the 

 plants themselves have often been dipped in water 

 as well. This superabundance of wet is not only 

 unnecessary, especially in tin boxes, but it rots the 

 plants. Flowers are more injured than leaves ; but 

 both turn brown and die directly they are exposed 

 to the air. The best way to send plants is undoubt- 

 edly in tin boxes ; but the plants should be put in 

 when perfectly dry, and as soon as possible after 

 being gathered. Many plants will thus keep fresh 

 for several days ; but, if they should be somewhat 

 faded, they will generally revive in water; whereas, 

 a plant that has been packed up wet will seldom, if 

 ever, do so. Tin boxes, however, are very heavy in 

 a letter, and many people prefer to send specimens 

 in card boxes. When this is done, it is best to 

 close up the opening of the box with a strip of gum 

 paper, which prevents too much evaporation from 

 the plant. Even in card boxes I would put no wet 

 paper ; but if it is thought necessary to keep the 

 specimen moist, a small bit of wet rag, or sponge, 

 or moss, tied round the cut end of the stalk, will be 

 found to answer every purpose. — Robert Holland. 



Trifolium stellatum.— In Rutter's "History 

 of Somersetshire " it is stated that Trifolium stel- 

 latum grows in the vicinity of Walton-in-Gordano, 

 near Bristol. I have lately sought for it in that 

 neighbourhood without success. Can any of your 

 readers confirm that assertion, or has any one found 

 that extremely rare plant anywhere in England, 

 except in the only locality given in the various 

 Ploras; i. e. Shoreham, Sussex?— R.E. Wilkinson, 

 Penge, Sept, 11. 



