166 EXTRACTS FROM FOREIGN JOURNALS. 



Fucoides Brongniartii. — F. fronde elongata subquadrangulari canaliculata 

 transverse rugosa^ ramvlis inaqualibus sparsis remotis compressis rugatis recurvis 

 nudis. Met with in the same localities as the foregoing species, in the west- 

 ern parts of the State of New York, and near the Welland canal in Canada. 

 — Bibliothtque Universelle de Geneve. 



Methods of converting Annuals into Vivacious anp L,igneous 

 Plants; by M. Pe'pin, principal of the Botanical School of the Paris Mu- 

 seum of Natural History. — Two methods are commonly employed for trans- 

 forming annuals or biennials into vivacious or woody plants : — 1st. By pre- 

 venting the growth of the seeds ; 2nd. By grafting an annual upon a viva- 

 cious species. Besides these two modes, M. P^pin mentions a third, of which 

 he records but one example, but which deserves to be studied, as an entirely 

 novel circumstance in Vegetable Physiology, namely, the grafting a viva- 

 cious plant upon an annual. Let us review the three methods. The first is 

 that most frequently employed. Annuals and biennials only die from weak- 

 ness induced by the formation and maturation of the seeds. They have 

 aptly been compared to women who die in child-birth. When no seeds are 

 formed, the flowers are double. Thus the double Nasturtium is vivacious, 

 and is produced from slips. M.P^pin has kept plants upwards of twelve years. 

 Chrysanthemum coronarium and Senecio ekgans, become double by cultivation, 

 are equally vivacious. The result is the same when the formation of single 

 flowers is prevented or diminished. Corn lasts as long as the intemperatures, 

 (intemperies) or the hand of man prevent it from forming its ears. The 

 Reseda becomes ligneous when the lower stalks, and all the flowers developed 

 during the first year, are removed. Hibiscus vesicarius and trionum, Anthe- 

 mis triloba^ Ageratum cceruleum, Cassinia spectahilis, CEnathera biennis, grandi- 

 flora, salicifoliay many Malva and Sida — all ornamental annuals — become viva- 

 cious and more or less ligneous when prevented from flowering at their usual 

 time, or by removing the upper and lower branches. The plants must be 

 housed in winter, as they are natives of a warmer climate than our own. 

 The plan of grafting annuals upon ligneous species is intended to increase 

 the quantity of the sap, in order that they may not be exhausted by the for- 

 mation of the seeds. P^pin has grafted Ipwnasa purpurea on Convolvulus pa- 

 tatas. He made use of the Red Potato, and grafted on one of its branches at 

 the height of a foot. Since the time of the operation (1831), the Purple 

 Bindweed (Liseron pourpre) has put forth several branches, which produced 

 annually abundance of flowers. Kept in a pot, it has almost become woody, 

 and is put every winter into a warm greenhouse. The herbaceous graft, 

 now so successfully employed, furnishes also some remarkable examples. 

 Many annual Solanacece will live a considerable time when grafted on ligne- 

 ous species of the same genus, or even upon the stems of Potatos, provided 

 they are kept in a warm place in winter. The various annual Tobacco 

 plants may be grafted on the Nicotiana glatica, that beautiful woody species 

 which grows to a greater height than a man. All grafts answer well — what- 

 ever be the cause — in a slip or crown, and can live there a considerable time. 

 It is necessary to suppress the first flowers which appear, and to pull off the 

 ends of the branches developed by the graft, in order to give it vigour and to 

 increase the number of ramifications. If the plants grafted are unable to 

 bear the cold, they should be put into the greenhouse. The neighbouring 

 genera, Petunia, Nierembergia, &c., grafted on Nicotiana glauca, or on Taba- 



