U8 



JOUKNAIi OF HOBTIOULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAKDENER. ( December 2, \ee». 



those of De Gear, Qaeen Lonisa, P»yknll, Gjllcnhal, Schonhorr, &c. 

 Letters were also read from M. Done aud Dr. Kraatz. 



A memoir by Mr. Kirbv was also read, containing notices of the 

 species of Bntterflies inlrodaced and named by Omelm in hia edition 

 of the " Systema Natnnc " from the Masonm Lesieannm, in which 

 they had been described by Schach, and of which the types are now 

 preserved in the mnecnm of Uoblin. The President exhibited a 

 drawing made by Mr. Barchall in New Grenada, representing the 

 caterpillar of cue of the Sphingids, regarded with great dread 

 by the natives as a small and poisonons kind of snake, the resem- 

 blance being caused by two large eje-shaped spots on the retractile 

 seek of the caterpillar. 



PORTRAITS OF PLANTS, FLOWERS, AND 

 FRUITS. 



MoKMODES Gbeenii (Uf. Charles Green's Mormodes). .\'<!(. 

 ord., OrchidacfiT'. Linn., Gynandria Monandria.— Probably a 

 native of Mexico. Flowets yellow, ppotted vjith scarlet, and 

 powerfully aromatic. — {Dot. ilag., t. .5802 ) 



Vellozia elegans (Natal Vellozia). Sat. ord., Velloziacea!. 

 Linn., Hexandria Monogynia. — Native of the Cape of Good 

 Hope. Flowers vih>te.—[II>id., t. .5803 ) 



CiLOCHOP.xrs TNiFLORCS (Single-flowered Calocbortus). Nat. 

 ord., Liliacete. Linn., Hexandria Monogynia.— Native of the 

 high plains of Santa Cruz. Notwithstanding the name, the 

 ffowers are usnatly more than two. They are palerosecolonred. 

 —{Ibid., t. 5804.) 



Bhodottpus kereioides (Japanese Khodotypns). Nat. ord., 

 Bosacea?. Linn., Icosandria Digynia. — " A very elegant shrnb, 

 native of Japan, and, no doubt, hardy." Flowers white ; fruit 

 lite a Blackberry.— (/I !</., (. -jSO."..)^ _ 



Ibis KcncAULis (Naked-scaped Irisl. Nat. ord., Iridacete. 

 Linn., Triandria Trigynia.— Native of Bohemia, Silesia, &c. 

 Flowers dark purple, veined darker, base white. — {Ibid., 

 t. 5806 ) 



Apple Ansie Elizaeeth. — " Awarded a first-class certificate 

 by the Royal Horticultural Society's Fruit Committee, on the 

 Cth of October, 1868,— such is our authority for recording that 

 the variety merits the attention of the pomologist. We have 

 to thank the raisers, Messrs. Harrison & Son, of Leicester, by 

 whom it is being distributed, for the specimens. 



"We learn from the Messrs. Harrison that the examples 

 hitherto exhibited of this valuable culinary Apple have been 

 obtained from the seedling plant, which has been once trans- 

 planted, so that doubtless it will be seen much finer when ob- 

 tained from trees properly worked and cultivated. Its pedigree 

 cannot be exactly ascertained, but it is believed to have been 

 obtained from tlie Bess Pool. The tree is of upright or pyra- 

 midal habit, compact, and remarkably sturdy, the bark smooth, 

 bright, and mottled, and the leaves often acquiring very large 

 dimensions. It is, moreover, an excellent cropper, and the 

 fniit is generally of large size, round in its outline, but widest 

 at the base, prominently ribbed or angular, especially towards 

 the eye, which is large, and deeply set in an irregular angular 

 basin ; the skin is pale yellow, suffused and somewhat splashed 

 with crimson on the sunny side ; stalk short, deeply set. The 

 iiesh is white, firm, but crisp and tender, with a fine brisk 

 flavour. It is commendable for its late-keeping properties, the 

 ordinary season for use being from December to June. Speci- 

 mens gathered in October have been kept good till the following 

 October, twelve months after being gathered, so that we may 

 fairly state that it is an excellent late kitchen Apple, and we 

 learn that when kept till spring is of very good quality for dessert. 

 By the month of April it acquires a more decided yellow colour, 

 with much brighter crimson markings than is shown in our 

 figure, which gives the appearance of the frnit at the time it 

 comeB into use." — (^Florist and Pomologist, N.S., ii., 241.) 



ON THE LEAVES OF CONIFEItS:. 

