May 1, 1868.J 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



115 



BOTANY. 



Venation of the Umbelliferse. — In the Quar- 

 terly Journal of Microscopical Science for January is 

 a paper by Mr. T. Gorham on the above subject, in 

 which, among other conclusions, the 'writer comes to 

 the following, — " that a considerable number of the 

 Umbelliferse have a venation peculiar to themselves, 

 and which does not find a place under any of the 

 division, that have heretofore existed ; that this 

 peculiarity consists in the existence of a vein at the 

 very edge of the leaf itself, and which, more or less, 

 entirely fringes its whole margin; that this marginal 

 vein is to be found certainly in one half, if not more 

 of the species belonging to the Umbelliferse; and 

 hence that it may be said to constitute a form of 

 venation peculiar to this order, and to give a charac- 

 ter to it which does not belong to other orders of 

 plants." Now I fear Mr. Gorham has either too 

 hastily generalized or not sufficiently examined 

 other plants, because the said venation is certainly 

 not confined to the Umbelliferse. The only plants 

 I have at present been able to operate upon are 

 some of the evergreens, several of which have this 

 "peculiar venation." The first I tried was the 

 Box, which gave a very beautiful marginal vein; 

 the Ivy and Euonymus did not ; but the Holly and 

 Berberry did: the Myrtle not only gave the marginal 

 vein, but to me a curious state of venation; for, 

 treating it as I had the others, by boiling in liquor 

 potassce, I removed the cuticle, and found.tke veinage 

 consisted of two laminse, united at the margin, but 

 easily separable. Now I would ask botanists 

 whether they have observed a similar state of things 

 with other leaves. I have a strong impression that 

 the marginal vein will be found in many deciduous 

 plants, and will therefore negative the idea that it 

 is peculiar to the Umbelliferse. Microscopists will 

 obtain some very beautiful preparations of skeletons 

 and cuticles by boiling leaves for a few minutes in 

 liquor potassce. Some, like the Box, with gentle 

 pressure, either with the finger or camel-hair pencil, 

 under warm water, may, after boiling, be so manipu- 

 lated as to remove all but the cuticles and skeleton, 

 which may then be mounted in glycerine jelly or 

 balsam— T. W. W., Brighton. 



Early Spring Flowers.— I expect you will be 

 overwhelmed with communications on this subject; 

 yet I enclose the dates of flowering of a few of our 

 Wycombe wild flowers, which are this season much 

 earlier than usual. Windflower {Anemone nemorosa), 

 March 7 ; Goldilocks (Ranunculus auricomus), April 

 6 ; Meadow Crowfoot (R. acris), March 25 ; Great 

 Stitchwort (Stellaria holostea), March 25 ; Wood 

 Sorrel (Oxalis acctoselld), March 15 ; Golden Saxi- 

 frage (Chrysospleiiiiim opposit ifolium), March 28 ; 

 Moschatel (Adoxa moschatellina), March 25 ; Tooth- 



wort (Lathraa squamaria), April 7; Cowslip 

 [Primula veris), March 7 ; Mezereon (Daphne 

 Mezereum), March 7 ; Wood Spurge (Euphorbia 

 amygdaldides), March IS; Daffodil (Narcissus pseudo- 

 Narcissus), March 17. The Golden Saxifrage, 

 Toothwort, and Mezereon had been out for at least 

 a week when first observed : the last named, of 

 course, blossoms much earlier in gardens ; but, 

 until this year, I have never seen it in flower in our 

 woods earlier than March 28. — B. 



Claytonia perfoliata.— Can you inform me 

 when Claytonia perfoliata was first observed in this 

 country ? I came into possession a short time since 

 of a collection of dried plants mostly collected in this 

 neighbourhood, and among them I found a very 

 good specimen of C. perfoliata, which had been 

 raised from seed of a wild plant growing at Caistor > 

 near Great Yarmouth, in 1836. About twelve years 

 since I observed it growing in quite another habitat 

 in the neighbourhood of Yarmouth, on a sandy bank 

 by the roadside. Since then it has been spreading 

 inland, and a few days since I found the banks of a 

 lane near where I made my first discovery for more 

 than half a mile covered with this singular plant. I 

 find no mention of it in the Yarmouth catalogue of 

 plants by Mr. James Paget Gale, 1834. There is a 

 specimen named C. alsinoides in the herbarium of 

 the late John Drew Salmon (now in the Norfolk and 

 Norwich Museum), which resembles perfoliata, and 

 was gathered in a wood at Edensor, about two miles 

 from Chatsworth, in July, 1849. In a note in Mr. 

 Salmon's " Hooker's British Flora " he says it was 

 first observed there in 1837. If it is still to be 

 found, I shall be glad of a specimen to compare with 

 C. perfoliata.— Hampden 67. Glasspoole, Or meshy St. 

 Michael. 



Edible Spring Fungi. — I have observed a 

 non- deliquescent, black -spored Agaric (Agaricus 

 phhkenarum, Bull), which seems very nearly to 

 coincide with Berkeley's description of Panceolus 

 separatus, cropping up in immense quantities 

 from a seakale bed in this neighbourhood.) - The 

 bed is made with sawdust used for littering a 

 stable, and the portions bearing the fungi are 

 exposed to the air, with little or no internal 

 heat. The soft delicate biscuit-brown colour, and 

 the abundance and not unwholesome smell of the 

 specimens, inclined me to experiment upon their 

 edible qualities— cautiously enough at first — for I 

 hold the maxim, " consider every one a rogue until 

 he proves himself a true man," applicable to the 

 Toadstool family. Having, however, at last con- 

 sumed some considerable quantities — say a dozen or 

 so at a time— without the slightest inconvenience, I 

 venture to recommend the variety to your readers, 

 not by any means as equal to the autumn kinds, but 

 as a wholesome and delicately -flavoured substitute 



