12 THE NATUIIALIST. 



trucled above. The entire organ is so minute that it is not easy to make 

 it out. Surmounting it are 4 — 5 styles which are united at the base; and 

 seated on the petals are the 8 — 10 stamens, disposed in couples. To a 

 Linneean botanist the plant is almost equally perplexing, the 4 lateral 

 flowers, (which are placed back to back, like the dials of some public 

 clocks, that look as it were to the four points of the compass,) being 

 tetramerous ; while the fifth, at the summit, looking up to the zenith, has 

 the parts in fours, except that the calyx is three-lobed. 



Ficaria verua, the common pilewort, or " lesser celandine," — the 

 latter name equally ungrammatical and inappropriate. *' Celandine *' is 

 an abbreviation of CheUdonlum, and whatever may have been the plant to 

 which the name was originally applied, as a herald or synchronous com- 

 panion of the swallow, the English form of the word should be restricted 

 to the genus that bears the Latin one. There is a very considerable differ- 

 ence in the corolla of this lively flower. The petals which vary from 

 eight to nine, are sometimes extremely narrow, sometimes almost as 

 broad and obtuse, in proportion to their size, as those of the Caltha. The 

 effect is then very lustrous. Such examples should be selected when it is 

 desired to obtain improved varieties of plants. They illustrate in little, 

 the origin of those more important ones which enrich our gardens and 

 farms. The starch-grains in the tubers are exceedingly minute. To 

 wood-pigeons the latter appear to be palatable and nutritious, since these 

 birds consume them freely. 



Fraxinus excelsior, the common ash-tree. The masses of deep black- 

 purple anthers, when ready to burst, and clustered at the extremities of 

 the gray and flattened twigs, resemble ripe blackberries. If a specimen 

 be gathered, and laid on the table in-doors, the anther-cells burst, and 

 discharge their pollen in great abundance ; the latter in its dryness and 

 fineness resembles the spores of the Lycopodium clavatum, and if collected 

 in sufficient bulk, and scattered in the air would probably ignite in the 

 same way. Many pollens appear to be oleaginous, and it would be inter- 

 esting to have their inflammable qualities determined. The blackness of 

 the unopened leaf-buds is remarkable and characteristic. When the leaves 

 are fully expanded it is a sign that the time has arrived when greenhouse- 

 plants may be safely placed in the open air : when the leaves fall, (which 

 is generally rather early, and without material change of tint), it is a sign 

 that the time is come when they should be returned to shelter. Indica- 

 tions of seasons, and of the best time for performing operations, both in 



