■102 



JOURNAL OP HOETIGULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



[ May 16, 1872. 



tures. lu ordinary introductions to botany the student is 

 dismayed at the outset by the study of tissues and other minute 

 structures, which, if he has not the skill to use a powerful 

 microscope, he can have no practical knowledge of. There is 

 nothing in them to give pleasure to the eye or to captivate the 

 mind. Dr. Masters, on the contrary, begins his first lesson 

 by placing a twig of AVillow in bloom in the hand of his pupU, 

 and he says, "Look at it well, so as to get a good notion of 

 its general form and appearance ;" and he farther tells him 

 that he " must start with the idea that be has a machine made 

 of several parts more or less complicated to pick to pieces." 

 And the example that is here first given is certainly a compli- 

 cated one of plant-structure to the beginner. There is no 

 apparent "flower" according to populai' notions — no calyx 

 and no corolla. Unlike the Eose or the LUy, there is nothing 

 in it to attract the careless observer, and no beauty such as 

 that which flower-gatherers admire : and yet out of this unat- 

 tractive complicated structure Dr. Masters teaches a botanical 

 lesson which the dullest comprehension may understand. 



"It is not too much to asstmie that a Willow is known to 

 evei-yone likely to read these notes, and the most superficial 

 obsei-ver cannot fail to have noticed that there are several kinds 

 of Willow (SaUx) — some are trees, others shi'ubs. It makes no 

 difference, for our present pui-pose, which kind of "Willow be 

 taken. In early spring by every river's bank may be seen, in 

 the full flush of beauty, bushes smothered with golden blossoms, 

 redolent with spicy fragi'ance, melodious with the hum of bees. 

 Not far off is pretty sure to be found a similar bush, much more 

 modestly caparisoned, its blossoms of a dull quaker-gi-ey or pale 

 olive-gi-een, very pretty and gi-aeeful, but not so attractive as 

 the one of which we have first spoken. These are WiUows. The 

 golden blossoms are really flowers, so are the gi'ey ones ; wherein 

 lies the difference between the two will presently be made ap- 

 parent. As one object of these notes is to foster a tendency to 

 notice common things, we may remark that the flowers are here 

 produced before the leaves — a fact to be noted ; moreover, it 

 serves to confirm our assertion that what we have called flowers 

 really are so, for it is obvious there are yet no leaves on the 

 bush — -what, then, can these be but flowers ? 



Fig. 2.— Male Flower 

 of Willow detached from 

 the catkin. Enlarged. 



" Let lis remove one of the yellow flowers from the branch, 

 or, better stiU, pick one up from the gi'ound, and examine it with 

 the glass, using the point of a knife or of a needle to sepaa-ate 

 its parts. What do we find ? An oblong mass, made up of 

 shaggy scales, beyond which protrude long threads, hke pins 

 with yellow heads (Jiff. 1). Now, with the knife, separate one of 

 the little shaggy scales from its fellows, as carefully as possible. 

 By preference, take a scale from a voung or recently opened 

 blossom, and from near the pointed end of the mass. Suppose 

 this proceeding satisfactoi-ily accomplished, the observer should 

 have before him a httle scale {fig. 2), generally shaggy, with 

 long hairs, and within the scale, attached to its very base, two 

 or sometimes more of the pin-like thi-eads before mentioned, 

 and on one side of them a small greenish sticky knob— unfortu- 

 nately not represented in the drawing. That's all we have to 

 deal with in this case. In truth, we have here a flower of very 

 srmple construction indeed. The shaggy scale is called a hract, 

 the pin-like threads are called staniens, the shaft of the pin is 

 the filament, tlie yeUow head is the anther, which by the way 

 we may notice is divided by one deep long fiu-row into two 

 halves, called lobes. Each lobe is marked by a simUar long 



groove, but not quite so deep, and which marks the place where 

 the anther will presently split. The anther contains a yellow 

 dust-Uke powder, which falls in showers when the bush is 

 shaken, escaping from the two chinks just mentioned. This 

 Tpo-wAer is the jiollen. The green knob is a gland, secreting a. 

 honied juice. 



" The oblong mass, then, which we picked off the groimd is 

 not a single flower, but a mass of flowers. It is what is called 

 an inflorescence. As we shall see by-and-by, the inflorescence 

 is very different in different plants, and diilerent names are 

 applied to these variations. The particular inflorescence before 

 us is called a caiki?i, and one distinguishing feature of a catkin 

 Ues in the fact that it does not long remain on the bough which 

 bears it, but falls off vei-y early ; and this is the reason why we 

 advised the pupil to pick up the catkin from the ground. He 

 will the more readily remember the 'deciduous' character of 

 the catkin. 



"If now we pluck a branch from the grey-looking Willow — 

 this time we shall have to pluck from the bush, as we shall not 

 find many blossoms on the ground — we shall find a similar- 



oblong mass {fig. 3), a catkin in fact, with the same sort of scales- 

 or bracts ; but these bracts do not in this case protect pin-hke 

 stamens, but a small flask-like body {fig. 4), supported on a short 

 stalk, 'The neck of the flask tapers somewhat and divides into 

 two spreading anns. This flask-hke body is the x>istil, in this 

 case stalked and consisting of an ovarij constituting the flask, a 

 style, the neck sm'monntiug the flask, and two stigmas, which- 

 are the divergent arms of the style. 



" Within the ovary are a number of very small ovules, which 

 the inexperienced beginner will hardly be able to see, but which 

 will ultimately make themselves sufficiently conspicuous as 

 seeds covered with cottony hairs. In the Willow, then, we have 

 two sorts of flowers, both of the simplest constniction. We do- 

 not in the case of the Willow find both sorts of flowers on the 

 same tree, but on different trees. The one set of flowers (male 

 flowers) furnish pollen from their anthers ; the other (female 

 flowers) yield seed from their pistil. But unless the polleu 

 from the one kind of flower gain access to the stigma of the 

 other kind of flower, no seeds will be formed. If, however, the 

 wind convey the pollen from one flower to the other, or if bees 

 or other insects visit first the highly scented stamen-flowers,, 

 and afterwards the pistil-flowers, they are pretty sure to scatter 

 the pollen on to the stigmas of the latter, and the tiny ' ovules,' 

 which the beginner will have difficulty in finding, will, in con- 

 sequence, ripen into seeds which he cannot fail to see if he 

 looks for them." 



The extract we have given above is a specimen of the clear 

 and succinct manner in which the subject is treated through- 

 out. As a book for beginners iu the study of botany it is at- 

 once original, simple, and inteUigible. 



Exhibition op Hoeticultukal Buildings, A-c, .4t Bikming- 

 HA3I. — The following memorandum has just been issued by the 

 Local Committee : — " Prizes not having hitherto been offered 

 iu this division of the Exhibitions of the Eoyal Horticultural 

 Society, the plan now submitted is, necessarily, to some extent 

 experimental. But the Sub-committee have very carefully con- 

 sidered the subject ; and with respect to horticultural buildings, 

 as they were not prepared to lay down in the first instance 

 any special rules of classification, that will be deferred untit 

 the entries are completed. At that time the Sub-committee 

 will confer with gentlemen possessing scientific and practical 

 knowledge of buildings, &e., who wUl be selected to act as 



