HARD WICKE'S S CIENCE - GOSSIP. 



65 



■ which indeed was not my meaning. My observations 

 do not at all contradict those of Mr. Beal. What I 

 notice as remarkable is this: — In regular indefinite 

 inflorescence, when a flower appears in the axil of every 

 leaf, the flower in the axil of the lowest leaf is the 

 oldest, and therefore opens first ; then, that in the axil 

 of the leaf next above it ; and so on, as in the pimpernel. 

 In gourds and pumpkins, this order of expansion is 

 observed only among flowers of the same sex. Sup- 

 pose, then, that a plant bear ten flowers, the first 

 nine of them may be staminate flowers, the tenth, 

 pistillate. If a flower open every day, as is usual in 

 our climate, the fertile flower would not open in the 

 ordinary course till the tenth day. Instead of that, 

 however, it will be found expanded on the fifth and 

 sixth ; it may be simultaneously with one of the 

 staminate flowers or not, but always before the 

 staminate flower immediately below it. Flowers of 

 the two sexes, though indiscriminately mixed as to 

 position on the stem, thus form two series as to the 

 order of their expansion. I think that there are 

 usually more staminate flowers produced early in the 

 season, and a tendency afterwards to the production 

 of pistillate flowers which are abortive for want of 

 vigour in the plant to perfect them. I only remember 

 one instance of a gourd producing a fruit blossom too 

 early in the season to be fertilized : it was a miniature 

 gourd, which produced a fruit, as the result of that 

 blossom, with no seed. — John Gibbs, Chelmsford. 



ASPLENIUM SEPTENTRIONALE AND GERMANI- 

 CUM. — About ten years ago I found Asplenium septen- 

 trionale in the Beddgelert district. There were a great 

 many plants growing within a limited area, but the 

 spot was very difficult of access, and it was, perhaps, 

 owing to this that they had escaped observation. I 

 brought away four or five specimens, and took fronds 

 from some other plants, but they were all septen- 

 trionale. I did not look specially for Germanicum, 

 certainly, but, as far as my observation went, there was 

 not a plant of it there. At the same time I quite 

 agree with the observer whose opinion Mr. T. Belt 

 quotes, that a very close relationship exists between 

 these two species. — Edward Hart Vinen, M.D. 



Gentiana ACAULis. — In the Autumn of 1875, I 

 was staying, after illness, at the Freshwater Hotel, 

 Isle of Wight, and, during my first ramble over the 

 Downs, I gathered two species of Gentiana, which I 

 sent to my friend Mr. Varenne, of Kelvedon, who has 

 a fine collection of British plants, and is a first-rate 

 botanist. After reading the communication in your 

 last, about the appearance of Gentiana aeaulis in that 

 locality, I wrote to Mr. Varenne to let me know 

 what species I sent him, and I enclose his answer : — 

 "Dear Dr. Bree, I am much afraid the lady who wrote 

 in Science -Gossip made a mistake about the 

 Gentiana aeaulis in the Isle of Wight. You collected 

 two specimens of gentian there, in September, 1S75, 



as forwarded to me. One was a stunted state of 

 Gentiana Amarella, and the other, equally dwarf, was 

 a specimen of Gentiana campestris, probably. Both 

 are many-flowered, and by that character very 

 different from Gentiana aeaulis. — E. G. Varenne.'" — 

 Dr. Bree. 



Gentiana acaulis.— I would beg to remind your 

 correspondent, "J. C. M.," with reference to some 

 remarks inserted in your recent issue, that the flower- 

 ing of plants vastly depends upon elimatal influences. 

 There is no reason because G. acaulis blossoms on the 

 Swiss Alps towards the middle of June till July, that 

 therefore it should flower here at that time ; the con- 

 ditions are totally dissimilar. Many years ago I 

 noticed several blossoms of this lovely plant, in a 

 friend's garden in East Sussex, during the month of 

 September. It has been stated that " Alpine flowers 

 are signalized by the intensity of their colours, this 

 increase of brilliancy in tints being attributed to the 

 pure snow-water nourishing the roots, to the greater 

 excitement of the light, and refined purity of the air." 

 Not only so, there are other forces at work which 

 should cause an earlier floral development. They get 

 a longer and more persistent rest in winter, and pro- 

 tection from the carpet or blanket of snow. During 

 my travels in Italy, in February and March of 1865, 

 vegetation appeared to be most backward ; but on 

 my return home by Florence, in early April, the vege- 

 table world was in full luxuriance of leaf and beauty. 

 Whilst journeying over the Mont Cenis pass, 

 numerous flowers were in full bloom, some peeping 

 through patches of snow, others in places where it 

 had melted. Nothing of the kind existed out of doors 

 in England. If indeed G. acaulis blossoms with us 

 in June and July, as it is said to do on the Alps 

 during those months, the remarks by Treviranus, 

 quoted by Dr. Lindley in his "Theory and Practice 

 of Horticulture," might hold good: — "It is well 

 known that plants from the northern half of the 

 world, when they have become naturalized in the 

 south, have changed almost entirely the time of their 

 vegetating, blooming, and fruit-bearing, so as entirely 

 to accord with the habits of the indigenous plants of 

 the country. Thus we find at the Cape of Good 

 Hope oaks, alders, almond, peach, and apricot are 

 in full bloom in August." Our best botanists, such 

 as Mr. Bentham, I believe, maintain that G. acaulis is 

 not indigenous here ; so it might obey the dictum as 

 laid down by Treviranus. — John Colebrook. 



Gentiana acaulis (S. G. 1878, p. 18). — I hope 

 your fair correspondent, Isabella H. Knox, will not 

 be offended if I tell her in your pages that Gentiana 

 acaulis is not found wild in the Isle of Wight, and. 

 that the plants she found between the Needles and 

 Freshwater were not Gentians at all, but dwarfed 

 specimens of Campanula glomerata. There can be 

 no doubt about it. Bromfield, in his "Flora Vic- 



