VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 



tnniiiig to the second volume of Nuttall's Supplement to MicJiaux's /Sj/ya, the fol- 

 lownp; curious account is found, together with ca figure of the tree in blossom : — 



" This elegant tree, which enlivens the borders of the pine-barren swamps of 

 the South, is met with nowhere north of the Savannah River, on the line of 

 Georgia and South Carolina. From hence, it is occasionally seen in all the lower 

 and maritime region of Georgia, as well as the lower part of Alabama and West 

 Florida. It attains the. height of eight to fifteen or more feet, being much branched, 

 and spreading out at the head like an apple-tree. The verticillate branches are 

 regularly covered with a smooth, gray bark. The wood is compact and whitish. 

 It is exceedingly ornamental in flower, which takes place in early spring (March), 

 when the whole surface of the tree is covered with the most delicate, elegant, and 

 somewhat fragrant flowers. * * When the flowers are past, the tree puts on a 

 still more curious appearance, being loaded with triangular-winged capsules, re- 

 sembling buckwheat, and hence its common name. The leaves resemble those 

 of privet, are evergreen, thick, very smooth, not perceptibly veined, and glaucous 

 beneath." 



Mr, Bartram discovered this tree, and very clearly describes it as " a new shrub 

 of great beauty and singularity. It grows erect seven or eight feet high. A 

 multitude of stems arise from its root ; these divide themselves .into ascending 

 branches, which are garnished with abundance of narrow, lanceolate, obtuse- 

 pointed leaves, of a light green, smooth and shining. These branches, with their 

 many divisions, terminate in simple racemes of pale, incarnate flowers, which make 

 a fine appearance among the leaves. The flowers are succeeded by desiccated, 

 triquetrous pericarpi, each containing a single kernel." (Bartram's Travels, p. 31.) 

 How so fine a plant came to be overlooked for near half a century, and to be still 

 unintroduced among us, is really surprising. " In the Northern States, and in 

 Britain," Nuttall says, " it is a hardy greenhouse plant, and well worth cultivating. 

 But, to see it in perfection, you must behold it in its native swamps, attaining the 

 magnitude of a tree, and blooming profusely on the verge of winter, without any- 

 thing near it as a contrast, save a withered carpet of leaves and leafless plants, 

 and in the midst of a gloom and solitude that scarcely anything else at the same 

 time relieves." 



He adds : " In Bartram's Botanic Garden, Philadelphia, it appeared to be 

 quite hardy, and survived for many years without protection." 



If any of our friends have this tree, they will confer a favor by informing us, 

 and if any correspondents at the -South can supply us with a few seeds the 

 coming season, they will especially oblige us. — Editor Horticulturist. 



VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY — THEORY OF NUTRITION 



AND GROWTH. 



BY YARDLEY TAYLOR, LOUDON COUNTY, VA. 



When philosophers began to make observations on the operations of nature, 

 and to form theories respecting its laws, they did so by observing but a few of the 

 facts bearing upon the subject. Thus their theories were often very imperfect at 

 first, and founded more upon fancy than fact. But as facts began to be more and 

 more observed, and finally acknowledged as the only true base of theory, most of 

 these, being fanciful, have been so modified, as to conform nearer to what appears 

 to be the true laws of nature. Witness the ancient theories of the motions of 

 the earth and the planets, &c., of the circulation of the blood, and the process of 

 ition and growth of animals, as well as the process of nutrition and growth 



