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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



[May 1, 1869. 



BOTANY. 



Cociileaiiia. — Both the Cochlearia Danica and 

 the Cochlearia Anglica are said to be merely 

 varieties of the C. officinalis ; and while writing this 

 I must add that " F. W.," as well as your other 

 correspondent, rather mistook my meaning with 

 respect to the term annual ; though I admit the 

 vague way in which I unfortunately worded my 

 notice quite accounted for their reading of it. I 

 intended to say that the Scurvy-grass under cultiva- 

 tion will arrive at maturity within a year. Strictly 

 speaking, I suppose an annual is a plant that 

 flowers and fruits, when raised from seed, in the 

 same year in which the seed is sown, and according 

 to the experiments that I have seen tried with the 

 C. officinalis. I only meant to say that if its seeds 

 are sown early in the summer, the leaves will be 

 ready for use, and the plant itself will have fulfilled 

 its mission, and, I think, the root will have perished, 

 before the twelve months have run their course. — 

 Helen E. Watney. 



The Scurvy-grass.— Thanks are tendered for 

 notices and opinions on the habit of this plant. 

 They are as various as those found in books. The 

 information from the coast of Antrim may be taken 

 as conclusive. It may be useful to clear up the 

 meaning of the words " annual " and "biennial." 

 An annual plant makes its growth, perfects its seed, 

 and dies in one season — annus, a period between 

 two winters. A biennial makes its growth in two 

 seasons ; forming leaf and root the first, and 

 running to seed in the second, when it is exhausted, 

 and dies. {Fid. Keith's " Botanical Lexicon." ) It is 

 easy to see to which of these the Scurvy-grass corre- 

 sponds : germinating at midsummer and dying, after 

 perfecting seed, at the same timeinthe following year, 

 as it does in gardens and other sheltered places. It 

 is true, as "H. W." suggests, it might take an annual 

 habit if sown in spring ; but this would not be, as 

 he justly observes, its natural state; indeed the 

 plant seems to resent such treatment, for Miller 

 says it does not grow readily from a spring sowing. 

 On the bleak shore and mountain-side, however, the 

 Cochlearia officinalis, it can be no longer doubted, 

 takes a perennial habit ; that it does so is now, as 

 appears, admitted in the last edition of Hooker's 

 "British Flora," but that it is at the same time an 

 annual is, in the cautious language of the Scotch 

 law courts, " not proven." The habitat at Weston, 

 mentioned in my first notice, is on a bank by the 

 roadside, just opposite the new pier. — S. S. 



Dog Violets. — Will any one send me fresh 

 specimens of Viola canina, L., as distinguished 

 from cither of the forms of V. sylvatica ? I will 

 gladly send in return cither of these forms. Their 

 time of flowering is remarkably different : V. Rcich- 



enbachiana has now (April 5) been well in flower 

 for a month; of V. Riviniana, only two blossoms 

 have been noticed either by myself or by other 

 local observers. — James Britten, High Wycombe. 



Claytoxia pereoliata. — As some notices of 

 the places in which this plant has become natu- 

 ralized in England have appeared informer numbers 

 of Science-Gossip, it may not be uninteresting to 

 some of your readers to learn that it grows pro- 

 fusely in one spot at Stowmarket, Suffolk. The 

 locality is a sheltered bank in one of the hop- 

 grounds near the town, which is in many places 

 literally covered with it. The first perfoliate leaves, 

 with the flower-buds in the centre, are now (April G) 

 beginning to appear. — F. T. 



Plantain Hair.— In June, 1867, my attention 

 was first drawn to the presence of a hair (or some- 

 thing like a hair) which is lodged in the base of the 

 leaves of Plantago media. It occurred in half the 

 plants I took up (this was at Hollesly, in Suffolk). 

 I afterwards found it at Beccles, and last summer 

 abundant here. The plant must be dug up by the 

 roots and the outside leaves carefully pulled off, and 

 at the third or fourth leaf the hair will be found. 

 It varies in length from one to three iuches, and its 

 colour all shades of brown, from nearly white to 

 nearly black ; it looks like a human hair, but differs 

 in being pointed at both extremities. There is only 

 one hair in each plant, and it is in those growing 

 chiefly on moist meadows and river-banks that it is 

 most abundant. I have not found it in either Plan- 

 /ago major or lanceolata. Will some of your corre- 

 spondents tell me what this is ? The fact of this 

 hair being always present in summer has given rise 

 to a superstitious custom of East Suffolk maidens, 

 who, after turning three times with their heel on 

 the plant, think the hair found within will be the 

 same colour as their future husband's. I suppose 

 it has some connection with an insect that feeds on 

 the plant, and I shall be very much obliged for any 

 information. — Burton B. Harvey, Sculthorpe, Faken- 

 ham, Norfolk. 



Laurel Berries. — Your correspondent Helen 

 Watney may be interested to know that, living on 

 the Surrey Hills, where laurels grow very well, we 

 have for many years used the large grape-like 

 bunches of black fruit of Cerasus Lauro-Cerasus, 

 both fresh-gathered and preserved in bottles, for 

 mixing with black currants in tarts, &c, which they 

 improve immensely. Also preserving them in 

 brandy, as brandy-cherries, when, after keeping a 

 couple of years, the brandy becomes most deliciously 

 flavoured by the prussic acid of the kernel, and 

 quite harmless. This, as well as the youug leaves, 

 we used for flavouring puddings, creams, jellies, 

 &C.—3I. C. 



