665 



think of the old proverb, that " familiarity begets contempt," even 

 with old friends. Well, I let them grow, but there was no attempt at 

 flowering this year, although numerous buds continued for months to 

 arise from the strongest plant. Still seedlings kept coming up, and I 

 began to observe many seeds of a brownish yellow colour, lying on 

 the surface of the mould, and here and there suspended in the foliage 

 of the ferns. 



My curiosity was now much excited to ascertain the mean- 

 ing of this, particularly as the seeds soon vegetated and produced 

 young plants of the Oxalis. I watched carefully and repeatedly at 

 all hours of the day, and soon had my pains rewarded by seeing the 

 pods, that had been formed without having expanded or flowered, 

 discharge their seeds with great force. There could now be no doubt 

 as to the source of most of my young plants of this season. Succeeding 

 years have shown the same series of phenomena, but as this summer 

 they were becoming too plentiful, I took out all I could find, yet 

 there are two or three again making their appearance, and will enable 

 me to give you a living plant in the state T have been describing. 



So long as there was no resting place for the seeds on the surface 

 of the moss, and the fronds of my ferns were too small for them to 

 lodge on, the real truth of the matter eluded my observation. But 

 now there can be no doubt of the fact, that these seeds were fully 

 matured and made capable of germinating, and did germinate through 

 several generations, although, from the first appearance of the bud, 

 it assumed and maintained the appearance of a pod of seed, without 

 the slightest outward trace of a corolla, stamens or pistils! 



I am but a sorry botanist, although fond of plants as most persons, 

 and cannot therefore describe the anatomy of these metamorphosed 

 flowers, yet I will give you my viev/s in a ^e^ words, which you can 

 verify or disprove by your superior knowledge and discrimination, 

 with the assistance of the pickled plant you will receive with this 

 letter. 



In the early spring, flower-buds arose and expanded in the natural 

 manner. As soon as the usual flowering period was passed, a multi- 

 tude of flower-buds continued to arise, but instead of their proceed- 

 ing to form petals for the corolla, the calyx, or rather the membra- 

 nous edge of the calyx only, seemed to enlarge, forming a pod of a 

 pale yellowish green colour, spotted with pale dirty pink spots. 

 When these pods had acquired the size of a large pea, and sometimes 

 when smaller, they appeard to be ripe, a little slit suddenly opened and 

 discharged one or two seeds, and these discharges took place at inter- 



