242 PLANTS NOTICED BY EARLY WRITERS. \_AugUSt, 



which these examples were sent is composed of perennial and not of bien- 

 nial plants. 



The following question is urgently pressed on such readers of the ' Phy- 

 tologist ' as are well acquainted with the nature of these plants, and this 

 is especially addressed to the botanists of Surrey, Essex, Worcestershire, 

 Oxfordshire, Devonshire, etc., where this plant grows, — Is Cynoglosswn 

 sylvaticum, Hsenke, a biennial or a perennial ? Again, — Is C. officinale of 

 biennial or perennial duration ? These queries are not submitted with the 

 covert intention of throwing the slightest shade of suspicion on Mr. Sim's 

 statement. We believe that there is not a more earnest truth-seeker and 

 truth-lover than our estimable correspondent, yet as the opinions of cele- 

 brated authors are diverse, caution is sm-ely excusable. Our readers are 

 requested not to prejudge the matter, but to wait till more evidence has 

 been adduced either in confirmation of the above or otherwise. 



It is well known that accidents may retard the full development of any 

 plant, even after the stem has reached a considerable height. In such a 

 case the base of the stem or the crown of the root might produce a shoot 

 when the plant was three or even four years old. I have often observed 

 this in the garden Angelica. Sometimes it flowers the second year of its 

 existence ; sometimes its flowering is retarded tiU its third year ; and in 

 rare cases it has been known to survive till its fourth year. The Evening 

 Primrose is also strictly a biennial, but its roots do sometimes push out a 

 late shoot, which may, under favourable circumstances, flower in the third 

 year of the life of the plant. 



It is also well known that the Scented Mignionette may, by pinching off 

 its flowers, be preserved in a growing state indefinitely. It is said that it 

 becomes shrubby in the north of Africa. The Castor-oil plant, which is 

 an annual with us, becomes in the south of Em-ope a tree of considerable 

 altitude. 



It is not probable that the C. sylvaticum which grows on the hiU of 

 Kinnoul is of any longer or shorter duration than the plants of the same 

 species which gi-ow in England. They are all alike, either biennial or 

 perennial. But more information is wanted to help us to form a satisfac- 

 tory opinion on this questionable point. 



PLANTS NOTICED BY EARLY WKITERS. 



Saint Plants, etc. 



In Sir Thomas Overbury's character of a good wife^ she is her 

 husband's absent hands, eyes, ears, and mouth, his present and 

 absent all. " She frames her nature unto his howsoever. The 



