BOTANICAL COLLECTIONS, 



INCLUDING VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 



«•.,,, "m 



, Alismacece — Most botanists now agree in umt'in% AUsmoidece, Butomeai; 

 and Juncayinece as sections of Alismacea, all being supposed to have either 

 a homonotropous, or orthotropous embryo, without albumen. In AUsmoidece, 

 and part of Butomea, the seed is campulitropous, and the embryo curved like 

 a horse shoe, and, according to Mirbel, {Ed. Journ. of Nat. and Geog. Sc. 

 New Series, p. 18.5,) every such seed has the radicle at the apex of the 

 seed, although by its curvature it may appear close to the hilum. If this 

 view, then, be correct, the limits of the above sub-orders are not yet under- 

 stood. AUsmacece ought to consist of AUsmoidece, to which might be 

 attached Limnocharis, and the other genera of JButomece, with a campuli- 

 tropous seed ; with perhaps the addition of Potamece, which equally wants 

 albumen, and has the radicle pointing to the ai)ex of the seed ; that is, to 

 the extremity most remote from the hilum ; this (the Potamece) would, 

 however, differ by the anatropous and not campulitropous seed. Butomus, 

 the type of the Butomece, having an orthotropous embryo, and no albumen, 

 would agree in these respects with Juncaginece ; and it would be a matter 

 of doubt if their difference of placentation be sufficient to keep them dis- 

 tinct. (W-A.) 



Maize Maize, or Indian corn, so important to the agricultural interests 



of the United States, appears to be of uncertain origin. Fuchs very early 

 maintained that it came from the East ; and Mathioli affirmed that it was 

 from America. Regmir and Gregory have presented fresh arguments in 

 favour of its eastern origin. Among them is the name by which it has 

 been long known in Europe, Ble de Turquie ; and varieties, it is said, have 

 been brought from the Isle of France, or from China. Moreau de Jonnes^ 

 on the contrary, has recently maintained, in a memoir read before the 

 Academy of Sciences, that its origin was in America. The name Ble de 

 J'urquie no more proves it to be of Turkish origin, than the name of the 

 Italian poplar proves that that tree grew wild in Italy. It can only signify 

 that it spread from Turkey into the neighbouring countries. Its general 

 cultivation in southern Europe, and the production of some new varieties, 

 proves nothing with regard to the country of the species. In favour of its 

 American origin, is the fact that it was found in a state of cultivation, in 

 every place where the first navigators landed : in Mexico, according to 

 Hernandez, and in Brazil, according to Zeri ; and that in the various coun- 

 tries it had proper names, such as maize, fiaolli, &c. ; while in the Old 

 World, its names were either all of American origin, or names of the 

 neighbouring region, whence it was immediately derived ; and that, imme- 

 diately after the discovery of America, it spread rapidly in the Old World, 

 and soon became common, a fact not reconcileable with the idea of its 

 former existence there. To these proofs Aug. de Saint Hilaire has added 

 another. He has received from M. de Larranhaga of Monte Video, a new 

 variety of maize, distinguished by the name of Tunicata j because, instead 

 of having the grains naked, they are entirely covered by the glumes. This 

 variety is from Paraguay, where it is cultivated by the Guaycurus Indians, 

 a people in the lowest scale of civilization, and where, according to the 

 direct testimony of one of them, it grows in the humid forests as a native 

 production Edin. New Phil. Journ. March, 1831. 



Structure of the Coniferce. — The structure of the coniferie differs so widely 

 from that of the true dicotyledons, that a single glance will in general 



