July 1, 18(37.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



163 



BOTANY. 



An Ancient Rose-tree. — While very old oaks 

 yews, and chestnuts have each found their "vates" 

 to embalm their memories in the pages of history, 

 there is an humbler member of the vegetable king- 

 dom which has not, so far as I know, found a place 

 in English botanical records. I allude to an ex- 

 ceedingly ancient rose-tree at Hildesheim, in Han- 

 over, which is still flourishing (as a friend of mine, 

 who has lately seen it, tells me), with all the vigour 

 of youth. This remarkable tree (or rather climber, 

 for it is supported against the wall of a church), 

 was in existence when Christianity itself was little 

 more than 1,000 years old ; and, if we may believe 

 tradition, had even then been blooming for well- 

 nigh 300 summers ! But I will give its history in 

 the words of the well-known botanist, Herr Leunis, 

 himself a resident at Hildesheim. " The oldest 

 known rose-tree in the world is one at present 

 growing against the wall of the cathedral of this 

 town (Hildesheim), remarkable alike for its extreme 

 age, and for the scanty nourishment with which it 

 has supported itself for so many centuries. It 

 varies but slightly from the common Dog-rose 

 (R. canina) : the leaves are rather more ovate, the 

 pedicels and lower leaf-surfaces more hairy, the 

 fruit smaller and more globular. The stem is 

 2 inches thick at its junction with the root, and the 

 whole plant covers some 24 square feet of the wall. 

 Bishop Hezilo, who flourished 1054—1079, took 

 special interest in this rose as being a remarkable 

 monument of the past ; aud when the cathedral was 

 rebuilt, after being burnt down in 1061, he had it 

 once more trained against the portion of wall which 

 had been spared by the fire. Tradition states that, 

 in the year of grace 814, the Emperor Ludwig the 

 Pious, son of Charlemagne, was staying with his 

 Court at Elze. Being desirous of hunting in the 

 huge forest where now stands Hildesheim, mass 

 was said by the Imperial Chaplain at the place of 

 rendezvous. By some mishap, when the service 

 was concluded and the party dispersed, the vessel 

 containing the sacred elements was left behind. On 

 returning to the spot the following day, great was 

 the surprise of the chaplain, to find the holy vessel 

 overshadowed by the tender branchlets of a lovely 

 rose, which had sprung up in the night, and now 

 filled the air with the perfume of its flowers. The 

 Emperor shortly after arrived and by his command 

 a chapel was built, with the altar standing on the 

 spot occupied by the roots of the rose,— that very 

 rose which is now blooming as freshly as though a 

 single decade, and not a thousand years, had passed 

 over its head \" So far tradition. Certain it is 

 that the roots of the existing rose-tree are buried 

 under the altar of the cathedral, and, consequently, 

 are inside the building, the stem being carried 

 through the wall to the outer air by a perforation 



made expressly for it. My informant tells me that 

 the plant is held in the highest veneration by the 

 inhabitants, and that no one is permitted to gather 

 the flowers or break the branches.— /F. W. S. 



Carex Buxbaumii— Your readers interested in 

 our native plants will be glad to hear that Carex 

 Buxbaumii (Wahl.), Carex canescans {Linn), still 

 exists near Toome, co. Deny, This rare species is 

 in Britain only found within the compass of a few 

 square yards, and Dr. Dickie, in the "Flora of 

 Ulster," issued a few years since, says, "it is perhaps 

 now lost through the partial drainage of the lake." 

 In the "Cybele Hibernica," published last summer, 

 it is mentioned as gathered in 1S55 by the late 

 Mr. Woods. Further, I was informed by the care- 

 taker of the grounds on which the plant is found 

 that, four years since, a gentleman had been there 

 and taken away a specimen of a grass which was 

 not to be had anywhere else. If this meet the eye 

 of the aforesaid botanist, he will learn that his visit 

 is still remembered. 



On the 1st of June of this year, the Belfast 

 Naturalists' Field Club made an excursion to 

 Toome ; and, starting by a train in advance of my 

 fellows, I had a few hours to search for the carex, 

 which, to my great delight, proved to be still occu- 

 pying the very limited area where Dr. Moore 

 discovered it more than thirty years ago. 



It is satisfactory to record that the visit of the 

 Belfast Club to Toome did not involve any injury to 

 the Carex Buxbaumii. It is, perhaps, the most 

 elegant of our carices, and its extinction would be 

 a grievous loss to the Irish Flora. The perennial 

 roots were left untouched, and two flowering stems 

 only taken away. One of these now adorns my 

 own herbarium ; the other is reserved for my friend, 

 R. Tate, Esq., F.G.S., as a souveuir, reminding 

 him of our joint attempt last summer to find this 

 plant, which attempt only failed for lack of a very 

 necessary element in these pursuits, — time. — S. 

 Alex. Steicart, Belfast. 



Oxlip. — Is there not some mistake about the 

 true Primula el atior (Jacq.) growing on the Mendip 

 Hills ? Will it not rather be a caulescent form of 

 the common primrose ? I laboured for some time 

 under the delusion that I had the true oxlip in my 

 herbarium, which afterwards proved to be only 

 Primula vulgaris /3 caulescens. If it is the true 

 oxlip, it will be a very interesting locality. — B. 



Natural History has been said by some to be 

 a study of facts ; by others, a science of observa- 

 tion. Each of these statements is, to a certain 

 extent, true ; it is only by observation that we can 

 acquire a knowledge of the facts upon which all 

 ulterior views must be based.— Rev. Leonard 

 Jenyns, M.A. 



