Apr. 1899.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 211 



occur to-day. There are few, comparatively speaking, of 

 these travelled strangers from the Southern Alps which 

 have found a home for themselves on our British Alpine 

 heights. But one feature all possess in common : 

 they offer an ample tribute to every admirer. These 

 tiny gems that burst into rich and varied life at the 

 confines of perpetual snow, whether at home or abroad, 

 whether common or rare, are amongst the influences that 

 are most beneficial to men and women awearied with the 

 trammels of life. As their delicious fragrance hovers 

 in the air we breathe for the moment, as their exquisite 

 j)encillings in colours and design and graceful inter- 

 twinings hold captive our imagination even for a brief 

 spell, and as their associations and symbolisms bring 

 home to us the truths they are for ever telling in 

 their frailty, they encourage us to take up our life 

 afresh and make the best of it, even in harsh and 

 unlovely surroundings, and so give back joy and confidence 

 and companionship to those who look upon us and the 

 life we live. 



■' One impulse from a vernal wood 



May teach yon more of man, 

 Of moral evil and of good, 



Than all the sa";es can." 



Obseevations on the Germination of the Seeds of 

 Crinum Macowani, Baker. By John H. Wilson, D.Sc, 

 F.K.S.E. (With Plate.) 



(Read 13th April 1899.) 



Crinum Macowani was first described by Baker, in the 

 "Gardener's Chronicle," 1878, vol. ix. p. 298, from living 

 specimens which had been grown for several years in the 

 Palm House at Kew, and from dried specimens sent from 

 Cape Colony by Prof. MacOwan. Its close relationship 

 with the Cape species, C. Moorei, and the Asiatic one, 

 C. latifolinm, is referred to by Baker, in " Flora Capensis," 

 vol. vi. p. 2U2. The remarkable structure of the seeds of 

 the genus has been long known to botanists.^ 



^ See Lubbock, On Seedlings, vol. ii. p. 595. 



