184 



SILLIMAN'S JOURNAL. 



the vegetable world in its fossil state, presents one 

 of the most interestin<T subjects of inquiry to the 

 student and to the general observer. 



Systematic botany is constantly receiving addi- 

 tions to the number of species. 



In England, with respect to living plants, for the 

 greater part of the accession to the plants in culti- 

 vation during the preceding year, we are indebted 

 to Mr. Fortune, the Horticultural Society's collec- 

 tor in China, who has recently published an account 

 of his mission; and we are not less indebted to those 

 who, as collectors and correspondents in various 

 parts of the world, communicate the results of 

 their labors to the Royal Botanic Gardens atKew. 

 Tiiat establishment, under the direction of my 

 friend, Sir William Jackson Hooker, has unques- 

 tionably become the first botanic garden in Europe. 

 I use this expression on the authority of another 

 friend whom I have had the privilege of knowing 

 for forty years, whom Humboldt described as le 

 premier Botanisfe de VEuroiipe, accurate, saga- 

 cious, and profound, and whose knowledge is only 

 equalled by his modesty. After this, it is not for 

 your sakes but my own, that I name Robert Brown; 

 may I add, in passing, the expression of every 

 one's wish that he would deposit more of his 

 knowledge in print. 



Before 1 quit the subject of the great institution 

 at Kew, I ought to mention as one of the latest 

 accessions to it, a cactus weighing a ton, as stated 

 by Sir W. J. Hooker, in his report laid before Par- 

 liament ; who adds, that the collection of that 

 most singular family, so recently made familiar to 

 las, (he refers to the collection at Kew,) " is now 

 unrivalled in Europe." 



With respect to new species of plants received 

 only in the state of specimens for the herbarium, 

 they have been in part obtained irom China, South 

 America and New Zealand ; but chiefly from Aus- 

 tralia. The late expedition into the interior, or at 

 least further into the interior of that great conti- 

 nent than in any other direction had hitherto been 

 made — expeditions so creditable to the enterprise, 

 perseverance, and intelligence of their conductors ; 

 have, however, been but little productive, so far as 

 we at present know, in the department of botany. 

 The animal productions of New Holland, so won- 

 derful in their forms and structures, have long 

 formed the most remarkable characteristic of its 

 vast region ; nor is its botany without distinctions 

 of much interest, though as yet but very imper- 

 fectly explored. It may be said, however, in re- 

 ference to the results of these later expeditions, 

 which have penetrated further inland, that they 

 have not brought to our knowledge any peculiari- 

 ties in the vegetable kingdom so various and so 

 striking as those which exist near the coasts, and 

 which are sutticient to distinguish New Holland and 

 the Australian colonies from the other regions of 

 the world. 



In the diffusion of the riches of the vegetable 

 world, steam navigation has obviously been a most 

 favorable auxiliary; so that, " even cuttings of 

 plants" are now " actually sent successfully to Cal- 

 cutta, Ceylon, &c." In speaking of the exports 

 from Kew, it is not unfitting to add, that '' between 

 four and five thousand plants of the famous Tussac 



grass have been dispersed from the Royal Gardens 

 at Kew during the past year." 



The increase in the number of visitors to that 

 most flourishing establishment is some evidence at 

 least of an increase of a taste for the development 

 of science, and probably of that increase of the love 

 of science, which it is one of the objects of the 

 British Association to encourage in all classes. 



In 1841, the number of visitors was 9,174 ; but 

 they arc nearlv doubling every year. In 1844, they 

 were 15,114 ; 'in 1845. 28, 139 ; in 1846, 46,573. 



In vegetable physiology, microscopic observers 

 have of late been much occupied in investigating 

 the phenomena of fecundation, and especially as to 

 the mode of action of the pollen. 



On this subject botanists are still divided. Seve- 

 ral experienced observers adopt the theory lately 

 advanced and ingeniously supported by Prof. Schlei- 

 den, of Berlin ; while others of great eminence 

 deny the correctness on M'hich this theory is foun- 

 ded. Among these, the celebrated microscopic ob- 

 server. Prof. Amici, of Florence, very recently in 

 an essay — communicated to the scientific meeting 

 held in 1846 at Genoa — has endeavored by a mi- 

 nute examination of several species of Orchis, to 

 prove the existence of the essential part of the em- 

 bryo anterior to the application of the pollen, which, 

 according to him, acts as the specific stimulus to 

 its development. 



This view receives great support from some sin- 

 gular exceptions to the general law of fecundation. 



Of these, the most striking occurs in a New 

 Holland shrub, which has been cultivated several 

 years in the Botanic Garden at Kew ; and which, 

 though producing female flowers only, has constant- 

 ly ripened seeds from which plants have been raised 

 perfectly resembling the parent : — while yet there 

 is no suspicion either of the presence of male flow- 

 ers in the same plant, or of minute stamina in the 

 femaleflower itself, nor of fecundation by any re- 

 lated plant cultivated along with it. 



This plant has been figured and described in a 

 recent volume of the Linnean Society's ' Transac- 

 tions,' under the name of Ccelebogyne illicifolia, by 

 Mr. J. Smith, the intelligent curator of the Kew 

 Garden, by whom, indeed, this remarkable fact was 

 first noticed. It is not the least curious part of the 

 history of the Ccelebogyne, that male flowers have 

 lately been discovered in New Holland, unquestion- 

 ably of the same species. 



Prof. Gasparini, of Naples, has more recently 

 communicated to the scientific meeting held in that 

 city in 1845, his observations and experiments on 

 the cultivated fig, which, though entirely destitute 

 of male flowers, produced seeds having a perfectly 

 developed embryo, independent of fecundation ; 

 access to the pollen of the wild fig, generally sup- 

 posed to be carried by insects, being, in his experi- 

 ments, prevented by the early and complete shut- 

 ting up of the only channel in the fig by which it 

 could be introduced. 



An elaborate memoir has very recently appeared 

 in the Transactions of the Linnean Society, by the 

 late Mr. W. Griffiths, " on the Structure and Affi- 

 nities of Plants Parasitical on Roots." These 

 singular productions have been regarded by several 

 distinguished botanists as forming one natural class 



