HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



259 



BOTANY. 



Locust-tree. — In the garden of the rectory at 

 Byfleet, Surrey, is a remarkably handsome acacia 

 (Robinia pseudacacia) , of which I took the dimen- 

 sions last week. At four feet from the ground it 

 measured 13 feet 4 inches in circumference. Is not 

 this a most unusual size for this tree to attain ? — 

 W. W. Spicer, Itchen Abbas. 



Plant Names. — Our contributor, Mr. James 

 Britten, E.L.S., formerly of Kew Gardens, should 

 be addressed at tbe Botanical Department of the 

 British Museum, London, W.C. 



Local Eloeas. — Some useful chapters on this 

 subject have appeared in recent numbers of the 

 Gardeners' Chronicle, to which we refer those of our 

 correspondents who seek further information. 



Abnormal Cerastium. — Specimens received 

 and forwarded to Mr. R. Holland. The following 

 is his relpy : — The Cerastium (?) found by your 

 correspondent " G. S. S." is a very good and not 

 very common example of Phyllody of sepals, petals, 

 and in many cases of stamens and pistils. When a 

 plant becomes so greatly altered in appearance as 

 this is, it is rather hard to give it a name ; but I 

 am inclined to think that it is no Cerastium at all, 

 but an Arenaria— probably A. serpyllifolia, as 

 shown by the short capsule in those flowers that 

 appear to have seeded, and by the older flowers 

 growing in the forks of the branches. The Ceras- 

 iiums have capsules much longer than the sepals, 

 and in the commoner kinds the capsules are very 

 characteristically curved ; and these are neither one 

 nor the other. The plant may have been in a 

 normal state up to a certain time, and then taken 

 on this foliaceous condition, on account of the quan- 

 tity of rain ; and the earlier flowers may doubtless 

 have had petals. But their having seeded does not 

 in the least show that they had petals. They might 

 have seeded if only the pistil were perfect. There 

 are scattered over the plants many foliaceous 

 flowers, which contain, apparently, perfect stamens 

 and pistils, and these would most likely have pro- 

 duced seed. Your correspondent mentions that he 

 found the plant "in^large quantities;" and from 

 this fact I should rather believe that what he found 

 were seedlings from a similiarly foliaceous plant of 

 last year, and that they had inherited the peculiar 

 condition of their parent. The rainy weather would 

 scarcely have caused such a number of plants in a 

 limited space to have all become monstrous toge- 

 ther, though some peculiarity in the soil might have 

 done so. Eoliaceous clover-flowers are plentiful 

 every autumn. They appear chiefly in the second 

 crop, so that the cutting of the first crop and the 



quick growth of the soft and succulent second 

 crop have probably something to do with producing 

 the monstrosity. This year such examples have 

 i been more than usually common— no doubt from 

 the superabundance of wet. Trifolium pratense, T. 

 repens, and especially T. Injbridum, have been very 

 proliferous; but I have not seen a single example 

 in any of the yellow trefoils; indeed, I do not 

 remember that I have ever seen a yellow trefoil 

 becoming foliaceous. — Robert Holland. 



CYSTorus lepigoni. — I found this fungus on 

 Spergalaria marina at Eareham, Hants, on 18th of 

 September last. I believe that Swanscombe, in 

 Kent, is the only locality previously recorded. — 

 F. J. Warner. 



The Bee Orchis. — This beautiful flower is com- 

 mon in this neighbourhood on the barren wet marls 

 of the forest marble and fuller's earth, and also on 

 the chalk downs. It is, however, a very uncertain 

 bloomer : one year it is met with abundantly ; 

 another, as the present, it is hardly to be found. 

 The profusion of Orchidea: on our marly soils con- 

 trasts strongly with their scarcity in the London 

 district : in one field I can count twelve species, 

 including Spiranthes autumnalis and Herminium 

 Monorchis. — H. F. Parsons, Beckingion. 



Transmission of Eresh Elowers by Post. — 

 I have found flowers keep fresh for long distances, 

 if wrapped up in oiled silk or sheet gutta-percha. 

 The ends of the stems should be wrapped in damp 

 cotton wool, and the overlapping edges of the oiled 

 silk gummed down all the way round.— H. F. 

 Parsons. 



Bare Plants. — I am sorry that Mr. Delaney 

 should think that in giving publicity to one of the 

 localities where the Bee Orchis is to be found, I 

 had made any unadvisable use of my information. 

 I entirely agree with Mr. Delaney in the main, but 

 think that in this instance he carries his theory 

 somewhat too far, whilst endeavouring to guard 

 against those persons whose object, as he describes, 

 " is to secure for their own selfish gratification any- 

 rare plant." We must also remember, on the other 

 hand, that there are many others to whom such 

 knowledge would be really a service, and whose 

 good sense and moderation might fairly be trusted, 

 amongst whom the generality of the readers of 

 Science-Gossip I think might be classed.—/. S. W., 

 Durham. 



[During the past week facts have come to 

 our knowledge of more than one instance in 

 which botanists (and not dealers) have eradi- 

 cated rare ferns from certain localities by their 

 rapacity. Let us hope that such cases are rare. — 

 Ed. S.-G.] 



