136 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[June 1, 1S6C. 



BOTANY. 



The Morel, Morchella esculent a. — A Corres- 

 pondent having sent us one of these curious looking 

 fungi, desiring to know its name, we have given an 



illustration, so that all who may find it in future, 

 may turn it to good account. This is one of the 

 best of the edible spec'.ts, and may be dried readily 

 in a current of air, so as to be available for flavour- 

 ing soups &c, at a season when fresb morels or 

 mushrooms cannot be obtained. We have no 

 poisonous species at all resembling it in appearance, 

 so that when found, it may be eaten without fear. 



A Gigantic Morel {Morchella crassipes) was ex- 

 hibited by Mr. W. G. Smith at a recent meeting 

 of the Horticultural Society, which had not 

 previously been observed in this country. It 

 attains a height of from eight to ten inches 

 or more. The substance is brittle and watery, 

 and soon decays. It may be eaten when young, 

 but cannot be dried in the same manner as the 

 common species. The specimen exhibited was 

 found at King's Kerswell, near Newton Abbot, 

 Devonshire, and had a " top " fully as large as an 

 infant's head. 



A Hint. — Sounder views of the requirements of 

 science ought to satisfy us, that he who can show 

 good reason for expunging a plant from the list of 

 our strictly indigenous species, does some real 

 service towards the attainment of truth, whilst he 

 who needlessly swells his catalogue by the admission 

 of a species on doubtful authority, throws a decided 

 obstacle in its way, and surely doubly puerile is that 

 vanity, by which some are said to have been in- 

 fluenced, who have one year sown the seeds of a 

 rare, or even of an exotic species, in an un- 

 frequented spot, that they might become the 

 earliest discoverers of a new native ! — Rev. L. 

 Jeynns. 



Legend of the Eorget-me-not.— As told by 

 the Persian poet Shiraz, this story is far more 

 poetical than the German one. " It was " says he, 

 " in the golden mornings of the early -world, when an 

 angel sat weeping outside the closed gates of 

 Eden, for he had fallen from his high estate through 

 loving a daughter of earth, nor was he permitted to 

 enter again, until she whom he loved had planted 

 the flowers of the forget-me-not in every corner of 

 the earth. So the angel returned to the earth and 

 assisted her, and they went hand-in-hand over the 

 world, planting the forget-me-not, and when their 

 task was ended entered Eden together, — for she 

 without tasting the bitterness of death became 

 immortal, like the angel whose love her beauty had 

 won, when she sat by the river twining her hair 

 with the forget-me-not." — Common Wayside Flowers. 



Star of Bethlehem. — The plants noted at 

 page 115, are not the species named, but Omit/to- 

 (/alum nutans. The locality in which they were 

 found was an orchard. 



The Tulip. — This flower appears to have been 

 scarce at Constantinople, even so late as the middle 

 of the sixteenth century, as in the year 1554, Auger 

 Gislen Busbec (Busbequius) being at the Porte as 

 Ambassador from the Emperor Eerdinand I. of 

 Germany, sent both seeds and the bulbs of the 

 Tulip to Vienna, with an observation that the 

 Turks charged a high price for these flowers, 

 which would not have been the case had the Tulip 

 been then growing spontaneously in that country. 

 — Flora Historica. 



The Daisy. — Eabulous history informs us that 

 this plant is called Bellis, because it owes its 

 origin to Belides, a grand-daughter to Danaiis, and 

 one of the nymphs called Dryads, that presided over 

 the meadows and pastures in ancient times. 

 Belides is said to have encouraged the suit of 

 Ephigeus, but whilst dancing on the grass with this 

 rural Deity she attracted the admiration of Ver- 

 tumnus, who, just as he was about to seize her in 

 his embrace, saw her transformed into the humble 

 plant that now bears her name. 



Hampshire Beeches. — The finest beech-trees 

 in England, are said to grow in Hampshire. The 

 forest of St. Leonard, near Horsham, in Sussex, 

 abounds with noble beech-trees. The cottagers of 

 this forest inform you, that when St. Leonard 

 wished to rest beneath these trees, he was disturbed 

 during the day by the biting of vipers, and that his 

 repose was broken in the night by the warbling of 

 nightingales, and on that account they were 

 removed by his prayers, since which time tradition 

 says of this forest : — 



The Viper has ne'er been known to sting, 

 Or the Nightingale e'er heard to sing. 



Phillips. Fruits of Great Britain. 



