CHLORANTHY. 275 



becomes in process of time suppressed.' Geum coccineum 

 has been found by Wigand with its flowers in this con- 

 dition.'^ 



Lindley^ figures a very interesting illustration in 

 Potent ilia nepalensU, in which some of the flowers 

 have their component parts leafy, in others the recep- 

 tacle lengthens, till in extreme cases the whole of the 

 floral apparatus is represented by a branch bearing a 

 rosette of leaves. 



A particular variety of the Alpine strawberry is also 

 described as occasionally subject to this transformation. 

 In these flowers the calyx remains normal, while all 

 the other parts of the flower, even to the coating of 

 the ovule, assume a leaf-Kke condition.* 



> Gris, 'Bull. Soc. Bot. Ft.,' 1858, vol. v, p. 261, and 'Ann. Sc. Nat.,' 

 ser. 4, vol. ix, p. 80. Planchon, * Flore des Serres,' vol. i, 1856, p. 129. 



Flora,'1856, p. 711. 



3 ' Theoiy of Horticult.,' ed. 2, p. 90, f . 25. 



* As considerable interest attaches to the " Plymouth strawbeiTy," 

 and very little is known of it in this country, or on the continent, the 

 author gladly avails himself of this opportunity of inserting an account 

 of it, for which he is indebted to the kindness of Dr. Robert Hogg. 

 The Plymouth Sti'awberry {Fragaria vesca fnictu hispido) is a sort of 

 botanical Dodo upon which many have wi'itten, and which few have 

 seen. Many years have elapsed since it was first discovered ; and 

 although a century and a half have passed since there was any evidence 

 of its existence, it serves still as an illustration for students in mor- 

 phology of one of those strange abnormal stnictures with which the 

 vegetable kingdom abounds. 



It is to old John Ti-adescant we are indebted for the earliest record of 

 this plant. Johnson, in his edition of ' Gerard,' says : " Mr. John 

 Tradescant hath told me that he was the first that tooke notice of this 

 strawberry, and that in a woman's garden at Plinxouth, whoso daughter 

 had gathei'ed and set the roots in her gai*den, in stead of the common 

 strawberry ; but she, finding the finiit not to answer hef expectiition, 

 intended to throw it away ; which labour he spai*ed her in taking it and 

 bestowing it among the loners of such varieties, in whose gai*den it is yet 

 preserved." Doubtless one of those " lovei*s" was his fi-iend John Parkin- 

 son, who, in the year 1629, thus wrote concerning it : " One strawberry 

 more I promised to shew you, which, although it be a wilde kinde, and 

 of no vse for meate, yet I would not let this discourse passe without 

 giuing you the knowledge of it. It is in leafe much like vnto the ordi- 

 nary, i)ut differeth in that the flower, if it haue any, is greene, or rather 

 it beareth a small head of gfreene leaues, many set thicke together like 

 vnto a double ruflfe, in the midst whereof standeth the fruit, which, when 

 it is ripe, sheweth to be soft and somewhat reddish, like vnto a stnvw- 

 berry, but >vith many small hannlesse prickles on thorn which may bi 

 eaten and chewed in the mouth without .any mancr of offence and is 

 somewhat pleasant as a strawberry ; it is no great bearer, but those 



