A. DeCandolle on the Life and Writings of Vaucher. 245 



same place. The gemma, or point whence the new plant pro- 

 ceeds, is situated near the summit, and at the side or rather 

 at the summit of the bud of the year ; thus the Orchis is a 

 plant which never dies. 



"The Neottia nidus- avis often grows in the midst of the re- 

 mains of half-decomposed leaves, and this is the reason it was 

 for a long time considered a parasite ; but I found its form of 

 reproduction in the middle of the plexus of its cylindrical ra- 

 dicles. In fact, when we examine these roots, which in their 

 general appearance resemble a bird^s nest, we see some amongst 

 them lengthen and branch out in the form of a star at the sum- 

 mit, in order to put forth from this star-shaped centre a small 

 conical stem entirely covered with undeveloped radicles; it 

 is this stem, already swollen into a bulb and remarkable for 

 its whiteness, which is destined to form the new plant of the 

 new year, and this is the reason why the nidus-avis grows 

 several together, and does not remain solitary as do most of 

 the Orchidece. From the month of August we see its dried- 

 up stem ruptured at the base, and its non-proliferous radi- 

 cles perished, whilst the others elongate and grow. From 

 this dead plexus in short proceed one, two, three, or even 

 four new gemmae destined to flower the following year. In- 

 dependently of this reproduction by the roots, the nidus-avis 

 often sends forth a leaf-bud at its base, which is to produce a 

 new stem." 



I might multiply these quotations, but I am averse to mangle 

 a work which forms a whole, and I prefer inducing botanists 

 to consult it. At first they will find that the new facts are 

 scattered in the midst of things known and of descriptions or 

 characters borrowed from other writings ; but they will soon 

 remark how much the order followed by the author, and the 

 tables which he has added, render inquiry easy. We ought 

 to premise that M. Vaucher does not strictly limit himself to 

 the plants of Europe, and that he also frequently speaks of 

 cultivated genera, particularly those in the Botanic Garden of 

 Geneva. 



The varied observations of M. Vaucher, on the successive 

 phenomena of the vernation of the leaves, of the flowering or 

 of the dissemination of the seeds, often tend in their results 

 to confirm the division of genera into natural sections. These 

 groups, which the author sometimes calls types, sometimes 

 according to general custom sections, appear to him as a 

 necessity proceeding from physiological facts. Descriptive 

 botanists establish them according to the configuration of or- 

 gans, which it is easy to ascertain in the herbarium. It is not 

 surprising that the same results should be obtained from these 



