HEPATICA. 221 



of a flower appear under the guise of a little bud borne by a stem, 

 frequently not half a line long, in which traces of the different 

 organs of the blossom are discernible. This flower is, however, 

 frequently developed in all its parts, and it is then plain that the 

 uppermost scale does not stand more than half way up the portion 

 of the main axis which is clothed with peduncles. 



Close above the uppermost peduncle, or its rudiment, and not 

 in the axil which the last scale forms with the peduncle, but on 

 the other side of it, are the still undeveloped leaves whose lobes 

 are rolled in, smooth and naked on the inner, but clothed with 

 long silky hairs on the outer surface. The highest scale incloses 

 these leaves, yet not with the middle of its disc, but with its two 

 margins which extend beyond the last peduncle, since the lowest 

 leaf alternates with the highest scale. In the axil of the lowest 

 new leaf there is often a perfect blossom on a long peduncle, but 

 this blossom often remains in a rudimentary state, or is com- 

 pletely abortive. The leaves are perfectly developed after flower- 

 ing, and in summer, or still more plainly in autumn, we find at 

 the top of the maiu axis the scales again, and the above-described 

 lateral buds and peduncles in their axils, all compressed into a 

 thick knob. The structures of a new cycle of vegetation begin 

 here with the scales and close with the new leaves ; and these are 

 all on one and the same axis. The peduncles are axillary. The 

 new main bud, which towards the end of the summer is quite 

 formed, is terminal in the centre of the leaves. 



A. Hepatica agrees in the arrangement of the parts with 

 Convallaria majalis, in which the lateral peduncle is surrounded 

 by imperfect leaves, and l-ises from its point of origin at the 

 moment when the leaves burst forth. 



XVIII. — The Cultivation of the Banana; — Conditions under 

 which it succeeds at a station within the Tropics ; with 

 Suggestions for its better Cultivation in the British 

 Islands. By W. Wren. 



The successful culture of this noble and delicious fruit is yet 

 among the desiderata of British Gardening. 



True, one or two of our best gardeners do now and then 

 succeed, when aided by the unlimited liberality of their employ- 

 ers, in producing an occasional bunch of its fruit, though with 



