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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[June 1, 1869. 



spicuous elongated scions, rooting at the extremity, 

 which are supposed to characterise V. odorata. 

 This plant, I suppose, corresponds with one 

 referred to in "English Botany" (ii. IS), which 

 was sent by Mr. J. G. Baker from Seafield, in Mid- 

 West Yorkshire, "which he supposes to be V. 

 sepincola of Jordan." My friend Mr. Holland will 

 be amused at my citing instances like this, which 

 tell so forcibly against my own theories as a 

 " splitter " ; but the horrible [fate of Professor 

 Ptthmllnsprts in "The Water-Babies," who 

 ignored facts which did not coincide with his 

 theories, is a warning which none but the most 

 hardened could contemplate unmoved; besides, our 

 great object is to arrive at the truth, and he would 

 be unworthy of the name of a naturalist who would 

 suppress facts simply because they run counter to 

 his theories. But to return to V. hirta. Several 

 pale-blue and white-flowered specimens have been 

 gathered this season ; and the species has continued 

 in blossom longer than usual : I found some as late 

 as May 2nd. One plant which was brought to me 

 had very small and numerous white flowers, and 

 small pale leaves ; the rootstock was remarkably 

 branched, and neither flower-stalks nor leaf-stalks 

 were more than an inch in height, the former being 

 slightly the longer of the two. I have noticed this 

 season that both V. Reichenbach tana and V. Riviniana 

 have produced a great many well-filled capsules from 

 the ordinary blossoms : during former seasons this 

 has been comparatively uncommon, most of the 

 fertile flowers being apetalous, and appearing later. 

 Some of our later-flowering specimens of V. 

 Reichenbacliiana have very small petals, sometimes 

 only three or four being present : Mr. Holland has 

 sent me similar specimens from Mobberley, 

 Cheshire, and looks on them as intermediate betwen 

 the spring petalous blossoms and the apetalous 

 ones of summer. But, as I have stated above, seed 

 has this year been abundantly produced from the 

 ordinary petalous flowers. 



Mr. Hampden G. Glasspoole sent me two speci- 

 mens of V. Riviniana from Yarmouth, each blossom 

 of which had two spurs, one of the lateral petals 

 being thus transformed : iu other particulars the 

 flowers were of the normal type. 



In the notes on Oxlips of various origins which 

 have appeared from time to time in Gossip, a 

 variety of the Cowslip (called Primula veris /3 

 major) was referred to as one of the claimants of 

 the name. As far as my experience goes, this is 

 somewhat rare ; but I have this year found one 

 example of it in a field of cowslips : it had leaves 

 like the Cowslip, but the corollas'were nearly flat, 

 and paler than usual : at the same time, they were 

 not nearly so large as those of Primula caulescens, 

 which has been remarkably fine with us this season. 

 P. intermedia, the true hybrid between the Cowslip 

 and Primrose, I have not yet met with. I notice in 



gardens a very pretty single Primrose with bright 

 purplish flowers, which I do not remember to have 

 seen before this year : it is of a better colour than, 

 and in every way far preferable to, those double, 

 artificial-looking lilac Primroses, which remind 

 one of the hideosities which used {lucus a non 

 lucendd) to be called " violets," and were worn in 

 ladies' bonnets. There is a superstition here that 

 these " spring flowers," as they are called, may be 

 produced by planting a common Primrose root in 

 cowdung; while Polyanthuses may be obtained by 

 placing a Cowslip root upside down in soot ! This 

 latter notion is very widely diffused ; in fact, the 

 " folk-lore " connected with Primroses would make 

 by itself an interesting paper. 



The Windflower {Anemone nemorosa) has blos- 

 somed very abundantly this season. This is one of 

 the plants which, even in a wild state, not un- 

 frequently become double : and this doubling is ac- 

 complished in two ways ; either by the conversion 

 of the stamens into petals (or sepals?) corresponding 

 in size with those which are usually present'; or by 

 their transformation into almost linear petals, about 

 half as long as the sepals. The reddish-purple or 

 bright pink tint noticeable in some specimens of the 

 common form, especially when beginning to fade, is 

 very beautiful. Occasionally, however, a pale blue 

 shade is to be observed ; but this, I fancy, is rare. 

 The only specimens I have seen thus coloured were 

 some sent me last season by a kind friend, who 

 fancied they were flowers of A. apennina. In a bed 

 of Anemone leaves we shall notice a few on taller 

 stalks than the rest, and if we gather them, we 

 shall find them covered with little whitish dots, 

 which are a species of JEcidium ;* a leaf of Anemone 

 thus affected is figured in Bay's " Synopsis " from 

 a specimen in Bobart's herbarium, and was for 

 some time known as "the Conjurer of Chalgrave's 

 Eern." 



Those interested in the preservation of our rare 

 plants will be glad to know that Daphne Mezereum 

 still holds its ground in two woods near Wycombe, 

 one of which is now being inclosed for game ; con- 

 sequently, unless it attracts the notice of the game- 

 keepers themselves, we may hope that the villagers, 

 who greedily transplant to their gardens all that 

 they can find, will be deterred from hunting for and 

 extirpating the Mezereon in one, at least, of its 

 localities. And here I bring my spring gossip to a 

 close, wishing my readers one-hundredth part of the 

 pleasure in reading it that I have derived from ob- 

 serving the plants mentioned in it. 



High Wycombe. James Britten. 



[* lEcidium leucospermum. The fungus affecting the leaves 

 of the wood anemone, figured in Ray's "Synopsis,"wasnot this, 

 but a species of Puccinia, more common than the yEcidium, 

 the brown pustules of which bear a greater resemblance to 

 the fructification of a fern. See " Microscopic Fungi," 

 p. 60.— Ed. S. G.] 



