70 BotafiT/^ 



Art. II. Botany. 



Curious instance oj Viviparous Production. — As a friend of mine, a bo- 

 tanist, in this town, was looking at some pieces of the J'Uium arenarium, 

 which he had kept by him for about two years, he found that several of the 

 seeds were germinating in the calyx and some had even put forth their co- 

 tyledon.— jL. E. O. Richmondy Aug. 10. 1828. 



LathrcBa squamaria. — This curious plant is certainly not parasitic, as 

 has been supposed, for the plant has been transplanted from its original site 

 to the garden, and it there grew well enough. Iknow of none capable of 

 giving a more interesting account of it than my friend, J. C. Bowman, Esq. 

 F.L.S., who has paid particular attention to its habitats and habits. — J. 

 Murray. 



White Varieties of Flowers. ^ There are many flowers of which white 

 varieties are to be found not mentioned by Smith. The /Scilla nutans occurs 

 perfectly white in a small wood close to Chestford Bridge, near Kenil worth, 

 and likewise at Leamington, in a wood attached to the beautiful cottage of 

 R. Poole, Esq., solicitor. It has been found also at Halstock, in this county. 

 We have here the Prunilla vulgaris, snow-white, the bracteas of which are 

 without any tinge of purple. — W. i/., R. N. Yeovil, August 5. 1828. 



Spontaneous Appearance of Epipdctis latifolia. {fig. 18.)— Sir, about the 

 year 1811 I enclosed a small piece of 

 ground, for the purpose of making an oak 

 plantation. In the course of a few years, 

 when the young trees began to form a low 

 wood, I was surprised to see several fine 

 plants of J^pipactis latifolia make their ap- 

 pearance among the oaks. They have ever 

 since continued to do so in considerable 

 abundance, and in various parts of the 

 plantation. I observe too, that it frequently 

 (though by no means always) happens, that 

 an individual plant dies after flowering, or 

 at last ceases to come up agmn in the same 

 identical spot a second year. Thus, e. g., in 

 the summer of 1827, 1 had in the plantation 

 several remarkably fine specimens, bearing 

 a profusion of flowers, throwing up two or 

 more stems from the root, and growing to the height of between 5 and 4 ft., 

 the largest, in short, that I ever saw of the species. But, to my disappoint- 

 ment, these fine specimens ^id not throw up any shoots or leaves the fol- 

 lowing season ; nor had I, though there was an abundance of specimens, 

 either so many, or such fine ones, as in the preceding year. I do not find 

 any very weak plants, having the appearance of being young seedlings, few 

 occurring but such as are strong enough to produce flowers, I am un- 

 aljle, therefore, to state with any certainty, by what means the plant has 

 propagated itself to its present extent. Still less am I able to account for 

 Its first appearance in this situation, coming up, as it did, spontaneously, and 

 apparently springinganto vigour all at once. 



Your botanical correspondents will probably be ready to propose an easy 

 solution of the difficulty, by suggesting that the seeds had lain dormant in 

 the ground (as, we know, often happens), till they were roused into vege- 

 tation by the earth being disturbed and prepared for the purpose of making 

 the plantation. But this could hardly be the case in the present instance ; 

 for the piece of ground taken for the plantation consisted of a part of tNvo 

 fields, one arable, and the other sometimes in grass and sometimes in til- 

 lage ; and both of them had frequently been ploughed no long time before 



