57 



85. VERONICA form'osa. R. Br. prodr. 290. 



This pretty small-leafed shrub, white-flowered, evergreen 

 and hard}-, inhabiting the highest mountains of Van Diemen's 

 Land, has latel}^ flowered in the garden of the llorticultund 

 Society. Its power of existing in water only is quite extra- 

 ordinary ; I have a specimen now before me, of whicli a 

 twig placed in a vial of water has lived six weeks, ripened 

 its seeds, and is now as fresh and healthy as it was at first. 



Genera et Species Gentianearum, adjectis observationibus quibusdam phyto- 

 geoyraphicis ; auctore A. H. R. Grhebach, M.D. 8vo. Stuttgart and 

 Tubingen, 1839, pp.364. 



The extensive order of Gentianaceons plants, notwith- 

 standing the difficulty or even impossibility of cultivating 

 many of the species, is very interesting to the Botanist, both 

 on account of the beauty and variety of a large proportion 

 of the genera, and because of the difficulty of determining 

 their limits and of reconciling the discordant opinions of 

 systematical writers upon that subject. 



When, therefore, Dr. Grisebach undertook the elabora- 

 tion of the order, the result of which is now before us, his 

 task was one of no common kind, and had he addressed 

 himself to it with less patience, or fewer materials, or a less 

 clear perception of the true principles of generic limitation, 

 his work might have been a useful compilation for other 

 Botanists, but could not have taken the high station among 

 philosophical systematical writings, to which this has un- 

 questionably a claim. 



The materials at the author's disposal have been the rich 

 herbaria of Chamisso, Kunth and other Berlin botanists, 

 the miscellaneous collections of Sir Wm. Hooker and other 

 strangers, the Indian species of Wight and Arnott, the Cape 

 herbarium of Ecklon, and other collections of considerable 

 importance. 



The natural character of the order, as regards the organs 

 of both vegetation and reproduction, is given at considerable 

 length, and is followed by some interesting morphological 

 observations. These relate to the anatomy of the nodes of 

 the stem, the inflorescence, and the organization of the 

 flower. The author distinguishes two kinds of nodes in 



