HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



141 



■yfcre stigmatiferous and ovuliferous. The probable 

 ■cause of the above-mentioned abnormalities I believe 

 to have been largely due to environments, and the 

 •following notes on Fritillaria melcagris and a variety 

 oi Mintuhis tend somewhat to support this conclusion. 

 In Apiil of the same year I obtained a bulb of 

 fritillaria from its native haunt, the bulb was re- 

 planted and rested, and it bloomed again in the 

 following year at the end of March, The perianth of 

 the flower was campanulated, but considerably smaller 

 •than that of the previous year, the stamens were meta- 

 morphosed into petals, and one crumpled petal very 

 broad at the base occupied the position of the pistil. 

 The plant before flowering had been kept in a dry 

 atmosphere, and a somewhat dry and poor soil. I 

 •purchased last year a pot of Mimulus (var. ?) from a 

 •street stall, and on bringing it home it was allowed to 

 remain in the dry warm atmosphere of a room ; when 

 the new flowers opened they were found to be much 

 smaller, and had lost the delicate salmon tint for 

 which I had been induced to purchase it. A few 

 days after the plant was removed to the greenhouse, 

 and after a lapse of five weeks new flowers developed 

 and were characterized by the colour, size and shape 

 of those expanded when I purchased the plant. — 

 J. H. A. Hicks, F.R.H.S. 



HuTCHiNSiA PETR^A. Hooker (3rd. Ed. 1884) 

 states that this pretty little Cruciferous plant is to be 

 found in Eltham Churchyard, where it has been 

 naturalised, having been planted, it is supposed, by 

 Dillenius. Has any reader of Science-Gossip found 

 it there within recent years ? I have made a careful 

 search for it this spring but have failed to find it, 

 and therefore imagine it to be extinct. — W. B., 

 Flumsiead. 



Variation of Colour in Plants. — Having 

 read Mr. Jones' interesting notes on the " Variation 

 of Colours in Plants," I think the following observa- 

 tions made last autumn when staying at Carr Bridge, 

 Tnverness-shire, may perhaps be of some interest. 

 The season was an extraordinarily good one from a 

 Botanical point of view, the heather far above the 

 average, every tree and shrub being covered with 

 blossom or fruit, the currant and gooseberry trees 

 had their lower branches dragged down to the ground 

 by the unusual weight of fruit, and the raspberries 

 lasted from about the 15th of August to the same 

 date in September. Wild flowers too, were very 

 fine and numerous, especially "the blue bells of 

 Scotland" (^Campanula rotundijlord) occurring for 

 the most part on grassy slopes and the outskirts of 

 corn-fields, where they exhibited great variety both 

 in size and colouring, varying from a deep purple to 

 a very pale blue ; the contrast, however, was greatest 

 in size, some plants preferring quality to quantity, 

 bearing three or four bells per stalk nearly an inch in 

 depth, while others bore double the number but only 

 a quarter of the size. With regard to the white 



variety I found but two examples, one on the edge of 

 an oat-field, the other at a burn side. Both were fine 

 plants, bearing eight and five bells respectively of a 

 beautiful creamy-white colour. I have met with 

 this variety in several counties, and though of rare 

 occurrence it appears to be generally distributed over 

 Scotland. The common scabious {Knautia arvensis) 

 was very plentiful and of every shade between purple 

 and snow white, the same plants frequently bearing 

 flowers of different tints, one specimen had two 

 flowers on the same stalk, one normal, the other 

 dwarf and about three quarters of the way up the 

 main stem, to which it was attached at right angles 

 by a small pedicle. This species rarely occurs above 

 an altitude of 1,000 feet, thriving best in moist grassy 

 situations. The most abundant plant and the most 

 striking in its colour eiTects was the common heather 

 or ling {Erica vulgaris), which, clothing as it does, 

 miles of hill-side and moorland with its lovely purple 

 bloom, constitutes one of the greatest charms of 

 Highland scenery. This species is by no means 

 constant in its colouring, there being at least three 

 distinct varieties : (i) purple inclined to mauve ; 

 (2) purple inclined to carmine ; (3) pure white, 

 which last is very rare and when young hard to 

 distinguish from variety (l), the buds of the latter 

 being almost colourless, save a faint pinkish tinge at 

 their base. I have found it on every moor visited, 

 only, however, in small sprigs amongst miles of the 

 ordinary type. After flowering, the heather siill 

 serves a number of purposes, being used for brooms, 

 thatching, making beds for the poor, and heating 

 ovens. It is considered lucky to find the white 

 variety. The cross-leaved heath {E, tetralix) is, I 

 think, the prettier flower of the two, though its beauties 

 are not so obvious until we raise its modestly hanging 

 head, which at once reveals the wealth of colour 

 displayed in the shading of its delicate bells. These 

 being carmine-coloured at the base, make the flower 

 apparently darker than it is, the bells being in reality 

 quite wliite at their mouths and increasing in colour 

 towards the base. This species grows plentifully in 

 peat-bogs and other moist situations on the moors, 

 being generally found in clumps, getting rather 

 straggling above an altitude of 3,000 feet. It is not 

 apparently subject to much variation, though last 

 August I had the good fortune to light on a clump, 

 bearing white flowers ; not a pale transparent, but 

 an opaque creamy-white ; there were over thirty 

 blooms, the roots soaking in water. Never having 

 heard of this variety before, I should very much like 

 to know whether any reader of " Science Gossip" 

 has met with it ? The common purple heath 

 {E. cinerca) is the least abundant of the three men- 

 tioned, being only found on bare rocky ground and 

 the faces of cliffs, where comparatively little moisture 

 accumulates, and is not subject to variation in colour. 

 It occurs at an altitude of 4,000 feet very stunted, 

 about 2,5co suits it best, where I have taken speci- 



