1S4; THE .lOUllNAL OF BOTANi' 



genus Podolohinm is m;iintained, "although we are somewhat jealous 

 that Mr. Brown is rather too fond of subtle divisions." 



It is pleasant, however, to tind thit Gray's last reference is 

 couched in terms of unstinted praise. In M. M. xxxvi. 383, in the 

 course of a review of Ferdinand Bauer's Illustrationes FlorcB NoviS 

 JTnllandice, we read: "At present a part onh^ of the Prodro)iius 

 FJorce Xovcp KoUandife is published, but it is to be hoped that the 

 rennunder will not be much longer withheld from the botanical world. 

 When the larger work, of which this maybe considered as the herald, 

 shall appear, more ample details may be expected. But should no 

 more tlian the Prodroiniis ever see light, when this shall be com- 

 pleted the botanical reader will not much feel the want of a more 

 copious history." 



James Brittex. 



KK VIEWS. 



Monoqrafju dA Geuere Calpudula L. Bv Domentco Laxza. 

 Palermo, 1919, -Ito. pp. 160, 10 plates." In Atti della Keale 

 Accademia di Scienze, Lettere e Belle Arti di Palermo, vol. xi. 



The genus Calendula, perhaps the most puzzling of all the 

 Compositce on account of the complexity of the varied forms it 

 presents, its detaciiment in the Mediterranean region from the allied 

 genera of South Africa, the extraordinar}^ heteromorphism of the 

 achenes and the unsolved mystery of the adaptation of their morpho- 

 logical variations to biological functions, has at last received adecpiate 

 treatment on quite new lines in this admirable monograph by 

 Dr. Domenico Linza, now Director of the Botanical Institute and 

 Gardens at Palermo, where he has succeeded the late Prof. Antonio 

 Borzl. 



Of the 164' piges befoi-e us, the first hundred are occupied by the 

 discussion of: (1) the vegetative oi-gans and their develojmient ; 



(2) the structure of the flowerheads, the mechanism of fecundation, 

 the forms of the achenes and their jwssible relation to dissemination ; 



(3) teratology and j^athology in the genus ; (4) experiments in culti- 

 vation; (5) hybridisation; (6) the principles of systematic arrange- 

 ment of the species; (7) phylogenesis; (8) the history of the 

 treatment of the genus by successive authors. The remainder of the 

 work is taken up with a systematic account of the species arranged 

 on quite new^ principles, and ends with 10 well drawn and well 

 executed plates. 



Hitherto the separation and arrangement of the species has been 

 based, with most unsatisfactory and contradictory results, on the 

 form of the achenes, these being the organs most easily observed in 

 dried specimens, whilst the flower-characters (especially colour), leaf- 

 texture and outline, and the nature of the root are difficult to study 

 in the usually verv defective examples that are to be seen in herbaria. 

 It is greatly to the credit of Dr. Lanza, who has passed his life in 

 one of the chief centres of distribution of the genus, that he has 

 had the originality ;md independence of thought to abandon that 



