405 



'J'lu'ivroiv, allhuu-li ih,. rainfall statistics mid in the J'.otaiiu' 

 (iardcn UmkI sonic sii|)])ort to the oxplaiiation su,<i<f('stt'(l hy Drs. 

 Iviitgvrs and Went, in that thcv siiii-,iiest as [lossible that ciiinatic 

 conditions some ci.i^lil days in advance of the flowering'' arc a eoii- 

 trollinii- factor, reservations imist be made: and more observations 

 are called for. 



It is not probable that tlie voluiiie of the rain which falls 

 exercises any direct ijifluencc on the llower buds: l)iit it is (niite 

 probable that the changes in temperature accomj^anying: heavy rain- 

 fall, — a lowerino- produced by the exclusion through clouds of some 

 of the heat of tlie sun. by (lown draugiits of cold air. and by the 

 temperature of tlic air against the sodden soil as tlic rain evaporates, 

 determine the occnii'eiicc. rnfortunately no adequate record o£ 

 the temperature in the IJotanic Gardens is available for use and no 

 mere record of maxima and minima is likely to be fidly sufficient, 

 as the phenomenon jjrobably depends on temperature changes, and 

 not on absolute temperatures. 



It will be renienilicred that in tlie last issue of this IJnlletin 

 ,'1 short series of observations on the dates of flowering of the 

 minute orchid, TaciriopJti/Uitiii scrrnhi, was given. Tii coni[)aring 

 that with the local rainfall, it is seen that the fourth day before 

 each flowering was in most cases one with little (u- no rain: but 

 (Ills was not without exceptions. 



I. IT. BUIIKILL. 



PRECOCIOUS FLOWERING OF MELIA. 



Ueeently the writer were shown by Mrs. (t. P. Owen, in (Singa- 

 pore, many seedlings of Melia azedarach, Linn., the Persian lilac, 

 flowering at two inches i]i height : and the occurrence leads up to 

 the remark that there are more trees than one in its order — 

 the Meliaceae — which may beha\e in this unusual way. Costerus 

 in the Eeceuil des travaux 1)otani(jues Xeerlandais, i. p. 128 

 has recorded the precocious flowering at two inches in height of 

 Melia argida. 



Hemsley in Hooker's Icones Plantarum, plate 2'<86 (1905) 

 figured a mahogany plant (Sicietcnia MaJiogani, Jac(|.), one of 

 many which flowered in Trinidad, West Indies, at the height of 6 

 to 10 inches. Since then the Mahogany has flowered in a similar 

 premature way in India (Rama Rao, in Indian Forester, 1913 p. 

 337). 



I. H. BUIIKILL. 



