260 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



of the general public are not likely to be neglected 

 as long as so many leading English firms are busily 

 engaged ministering to the national needs. 



One of the best uses to which Ceylon chocolate 

 can be put is to eat it when on tricycling or pedes- 

 trian excursions. We have found it most convenient, 

 and we believe that cyclists, who are often at a great 

 loss for a portable and palatable food which they 

 can eat without dismounting, will more and more 

 trust to chocolate as their sheet-anchor. Long before 

 our attention had been directed to the subject by a 

 circular we were reading the other day, we had 

 found out the value of dry and satisfying food when 

 many miles from home and pressed for time. 



Wimborne. 



ODD NOTES ON PLANTS. 

 By J. W. Buck, B.Sc, etc. 



THESE notes on the ways of plants do not 

 profess to be more than the results of random 

 observations made from time to time. I believe they 

 are fairly correct, but young naturalists had better 

 confirm them for their own sakes and information. 



When coltsfoot is in flower it holds its blossoms 

 straight up, or nearly so, but when the fruits are 

 ripening the flower-heads are closed, and hang 

 bottom upwards, the stalk having a sudden bend 

 near the top, and looking thin and weak, as if 

 withering. When it is time for the pappus to expand, 

 the stalk straightens itself again, and the ball of 

 white down is held in the original position. .Dandelions 

 also close up after flowering, and again reopen when 

 the fruits are ready to form the "clock." Goat's- 

 beard does the same, and the bracts of the involucre 

 may be seen bursting out on one side, as more room 

 is required within. It would be interesting to know 

 how long these several changes are in taking place, 

 and also whether a goat's-beard blossom after once 

 closing reopens the next morning. The rate of the 

 changes I have spoken of probably depends partly on 

 the weather and the sun, but I have an impression 

 that they do not take very long. 



When the greater stitchwort (S. holostca) is 

 ripening its seed vessels, it turns them downwards, 

 as I believe is the case with several other plants of 

 this order. The stalk which bore the flower turns 

 downwards at its base until it is in a somewhat 

 horizontal position, and near the tip of it there is a 

 curve downwards which causes the fruit to hang 

 upside down. Spergularia arvensis also turns its 

 stalks downwards or backwards in a very striking 

 manner. 



When blue-bells [SciHa nutans) are looked at in 

 the bud, by opening the young leaves, it is easy to 

 see that the flower-stalks grow all round the main 

 flowering-stem, but they all agree to fall one way 

 afterwards. The weakness of the stem makes it 



bend downwards with a curve, but if looked at in 

 the autumn, when the capsules are ripe, or are burst, 

 it will be seen to be erect, and the capsules to be 

 standing as upright as they well can, and, I believe, 

 arranged indifferently around the stem. Foxgloves 

 bring their flowers all round to one side of the stem, 

 though not invariably, and thus present the appear- 

 ance of a front and a back ; but it is easy to see that 

 the flowers are really attached all round, and in the 

 cluster of undeveloped flowers at the top they still 

 keep their original positions. But it is not easy to 

 see why they should turn to one side more than 

 to another, or what it is that determines that side. 

 They do not appear to face the sun, though on the 

 other hand they generally turn away from a wall or 

 hedge, the consequence being that they generally 

 face the spectator. Cowslips resemble blue-bells in 

 the fact that their flowers hang more or less down- 

 wards when out, and that later in the year the umbels 

 may be found standing upright, all the smaller 

 stalks clustering together so that all the calyces 

 point upwards, and it seems as if when the capsules 

 at the bottom burst, the seeds would have no chance 

 for a time of getting away. In the water avens 

 too (Geitm rivah), the flowers hang down, but the 

 clusters of ripe achenes are erect. Poppy buds 

 hang down, but their change to the upright position 

 takes place when the flowers open, and the capsules 

 remain upright. Dog's mercury comes up through 

 the ground with the tips of its stalks bent completely 

 back, and straightens itself afterwards. 



White clover, on the other hand, is a case where 

 the flowers look upwards first and downwards later 

 on. If a head of white clover be gathered when 

 about half its flowers have gone oft, it will be seen 

 that those now in blossom, and those still to come, 

 cluster round the upper part and grow more or less 

 in an upward direction, while below these are others, 

 turning, brown and withering, which are bent down- 

 wards,, the difference in position of the two sets 

 being very marked. Here again it would be in- 

 teresting to know how fast these changes take place. 

 The umbels of carrot close up quickly after their 

 flowering. 



Several, if not all, of our English geraniums put 

 their flowers through movements of a somewhat 

 peculiar kind as the seeds ripen. The common plan 

 seems to be as follows : The flowers grow in umbels 

 of two each, and at first their stalks are small and 

 very noticeable. After the corollas have fallen, the 

 secondary stalks for a time turn sharply downwards 

 at their origin, with a bend a little further along 

 which brings the rapidly lengthening fruit-head into 

 its normal position. Lastly, as time goes on, they 

 straighten once more. All the stages in succession 

 I have seen on a bit of G. molle. G. dissectum also 

 shows the same kind of thing, together with stork's- 

 bill {Erodium cicutarium). I am not certain whether 

 the same applies to Herb Robert or not. 



