586 
by Mr. Geo. Thurber, (of the American Agriculturist,) and was called 
A. leptocera by Dr. Gray. Recent observation of the plantin a growing 
state convinced Dr. Gray that it was a new species, and he has accord- 
ingly redescribed it under the name given above. 
The American Agriculturist for September gives a figure of the flower 
with ap account of itshistory. It is perfectly hardy, and is well worthy 
of cultivation. Indeed, it has already made a good start in that direc- 
tion among English florists. The Gardener’s Chronicle (London) for 
October contains a flattering notice of it, with some details of its his- 
tory and nomenclature. Whoever possesses this species, with the sky- 
blue aquilegia, (A. cwrulea,) and the native scarlet one, A. canadensis, 
will have the choicest of the aquilegias. 
PURPLE CONE-FLOWER, (Echinacea purpurea.)—A specimen of this 
plant in cultivation from Illinois presented some features which com- 
mend it to attention for the garden. Although somewhat coarse in 
foliage, its large flower-heads terminating the naked peduncles are quite 
showy from the dark-purple, almost black, conical center and the numer- 
ous (10 to 15) light-purple pendant rays. These rays are about 2 inches 
long by 4 inch wide. The plant is vigorous and hardy, and is worthy 
of trial in the flower-garden. 
“FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS.—This subject has received much at- 
tention of late, and our knowledge has been much extended by the re- 
searches of various observers. A recent article by Mr. A. W. Bennett, 
in the Popular Science Review, gives an interesting résumé of recent ob- 
servations, from which we gather the following items: 
Every person who bas carefully examined the subject is aware that a great portion 
of flowers are cross-fertilized, that is, the female organs are fertilized by the action of 
pollen, not from the same flower, but from other flowers of the same kind in the vicini- 
ty, and that the most common agencies in producing this effect are, the wind and in- 
sects. 
A very good and familiar example of flowers fertilized by the agency of the wid is 
furnished by the common hazel, (this refers to the English hazel, but will apply equally 
well to our American species,) which flowers from January till the early part of March, 
even when the weather is very cold and when there are scarcely any insects on the wing. 
The flowers of the hazel are of two kinds, male and female. The male flowers consti- 
tute the familiar catkins which drop off and disappear before the leaves make their 
appearance. 
The catkins are generally in bunches of from two to four, every catkin containing, 
on an average, perhaps from one hundred to one hundred and twenty flowers. Each 
of these male flowers consists of a simple scale-like tract, inclosing from eight to 
twelve anthers, each of which discharges, when ripe, a cloud of innumerable pollen- 
grains; so that the number of these grains in any single catkin must be prodigious. 
The female flowers are found on the same branches as the catkins, and are also in 
clusters of from two to six, (the future nuts,) and are of equally simple structure with 
the male flowers, being formed of single pistils, appearing like slender crimson threads 
protruding from scaly buds. If one of these crimson threads is placed under an ordi- 
-nary pocket-lens, it will generally be found to have on its surface several apparently 
minute particles of dust, which, on further examination, are found to be pollen-grains 
which have been blown from the male flowers. Each individual pollen-grain has the 
power of emitting a pollen-tube which penetrates the stigma, reaches the ovary, and 
by the fertilization of the ovule induces the formation of the embryo, and thus the 
development of the ovule into the fertile nut. Since the only means by which the 
ypollen can be conveyed from the male to the female flower is the agency of the wind, 
and it is only quite by chance that any of the grains can reach their destination, the 
reason is obvious of the enormous amount of pollen with which the catkins of the 
hazel are furnished. In some plants, whose fertilization is effected in the same man- 
ner, the quantity of pollen is still greater, and this is especially the case in the coni- 
Ferae, or fir-tribe. American travelers have described how the water of some of their 
lakes near the shore is covered at certain seasons by a thick stratum of a sulphur-like 
substance, the pollen blown from the neighboring pine woods. Whether the female 
flowers of the hazel are fertilized from the catkins on the same or on a different bush 
is a point still in dispute. 
