2 
easily explained, and the phenomenon is evidently due to a variety of 
causes and conditions. Since I first examined the case here illustrated 
I have found records of several similar occurrences, and — colleagues 
have called my attention to others. O e I cannot enter into 
particulars here, but : hope to treat the fr more fully i in another 
place at an early dat 
. de Canolle (Ph et Végétale, vol. ii. p. 468) mentions the 
case of a seedling rose producing a er-bud aimee following 
he adds 
3 
3. 
ng 
the development ‘of the pivisboetiia ihe and he t j’al eu 
n fleur dans le jardin de Genéve des pins des Canaries Agés de quatre 
ans, et hauts de trois pieds Se quoique cet arbre s éleve j jusqu’a 
soixante pieds dans son sol natal.’ 
nt ew Museum alent is a drawing of a pie coco-nut, 
ea three simple, bifid leaves aa a small inflorescence growing 
t from shell. At this stage the albumen would hardly be 
san 
vera at ettiiogd mention the common oak and Ailantus glandulosa 
as occasionally flowering in the seed-beds. Mébius (Bvitrage zur 
Lehre der wheal “der ean p- se states that they die soon 
after the eve is not appear to be without ps sanae 
Sargent (Sitea, "vol. viii. t. "39 figures a describes a variety o 
Quercus virginiana, from one to two ‘feet high, which is common in the 
with a trunk six or seven feet in diameter. Professor Sargent does 
not state the age at which seedlings of this variety bear flowers and 
fruit. 
Another remarkable instance of precocious flowering is described 
and illustrated by our friend Mr. Ed. André (Revue Horticole, 1894, 
37 ich throw: i 
p- is a variety of the common lilac, which hick, 
fleshy suckers bearing flowers a few inches above the soil, often before 
the a rance of any leaves. The rs are equal in colour, size, 
nd fragrance to those produced at the ends of the branches of the 
normally developed shrub. It is not merely a casual occurr e 
phenomenon is a fixed sehr sd of the race or sport. I presume it 
can only be propagated veg el 
si ory: 
Sir hice Brandis (Te udian Forester, vol. xxv. p. 22) fi 
a bam endrocalamus bn Seahee. flowering when only siiietece minke 
old ees less dak 00 
e most recent contri ‘but ution to the records of this kind is by Dr. 
J. C. Costerus (Recueil des Travaux pare Néerlandais, vol.i.p. 128 
entitled ‘ Pedogenesis ?’ and relates to the flowering of seedling g plants, 
two or three inches high, of Melia arguta.—W. Borrine + Hens 
Fig. 1, a flower-bud; 2, a young expanded flower; 3, a petal; 4, andreecium 
5, part of andreecium and the rudimentary gyneceum ; 6, a flower from an adult 
specimen of S. ST ‘Makaaons: 7, andrecium laid open, showing disk and gynzeceum of 
the same. i/ ‘enlarged. 
