22o THE GARDENER. [May 



■which is popularly known as the ovary. xV familiar and easily ob- 

 tained example can be found by carefully making a vertical section of 

 a carpel of the common Buttercup, each carpel containing one ovule. 

 In coniferous and cycadaceous plants, the ovule is exposed and naked 

 to the influence of the pollen. It (the ovule) is regarded by many 

 botanists in most cases as a marginal bud, being borne upon the 

 margins of carpellary leaves, — bringing us to the conclusion that the 

 inner angle of each carpel, upon which the seeds are arranged, answers 

 to the line of union of its unfolded edges. This line is called the veii- 

 tral suture. " If you split a Pea carefully," says Prof. Oliver, " opening 

 up the edge bearing the seeds, you will find, when laid open, that half 

 of the seeds are on one edge, half on the other, each margin being 

 alternately seed-bearing." Up the middle of the open carpel you have 

 a strong line or nerve (the outer angle when the carpel was closed;, 

 which is simply the midrib of the carpellary leaf, answering to the 

 midrib which we find in foliage plants. This line is called the dorsal 

 suture. In shape and mode of insertion ovules are somewhat numer- 

 ous, and very interesting. When it is curved downwards so as to 

 approach the placenta (the part on which the ovule originates), it is 

 camptotroijal ; when curved and grown to the lower half, anatropal ; 

 when attached by its middle, so that the foramen (the aperture 

 through the integuments, to allow the passage of the pollen-tubes to 

 the central part of the ovule in which the embryo is contained) is at 

 one end and the base at the other, it is campylotropal ; when the shape 

 of a horse-shoe, it is lycotropal. There are a few other shapes, 

 which it is not necessary to explain here. 



W. Roberts. 

 ( To he continued. ) 



JOTTINGS FROM NEW ZEALAND. 



CLIMATIC INFLUENCES. 



In our last paper we were necessarily bound within certain limits, as 

 we were anxious to represent a garden rather than the climatic influ- 

 ences of the country. We will now return to the subject, and endeav- 

 our to treat it in a more liberal manner. Our summer months, which 

 include December, January, and February, are characterised by great 

 heat and dryness. Often not a drop of rain falls for six or eight weeks : 

 the ground then becomes so hot that even the occurrence of a heavy 

 fall of rain serves only to clear the leaves from dust, since it evaporates 

 as quickly as it falls. The autumn season begins with March and ends 

 with May, and may be considered the most genial and beautiful part 

 of the year. The indigenous vegetation which has sufi'ered through 

 the summer now awakes to new life, while trees and shrubs put forth 

 fresh growth : the European deciduous trees and shrubs mature their 



