Sept. 1, 1867.] 



IIABDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



209 



BOTANY. 



Fertilization by Insects. — The mode of ferti- 

 lization in the American Laurel (Kalmia) has 

 already been well described, but I fancy I may be 

 excused for adding my testimony concerning this 

 beautiful and interesting plant. When the anthers 

 are liberated from the pockets in the corolla, the 

 stamens suddenly straighten and throw jets of 

 pollen often for a foot or more, " acting," as 

 Professor Gray used to say, "like a boy's pea- 

 shooter." Many times when the dew was on, I 

 have seen the common honey-bee and other Hyme- 

 noptefa about these flowers. When the bee alights 

 on a flower, the style comes up between the legs 

 where they join the body, or sometimes further 

 back against the abdomen. In this position they 

 turn around, as though they were balanced on a 

 pivot, generally inserting the tongue outside of the 

 filament, and, while doing this, pull the stamens 

 with their legs towards the centre of the flower, 

 releasing them and frequently receiving the shots of 

 pollen on their ownbody. A single visit from an insect 

 is sufficient to release all the anthers. By noon it 

 was a difficult matter to find a flower which had not 

 been visited in this way. Insects seem to be abso- 

 lutely necessary for the perfect fertilization of Kalmia 

 angustifolia and K. latifolla, for I tied small nets 

 over some flower-clusters (corymbs), and found that 

 when the bees were kept away, the flowers withered 

 and fell off, most of the anthers still remaining in 

 the pockets, and the filaments so decayed that their 

 elasticity was entirely gone. The very few authors 

 liberated were probably brought out by the shaking 

 of the bushes by the wind. Considerable pollen 

 was found stuck on the corollas by the nectar, which 

 was uncommonly abundant, as no insects of much 

 size were allowed to remove it. The wind might 

 have carried some of this pollen to other flowers, or 

 it might have dripped from those above to flowers 

 below in drops of water (there were two showers 

 during these experiments) ; but I infer this was not 

 the case in the examples mentioned, because the 

 flowers, especially the stigmas, remained fresh much 

 longer than those which were left exposed to the 

 visits of insects. — W.J. Beat, in American Naturalist. 



Blue Pimpernel.— Yellow and Red Pimpernel 

 are common enough, but I never met with the blue ! 

 variety before this morning. Surely it must be 

 very rare— rare as it is lovely. I came upon it j 

 quite by accident, having nearly lost my way in a 

 wood, and doubtful of finding anything like a beaten 

 path, and unwilling to retrace my steps, if indeed 

 that would have been possible ; I made my way, at 

 last, through a partial opening in a hedge, and 

 emerged at once into a turnip held. It was here, 

 while gazing with delight upon the expanded wings 

 of a splendid "Admiral butterfly," and soon after 



being charmed with the sight of a large fritillary, 

 that I found a large bunch of the lovely blue pim- 

 pernel, of which I send one of the two sprigs 1 

 plucked. By leaving the rest, I am in hopes the 

 flower will seed, and so produce more ; and thus, at 

 some future season, give delight to the botanist, 

 who, like me, may be fortunate in finding it. If 

 any of the readers of Science-Gossip have found 

 or may find, the Blue Pimpernel, it would be very 

 interesting to have the locality recorded. — G.,Ilfra- 

 conibe. 



Double Bittercress. — I found lately, near 

 Dublin, a curious double variety of Bittercress 

 (Cardamiue pratensis). When first it blossoms, 

 there is nothing peculiar about it, only the pistil is 

 a little larger than usual ; but after the petals fall 

 off, the ovary, instead of containing seeds, becomes 

 changed into a bud, which opens out into a very 

 double flower, without stamens or pistil. The 

 flower continues for a considerable time, new petals 

 coming out in the centre as those outside die away. 

 My attention was called to it by seeing upon the 

 same plant both single and double flowers. — C. B. 

 Ball, Dublin. 



Hampshire Lycopod.— The following letter,with 

 the editorial remarks appended, appeared in the 

 Gardener 's Chronicle for August 3rd : — " I gathered 

 the enclosed specimens of Lycopodium alpinum at 

 Lower Wagner's Wells, in the parish of Bramshot, 

 Hants ; the soil a sandy peat, the elevation not more 

 than GOO or 700 feet, the situation sheltered, and 

 growing near to the roots of Heath, about 18 inches 

 high, by which it appears to be almost smothered. 

 Has Lycopodium alpinum ever been properly de- 

 scribed ? All authors describe it with a repent stem 

 above ground ; our plant has one an inch below the 

 surface, but it agrees in every other particular with 

 L. alpinum, its four-garious habit distinguishes it 

 from L. complanatum. May it (L. alpinum) not 

 have sometimes a running stem above ground, and 

 sometimes under? Lastrea Thelypteris, in its 

 native bogs, runs above the soil, but under culti- 

 vation it grows with a subterraneous rhizome." — ■ 

 John Lloyd. 



" There are some doubts as to the true name of 

 this Lycopodium, arising from the fact that the 

 specimens sent are the barren stems only. Professor 

 Babiugton ' inclines to place it under L. chamcecy- 

 parissus, B. Br. — a plant of the llhine valley.' It 

 may be L. alpinum, but the subterranean rhizome is 

 unlike that species." — Ed. Gard. Chron. 



Pear-tree in bloom.— There is a pear-tree in 

 Sir Allan Bellingham's garden at Castle Billingham 

 in full bloom, and, at the same time, having pear 

 on it each as large as two walnuts. — T. A. H. 



[Similar occurrences were common last year. — 

 Ed.] 