 BoTAXisTS can scarcely have overlooked the fact that the true 

 leaves of Pinns consist of bud scales ; and that what are known 

 as leaves, and what Dr. Engelman (" Gray's Manual, " fifth 

 edition, page 4();i;, calls "secondary leaves." are but phjlloid 

 shoots, but I have failed to find any specific reference to the 

 fact in botanical works. l)r. l^ickson, however, in a paper on 

 the phylloid shoots of Sciadopitys vertioillata ("Proceedings of 

 Botanical Congress," 1860, page 124), remarks, " In Sciadopitys 

 I have to call attention to the fact that the leaves of the grow- 

 ing shoots consist, as in Pinus, entirely of bud scales." One 

 would suppose from this incidental reference to Pinus that he 



was acquainted with the fact that the so-called leaves of Finns 

 were phylloid shoots ; but as the object of the paptr is to show 

 that the so-called leaves of Sciadopitys are not true leaves, and 

 as anyone must know that they are nut, if already cognisast of 

 the fact in Pinus, we may take it for granted that at any rate 

 if not entirely overlooked, little thought has been given it. I 

 believe I am occupying an entirely original field in pointicg 

 out the true nature of leaves in Conifei.T, and that the increased 

 knowledge will have an important beating on many obsciue 

 points in their study. 



Pr, Dickson uses but the language of general botany when 

 he describes the true leaves of Pinus as " bud scales," mean- 

 ing thereby the scaly free portion just under the " secondary 

 leaves," of Engelman, and sometimes forming sheaths araond 

 them. But these free scales are scarcely leaves. The chief 

 portion of the true leaves in most plants of the order are adnate 

 with the stem. Sometimes t'of y have the power to develope into 

 scaly points, at others into foliaceous tips, and at other timcB 

 without any power but to preserve their true leaf-like character. 

 Lmx affords the best illustration. The true leaves are linear 

 epathulate, entirely adnate to the stem. There are two kinds 

 of stem-growth on Larix. In one case the axis elongates and 

 forms shoots ; in the other axial development is arrested, and 

 spurs are formed. On the elongated shoots the leaves ai» 

 scattered ; on the spurs they are arranged in whorls. The 

 power of elongation possessed by the shoot is imparted to the 

 leaves which are adherent to it, and they produce green folia- 

 ceous awl-like tips. Tlie power of elongation which the spurs 

 have lost is also measurably lost to their leaves. They develope 

 themselves fully, although they have no stem to adhere to ; 

 they preserve their spathuhte form, but cannot produce the 

 awl-shaped tips of the shoot leaves. There are, therefore, 

 two foims of leaves on the Larch, the one free, the other 

 adherent ; and we have a novel principle very clearly illus- 

 trated, that strong axial development (vigour) is a cliaratteriitie 

 of adhnion, uhiU the Tcvcr.<c (weakness) is characterised btf 

 u free system cf foliation. .\ny species of Larix will sustain 

 this observation, and L. leptolepis, as a vigorous grower, is 

 the best. 



The characteristics of the foliage described in Larix may be 

 found in a greater or less degree in a great many species of 

 coniferous plants. In Cryptomeria tbo leaves adhere for four- 

 fifths of their length on vigorous shoots ; but on the more 

 delicate ones they are free for three-fourths or more. In Juni- 

 perus the different forms of foliage are well known, especially 

 in J. virginiana, J. chinensis, and J. communis. On th» 

 vigorous ehoots adhesion takes place for nearly the full length 

 of the leaves, but on weaker ones the leaves are very nearly 

 free. In Thuja, Biota, Eetinospora, Cupressus, Thnjopsis, in- 

 deed most of the section Cupressineic, these variable degrees of 

 adhesion may be found, and always in relation to the absence 

 or presence of vigour ; and on this question of vigour it will 

 be well here to make a few remarks. The power to branch, I 

 take to be a high mark of vigour. The young seedlings of most 

 coniferous trees grow but a few inches the first year and have 

 no power to branch. Th€ power increases with age, and in all 

 eases in proportion to the vigour of the plants. In Thuja, for 

 instance, no branches appear till the second year. They in- 

 crease in number, until, when in its prime, branches appear 

 from every alternate pair of axils, and, as these are decussate, 

 this gives the fan-like form of growth of which the Arbor Vitse 

 a03rds a familiar illustration. 



This varying power of adhesion in the true leaves, and in 

 connection with vigour, enables us to explain many matters 

 hitherto not understood. For instance. Dr. Lindley describes 

 a form of Biota as B. meldensis, suggesting that from its 

 appearance it must be a hybrid between the Bed Cedar and 

 Chinese Arbor Vilte. It is but E. orientalis with the leaves 

 moderately united. Thuja ericoides of gardens was long sup- 

 posed to be a Japanese species ; it is but an entirely free-leaved 

 form of Thuja occidentalis. Eetinospora ericoides of Zuccarini 

 is but a free-leaved form of some Japanese plant ; and in all 

 probabiUly many speciM of Betiuospora so marked in her- 

 baria, are all forms of one thing with more or less adnated 

 leaves. In all these cases delicacy of growth and freedom of 

 leaves go gradually together, as before indicated. 



One of the most remarkable instances of the value of this prin- 

 ciple however, will, I have no doubt, be in fixing the identity 

 of the Japanese genus Glyptostrobus* of Endlioher, with the 



■ It wa.s the intention of the author to refer his remarks on Glypt • 



BtrobuB to U. sinensis, Endl. 



