On the Periods of Flowering of certain Plants. 225 



Plants in flower at 1st of February 1846. 



fHepatica triloba. Generally in flower mid-February. 



Saxifraga oppositifolia. Three weeks earlier than usual. 

 fr crassifolia. 1 Always flower in February ; not particu-"! 



L cordifolia. j larly remarked this year. J 



■\Hyoscyamus Scopolia. Generally flowers 1st of February. 

 \ Andromeda calyculata. Generally in full flower 1st of March. 



f Erica herbacea**. Flowered fully, early in February — two to 



three weeks earlier than usual. 

 II Chinese Roses. Showed flowers in their spring growth end of 

 February — shoots 12 to 18 inches long when cut down by frost 

 on the 18th of March. 

 Rhododendron arbor eum (hybrids of). Commenced flowering about 



1st of March. 

 WSyringa vulgaris (purple and white flowering). Exhibited their 



spikes, some of which were in flower early in March. 

 Fuchsia discolor and its varieties partially in flower early in 



March. 

 Lonicera tatarica. In full flower early in March. 



\\Primula sinensis. Not tried out of doors in Belfast Botanic 

 Garden. 



When at Springvale, on the eastern coast of the county of 

 Down^ on the 26th Feb. 1846, I remarked a horse-chestnut tree 

 [jEsculus Hippocastanum) of about thirty years* growth with green 

 woody shoots fully three inches in length on its lower branches, 

 and flower-buds developed to half that extent. The article com- 

 mented on informs us, that on the 28th Feb. the large horse- 

 chestnut tree (" Marronnier '^) of the Tuileries, Paris, bore on its 

 under branches a great number of perfect blossom-buds, and the 

 leaves were expanded to the extent of five centimetres ; the upper 

 branches were not so far advanced (p. 229). 



On the same day at Springvale, the May-flower (Call ha palm- 

 tris) exhibited flower-buds in such a state of forwardness, that 

 another week of such weather would develope the full flower. 



Meteorological tables of the temperature of many winters com- 

 pared with that of 1845-46 at Paris and Brussels are given in 

 the articles referred to ; but, in a communication on the whole so 

 brief as the present one, it may be sufficient to notice the few 

 salient points of that winter at Belfast. 



Dec. 1845. The temperature of the month of December has 

 frequently of late years exceeded that of 1845. 



t Flowering February 28 in Jard. des Plantes, Paris. 

 il Flowering February 18 in Jard. des Plantes, Paris. 

 ** Did not usually flower about Glasgow before the middle of March. 



