HAilDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



113 



BOTANY. 



Chlorophyll in the Lower Organisms. — 

 Professor Famintzin has communicated to the 

 Academy of St, Petersburg a paper on the use of 

 inorganic salts as an important aid in the study of 

 the development of the lower chlorophyll-contain- 

 ing organisms. His solutions were made with a 

 view to tracing the kind and amount of variability 

 in the development of the lower alg^e under culti- 

 vation. Among other means he employed a solu- 

 tion of lime, potash, and magnesia, in which he 

 found alga; developed with remarkable freedom. 



Colouring Matter in Fungi.— Mr. H. C. 

 Sorby has determined the existence of at least 

 thirty distinct colouring substances in fungi. The 

 majority contain at least two, and many of them 

 several, different kinds. Twenty of these have such 

 well-marked optical qualities that they could be 

 recognized without difficulty in other plants, but 

 only one of them, a fine orange- colour, is known to 

 exist in any plant not a fungus. As far as Mr. 

 Sorby's observations extend, there is little or no 

 specific agreement between the substances found in 

 fungi and those met with in alga; and lichens, 

 though the two latter orders are closely related in 

 this respect. 



The Passion-flower. — The earliest passion- 

 flower introduced to the Old World is Passiflora 

 incarnata, in 1629, from North America ; but the 

 universal favourite, P. carulea, was not known here 

 till 1699, from Brazil. Hence it is vain to expect 

 a pre-Reformatiou example of this genus. Yet 

 from the pertinacity with which decorators use this 

 flower, especially at Easter-tide, it is evident that 

 they assume it to have been a sacred emblem. I 

 have been told the following is the interpretation 

 given to the various parts of the flower. The 

 columella is typical of the scourging-post ; the 10 

 petals and 3 sepals, the thirteen apostles ; the 5 

 stamens, the five wounds; and the 3 stigmas, the 

 nails. The crown of thorns is represented by the 

 inner circle of rays, and the crown of glory by the 

 larger circle ; while the leaves are emblematic of 

 the open hand that struck the blow ; and the ten- 

 drils, the scourges and bonds. Yet an authority, 

 erroneous though it may be, must exist, for this 

 wide-spread use of the ornament; and this it seems 

 is the Rose-en-Soleil, the favourite badge of 

 Edward IV., and used so repeatedly by him and 

 his partisans. The badge is frequently to be met 

 with in quarries of church glass ; and the colour 

 being yellow and outline only, it bears a consider- 

 able resemblance to the common Passion-flower, 

 especially when on greenish glass. I have seen it 

 in the church of St. Martin at Palace, Norwich, 

 and also in Ely Cathedral, and was there told by 

 the verger that they were passion-flowers. At 



Martham, in Norfolk, the carver has used the 

 P. ccenilea as his model with considerable success 

 as an ornament. —T. 0. Bayfield. 



The True Shamrock,— St. Patrick's day has 

 passed and gone, but I have not till now had au 

 opportunity of putting a query which perhaps some 

 of your correspondents may be kind enough to 

 answer for mc. In the first place, what kind of 

 plant may the so-called 'Urue Shamrock" be ? and 

 secondly, what might be the supposed derivation of 

 that word? for concerning the right answer to these 

 two questions, a vast deal of uncertainty seems to 

 prevail in the minds of people in general. Now, if 

 we take into consideration that there are, as I 

 believe, somewhere about a hundred and fifty species 

 of trefoils, some being perennials and some annuals, 

 and that the colour of the flowers varies from dark 

 crimson, and sometimes scarlet, to purple on the 

 one hand, and to white, cream-colour, and pale 

 yellow on the other, it will be perceived that it is 

 somewhat a difficult task to point out accurately 

 which may be the said "true Shamrock." Of 

 course, any one species would do as well as another 

 to illustrate the doctrine of the "Trinity," and as 

 far as that goes, there need be no preference given 

 to one especial kind at all. I remember, when re- 

 siding in England some years ago, having a small 

 plant sent over from Ireland by a friend, of what 

 he termed true Shamrock (we had plenty of what, 

 to my uninitiated eyes, looked like shamrock grow- 

 ing on the lawn), — that, however, he called clover. 

 Great care being taken of this true shamrock ; the 

 result was that in about three weeks it could not 

 be identified from the clover above mentioned. 

 Since then I liave doubted the propriety of singling 

 out any one kind of trefoil as the veritable sham- 

 rock of St. Patrick. — J. S. William Durham. 



Berries or Arbutus. — A fact in vegetable 

 Teratology of which we have seen no notice, not in 

 Dr. Masters's volume for instance, is presented by 

 the little Arbutus (so called) with mucronate leaf, 

 often cultivated in gardens. In early summer its red 

 berries, whilst yet on the plant, will be found, when 

 they are opened, to have their seeds in a growing 

 state ; that is, each one with green leaflets as well 

 as radicle. — R. G. 



New Fungi.— On the 6th of April I again met 

 with the new Badhamia {B. capsulifer, B.), and I 

 hope in a few weeks to meet with more of it, when 

 I shall have pleasure in supplying any of my friends 

 with specimens, as far as I can. Mr. Cooke's 

 description, from Berkley's "Outlines of Badhamia," 

 is as follows :— " Peridium naked or furfuraceous ; 

 spores in groups, enclosed at first in a hyaline sac." 

 With the exception of a Badhamia on Jungerman- 

 nia, which I have never met with, all others hereto- 

 fore known to be British, have been found on wood. 



