270 PROFESSORS JOHN AND THOMAS MARTYN. {September, 



Hemerocallis fulva and H. flava. 



"In the year 1788^ Miss Welch (a woman of distinguished 

 mental ability^ very intimate with Dr. Johnson, as her father, 

 a well-known magistrate, had been ; her sister was Mrs. Nolle- 

 kens, the wife of the eminent sculptor) laid out a new garden 

 at Ardenham Hill, near Aylesbury, in which she removed se- 

 veral plants from Hampstead. Dividing a root of Hemerocallis 

 fulva, she put one part into an argillaceous soil, and the other 

 into a soil composed of rubbish from old ruins. The former 

 remained unchanged ; but the latter blossomed with the tint and 

 appearance oi Hemerocallis flava." — See Trans. Linn. Soc. 1790, 

 vol. ii. p. 353. 



The above fact is deserving of notice. But it may be observed 

 that there are other marks which may serve to distinguish the 

 above species, besides the colours of the flowers. The habit of 

 the two plants is not alike. H. flava is taller and more elegant 

 than H. fulva, and the latter increases more rapidly by runners 

 and suckers than the former. The change of colour is a notable 

 fact, especially as it is effected by a change of soil. The writer 

 of this note does not wish to have examples of plants which 

 are mutable in colour, such as the Primrose, the Hydrangea, etc., 

 but he would be much obliged to any one to tell him if the two 

 common Day-lilies are mutable both in colour and species. 



Professor TJiomas Martyn, on Natural and Artificial Systems of Botany, 

 Extract of a Letter from Professor Martyn to Sir J. E. Smith. — March 

 Uh, 1821. 



" Your Grammar of Botany plainly speaks the hand of a 

 master ; concise yet full, remarlj^ble for clearness, etc. . . . When 

 your intended Flora makes its appearance, the British botanist 

 will find everything that he wants in these three works of yours'^ 

 (viz. the ' English Flora,' the ' Grammar of Botany,' and the ' In- 

 troduction to Physiological and Systematical Botany') . " I am not 

 such a bigot as to think lightly of the natural orders, imperfect 

 as our present knowledge of them is. Had I been younger, that 

 very circumstance would have incited me to pursue so delectable 

 a subject, and I hope you will continue to do it. I am only 

 sometimes vexed when they would fain persuade me that the 

 natural system may supersede the artificial." 



