EXTRACTS AND AB8TKACTS. 245 



€jctrartiSf anti ^tb^tracr^. 



Botanical Miscellanies. By A. Ernst. ("Botanische Zeitung," 

 January 21st, 1876.) — Two cases of extraordinary vitality of seeds. — On 

 transference of the market-place at Caracas, the old position was laid 

 out as a public garden, and in order to this it was necessary to remove 

 the ground at the northern end to the depth of two metres. Common 

 tropical weeds, such as Sida rhomhifolia and Heliophytum indicum, soon 

 madetheir appearance, and where excavation had been deepest at the 

 northern end there sprang up quantities of Berteroa trinervata, 

 Pers., a plant found now only in the southern part of the country. 

 It is unlikely that seeds of Berteroa were transported by the wind, 

 for they offer but little facility for such transportation ; besides, the 

 south wind could not have brought them, since a chain of mountains 

 intervenes between the city and the habitat of the plant. The pro- 

 bability is, therefore, that the seeds were lying dormant under the 

 market-place.the pavement of which has notbeen repaired for more than 

 thirty years. The second case is that of Capsella Bursapastoris, found 

 growing in great abundance, along with a quantity of spontaneous 

 vegetation, on the waste ground surrounding an unfinished palace ; this 

 plant the author has never found during his excursions over the 

 neighbourhood. 



Duration of the life of a plant no longer remaining in connection 

 with the ground. — A plant oi Ipomea acuminata, R. & S., was grown 

 in a yard, and proving a vigorous specimen it took possession of an 

 espalier intended for Atitigonum leptopus. It was soon after cut down, 

 and the upper part remaining on the espalier continued to flourish, 

 producing fiowers and unripe fruits. This fact is the more remark- 

 able since the species of this family are not noted for their long 

 vitality. 



Secretion of drops of water by Calliandra Sanian. — This singular 

 phenomenon was observed in the case of young leaves of a well-growing 

 plant. On closer examination it was found that the glands on the 

 underside of the petioles were beaded with little drops, which flowed 

 off in such quantity that the ground around the plant was moistened. 

 The capacity for secretion disappears as the leaves advance in age. 



Is this to be regarded as purely excreiuentitious, or as a method 

 for affording moisture to the growing plant, each gland acting as a 

 soi-t of minute water-can ? Possibly the right view would consort 

 with a combination of the two suppositions. 



Has the Cofiee-tree dimorphic flowers ? — The author has never been 

 able to discover the small flowers which, according to Bernouilli, 

 alone develope fruits. The normal flowers are protandrous, and freely 

 fruit in the neighbourhood of Caracas. 



The Palmella-state of Stigeoclonium. (Ueber Palmella-zustand be 

 Stigeoclonium, von L. Cienkowski. "Botanische Zeitung," January 

 14th, 1876. — This paper contains a copiously illustrated account of the 

 transformations undergone by the confervoid threads at the periphery of 

 Stigeoclonium-^o^ili ; these threads are at first slender and formed 



