212 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Sept. 1, 1866. 



BOTANY. 



Eritillaria Meleagris — This rare plant is 

 exceedingly abundant near a little place named 

 Eord, at Dinton, near Aylesbury. In 1865 I 

 observed it there, extending over six or seven 

 meadows, where it presented a beautiful appear- 

 ance. I learned from an inhabitant that persons 

 come from "all round" to gather it when in perfec- 

 tion, and the meadows bear the name of " Crowcup," 

 or "Erowcup" (query Erog-cup?) Eields. The 

 white-flowered variety also occurs there; and the 

 nativity of the species is beyond a doubt. — B. 



PlNK-ELOWERED PIMPERNEL {AlUigallis arvetl- 



sis). — A very pretty Pimpernel was brought me 

 recently by Mr. Thomas Marshall, of Wycombe. 

 The flowers were pale pink, or flesh-colour, with 

 the usual iDurple centre. It was gathered near 

 Halton, Bucks, and was the only one noticed among 

 a large quantity of the common scarlet-flowered 

 A. anensis.—B. 



Seeds oe Eoxglove. — I beg to forward the 

 following as the result of the calculation by a lady, 

 of the astonishing number of seeds produced by a 

 single individual of the common Eoxglove {Digitalis 

 purpurea). "The plant (self-sown) grew to the 

 height of 7 feet 4 inches. The central stem bore 

 200 flowers (not including those unexpanded at the 

 summit). Twenty-three lateral shoots bore 500 

 flowers, making a total of 700. When the capsules 

 ripened, the seeds of five were counted with the 

 following results :— 



Total 



7,79S 



Hence, the average per capsule is 1,559 '6, or the 

 total number of seeds yielded by the entire plant no 

 less than 1,091,720."— £. H. 



The Primrose was anciently called Paralisos, 

 after the name of a beautiful youth, who w r as the 

 son of Priapus and Elora, and who died of grief for 

 the loss of his betrothed Melicerta, but was preserved 

 by his pareuts by being metamorphosed into this 

 flower, which has since divided the favours of the 

 poets with the violet and the rose.— Flora Historica. 



Eungi Spores in Cholera, &c. — Though we 

 have a distinct perception of the mischief which may 

 and does arise in many cases from the spores of 

 fungi, we do not think that there is any evidence to 

 show that they have anything to do with the produc- 

 tion of cholera.— 31. J. B., in Gardener's Chronicle. 



The Tulip. — In the History of Plauts which Dr. 

 William Turner dedicated to Queen Elizabeth in the 

 year 1568, the Tulip is not mentioned ; but in the 

 "Remembrances for Master S.," by Richard 

 Hakluyt, in 15S2, we are told that "now within 

 these four years there have been brought in England, 

 from Vienna in Austria, divers kinds of flowers 

 called Tulipas." — Flora Historica. 



New British Lycopod. — Mr. Lloyd, of Wands- 

 worth, has forwarded to the Gardener's Chronicle 

 (p. 753), specimens of Lycopodimu complanatum 

 gathered in Hampshire, at Lower Wagner's Wells, 

 near Bramshot, in a locality which he regards as un- 

 doubtedly wild. It was found by a woman occupied 

 in cutting heath for broom-making. 



Welsh Eungi.— During a recent pedestrian tour 

 through a portion of North Wales, we found but few 

 novelties in microscopic fungi. The most interesting 

 were Puccinia campanula;, a rare European species, 

 and Puccinia asari, near Bettws-y-coed, and. Puccinia 

 caltlue, near Bhydd-y-fen. It is worthy of note that 

 we walked one hundred and thirty miles without 

 seeing a wild poppy, the common mallow (Malva 

 syfeestris), or a frond of duckweed. Near Bala lake, 

 the fronds of ferns (Athyrium filix femiua), which 

 we measured, exceeded four feet in length. — 31. C. C. 



Mistletoe on the Oak. — At Hackwood Park, 

 near Basingstoke, there is a very fine oak tree, on the 

 thick branches of which is a considerable quantity of 

 this parasite. In that neighbourhood the tree in 

 question is called the " Druid's oak." — W. Penning, 

 in the Gardener's Chronicle. 



[We should be glad to learn whether this is the 

 Viscum or Loranthus. — Ed.] 



Bamboo Eungus.— "Wa-mo" (Bamboo mush- 

 room), or " Than-mo " (Worm mushroom), are the 

 Burmese names of a species of Polyporus, indigenous 

 to the neighbourhood of Tavoy, in the Tenasserim 

 provinces, and held in high esteem as an anthelmin- 

 tic. In an article on this subject by the llev. M. J. 

 Berkeley in the Gardener's Chronicle of August 

 ISth, this hitherto undescribed and botanically un- 

 known species was described and named Polyporus 

 anthelminticus, from Pegu specimens furnished from 

 the Indian Museum. 



The Lancashire Minute Alga. — {Seemann's 

 Joum. Bot., July.) — At a recent meeting of the 

 Botanical Society of Edinburgh, Professor Balfour 

 stated that Dr. J. E. Gray was in error in recording 

 PhyllacfidiuM pulchellum as a freshwater alga new 

 to Britain. It might be new to England, but it was 

 certainly found thirteen years ago in Scotland. Mr. 

 Lawson collected it in the water of a vase at the 

 Boyal Botanic Garden, in June, 1853, and Prof. 

 Balfour exhibited under the microscope specimens 

 put up at that time by Mr. Lawson. 



