r.lUNDON ON PLANTS. 123 



fine days they liaiig out their jn-etty anthers in profusion, and even with- 

 out dissection we may plainly sec the recurving and feathery stigmas. 



Lathy r us pratensls. — The leaflets of this plant and of several of its 

 allies have the veins parallel, almost like those of the leaves of an 

 Endogen. No mistake or confusion can arise, since the petioles are 

 provided with stipules, appendages which never occur in the latter class of 

 plants. At the extremity of the petiole there is likewise a tendril. This 

 organ is very rare in Endogens, and is familiarly illustrated in our hot- 

 houses only hy the Gloriosa of the East Indies, a lovely climbing plant of 

 the liliaceous type. When the Lnthyrus comes into flower, of course, its 

 affinities are plain enough. 



Trifollum and Medicago often, perhaps always, have the veins of their 

 leaflets forked like those of many ferns. Here again the stipules prevent 

 any mistake that might arise from the idea that forked veins are peculiar 

 to the Filices. True, they are very seldom met with in any other plants; — 

 markedly so only in the Salisburla and some other trees belonging to the 

 natural order Taxacecr, which stands as a link between normal Exogens 

 and the Cryptogamia. 



Phyteuma spicatum. — This plant, only enrolled as a native some few 

 years since, when it was observed wild in the South-east of England, I 

 have recently discovered in some low and grassy ground on the banks of 

 the river Weaver, near Northwich, Cheshire. The exact spot is within 

 the circumference of a park, but there is no reason, that I can learn, to 

 suppose that the plant was ever cultivated there ; and although the margin 

 of a river is always a suspicious locality, and the Phyteumia is a limestone 

 rather than a sandstone plant, I am disposed to consider it a bona fide 

 acquisition to our local Flora. 



Geum rivcde. — When this plant is out of flower, and the ovaries are 

 in course of ripening, the entire head is elevated upon a peduncle, so as 

 to stand at a considerable height above the relics of the floral envelopes 

 and the withered stamens. Does this indicate a tendency towards the 

 unisexual or monoecious state ? Several of the Rosaceoo are almost nor- 

 mally unisexual, as Piuhus Chamamorus, and the strawberry is well known 

 to be so in many instances. 



Trifoliwn. — Students who possess microscopes, even of the simj)lest 

 and oldest construction, should examine the calyces of the different species 

 of this familiar genus, especially the smaller ones. They are semi-pellucid, 

 most elegantly ribbed with green, and usually freckled with rose-colour. 



