HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE - GOSSIP. 



16 



well known in England. The plant is stated in the 

 " Treasury of Botany " as being known as " the Duke 

 of Argyle's tea-tree," the leaves being recommended 

 for use in the place of tea, a piece of advice not 

 generally acted upon it would seem. The leaves 

 appear in the figure so extremely diminutive that they 

 never could have been used as a substitute for tea. 

 There appears, therefore, to be some confusion ; the 

 plant in the figure should have been referred to as 

 the Lycium Europceum of Palestine, but altogether 

 unlike the tea-tree, sometimes found in a semi-wild 

 state in England, where it is so well known as the 

 tea-tree. Mr. Baker says he has not seen the Bible 

 plant, and of course he can give no opinion as to the 

 figure in plate 9. — T.B. IF., Brighton. 



Definite and Indefinite Inflorescence. — 

 Sir J. E. Smith thought the distinction of not much 

 importance, on account of the difference found among 

 the species of Allium in the order of expansion of 

 their flowers. Nor did Professor Lindley seem to 

 recognize the distinction as of primary importance, 

 for in this little work on Descriptive Botany, the 

 spike, the raceme, and the corymb are represented 

 by figures each terminated by a central flower. Such 

 a central flower may indeed be found in the spike 

 of Agrimony, the corymb of the Pear, the umbel of 

 the Apple, and the panicle of London Pride. After 

 noticing such facts, one may be pardoned for enter- 

 taining a doubt as to the existence of any form of 

 inflorescence strictly indefinite, i.e., incapable of pro- 

 ducing a terminal flower on the axis of inflorescence, 

 or a lateral bud below the flower upon its pedicle. 

 Such a mode of inflorescence does, however, seem to 

 be in the orders Crucijine and Primnlacea, and it 

 may be in other natural orders, only subject to such 

 exceptions as belong to the province of teratology. 

 For nearly twenty years I watched the inflorescence 

 of cruciferous plants before finding an indisputable 

 case of a flower-stalk with a flower on the summit 

 and another below it on the side. This was on one 

 of the ramifications of a much-branched stem of a 

 perennial stock which flowered last year, and of 

 which a note appeared in Science-Gossip of July, 

 1877. This year a similar phenomenon has appeared 

 on another plant of the same kind. Foliar prolifi- 

 cation of the inflorescence is, however, much more 

 common, though I have observed it only in perennial 

 plants, not in annuals or biennials. The stem of the 

 watercress will sometimes grow beyond the series of 

 flowers on its sides, producing leaves above the raceme 

 as freely as below it. Cardamine pratense may be 

 occasionally found with a tuft of leaves on the top of a 

 flowering stem, and I have now in bloom in my garden 

 a stem of a wallflower which bore flowers, produced 

 pods, and ripened seeds last year. Between the two 

 series of flowers came a tuft of leaves, and this year 

 there is a branch above the mortal remains of last 

 year's pods, which, as well as the main stem, has 



blooming flowers. If the stem be not exhausted too 

 much to ripen seed, I will allow it to do so, that I 

 may see if such a variation is hereditary. It thus 

 appears that in cruciferous plants median prolifica- 

 lion of the inflorescence is always foliar, median 

 prolification of the flowers floral. — John Gibbs. 



Orchis-hunting in Surrey.— Surrey is to 

 me associated with many delightful rambles, and 

 none of them more so than those I have deno- 

 minated "Orchis-hunting." Living at that time 

 close upon the North Downs, I was able to make 

 acquaintance with some of the chalk-loving species 

 of theJDrchidacere seldom met with now, especially 

 as I am at present located amongst the Red Sandstone 

 of Devonshire. My "happy hunting-grounds" at 

 that time consisted of the parish of Ockham as a 

 centre, from which I made pedestrian excursions into 

 the surrounding neighbourhood. Most of the species 

 I find referred to in my notes were found within some 

 five or six miles of what was then Ockham Middle- 

 Class Schools. In the moist meadows around, and up 

 what everybody knew as the "Rides," were found 

 very plentifully, 0. masatla, O. maculata, O. latifolia, 

 A T eoltia Nidus-avis, and the Listera ovata. (The 

 Adder s Tongue Fern was very plentiful in a meadow 

 by the side of the Rides.) In a meadow near a pond 

 called the " Sheepwash," I came upon the Habenaria 

 bifolia, and on several occasions 0. niorio. It was, 

 however, by walking some few miles and getting upon 

 some of the chalk ridges that I made acquaintance 

 with some of the more strange-looking species. In 

 the adjoining parish of East Horsley was a hilly piece 

 of ground known as the "Sheep Leas," as far as I 

 can remember the name. I am not sure of the ortho- 

 graphy of the word, — I give the name as it sounded to 

 me. This was a favourite place for a holiday of the 

 pic-nic order, and our people often resorted to it in 

 clays of yore. Many a pleasant day's botanizing I 

 have done there. It was there I made aqcuaintance 

 with the Aceras anthropophora and the Ophrys 

 nntcifera. The Ophrys apifera I found here most plenti- 

 fully distributed, in fact, almost carpeting the ground. 

 This odd-looking Orchis I also found in great abun- 

 dance in a " rough field " near the Fox, on Ranmoor 

 Common. I also remember a few being found in 

 Ockham Park one season. As to the 0. mucifera I 

 think it was under the beech-trees on the Sheep Lea> 

 that I found it. In the same neighbourhood I found 

 the Ophrys aranifera, and the Orchis hircina. I 

 think it was in the Sheepwash meadow already men- 

 tioned that I also found the Orchis' conopsca. — y. Mills 

 Higgins. 



Colias Edusa. — Can any of your readers of 

 Science-Gossip give me a reason for calling the 

 clouded yellow butterfly " Colias Edusa "? " Colias " 

 meaning a kind of tunny-fish, and "Edusa" the 

 goddess who presides over the nourishment of child- 

 ren. — Ha z 'ila nd. 



