General Notices. S67 



On the Relations of Colour and Smell in the more important Families of the 

 Vegetable Kingdom, as extracted from a work entitled " Ueber das Licht 

 Vorzugsiveise iiber die Chemischen mid Physiogischen Wirlctmgen desselben" by 

 Dr. Landgrebe of Marburg, in Jameson's Journal for Januar}', 1837. — G. 

 Schiibler and F. J. Kohler have lately published (in an Inaugural Dissertation 

 by the latter, Tiibingen, 1831, 8vo) the results of some very interesting 

 investigations on the relations of colour and smell in the more important fami- 

 lies of the vegetable kingdom, and have thrown much light on this hitherto 

 little cultivated field. 



They examined the relations of the flowers of 4200 plants belonging to 27 

 different families, of which latter 20 were dicotyledonous, and 7 raonocotyle- 

 donous. In 21 of these families, the whole genera and species are considered, 

 in so far as particular information could be obtained ; and in 6, the more im- 

 portant genera were submitted to a careful examination and calculation. 



Among the Monocotyledons, the following natural families were investi- 

 gated : — the Z/iliaceee Dec., the i/emerocallideae Dec., the AmavyWidece 

 Dec, the 6'cilleae Rcichenb., the /rideae Dec, the Smilacea; Dec, and, lastly, 

 the Cannae Dec. On the other hand, among the Dicotyledons were ex- 

 amined more especially the Jasminese Dec, the ^'olanacese Dec, and the 

 Gentidnea;, together with 17 others, which were not so extensively examined 

 as the 3 first ; viz., the jBoragineae, the //eliotropeae, the Lysimachese, the 

 PrimulaccEe, the Polemonese, the Convolvulaceae, the Campanulaceae, the 

 Fiolaricas, the Lenticulareae, the Steilataj, the RosacefB, the Sarmentaceae, 

 the iJanunculaceae, the Papaveracea2, the iVymphaeaceas, and the more im- 

 portant genera of the Scrophularete and Cruciatae. 



The above-mentioned families of the Monocotyledons have, in general, a 

 greater tendency to flowers of the white and yellowish red series of tints, than 

 those of the Dicotyledons. Blue-flowering species are much rarer among the 

 first than the last ,• whereas the Monocotyledons include a much greater 

 number of odoriferous species. The families of the lilies, the /femerocallideEe, 

 the AmarylHrfi?^, the 5cilleffi, and the /rideae, contain, on an average, 14*2 per 

 cent odoriferous species; whereas the families of Dicotyledons cited above 

 contain only 9'9 per cent. 



Among the already mentioned 5 families of Monocotyledons, the Ama- 

 ryWidecE contain the largest number of white-flowering, and, at the same time, 

 of agreeably scented, species. Of 100 species, there are 38 which are white- 

 flowering; whereas the blue-flowering species seem to be wanting: there are 

 27-8 per cent odoriferous species. The /ridcce, on the contrary, have rarely 

 white flowers ; and odoriferous species are seldom met with, there being only 

 about 9 to 10 per cent. There are many blue-flowering species (19 per cent), 

 and only 1 1*8 per cent having white flowers. The i?osaceje are, after the 

 «/asmineae, the richest among the previously enumerated families of Dicotyle- 

 dons in white-flowering and odoriferous plants. There the blue colour is 

 entirely wanting. In 100 species, 36 are white, and 13*1 are odoriferous. 



The Campanulaceae, Gentmnece, and Papaveraceag are the poorest of the dico- 

 tyledonous families in white and odoriferous species. Among the two first, 

 there are many white-flowering species; and, among the last, many violet- 

 coloured flowering species. To confirm this observation, I may state that 

 there are only 4-10 species in 100 having white flowers, and hardly 1*2 in the 

 same number possessing any smell. If we arrange the colour relations in a 

 general table, we have the following results : — 



Mean in ( Mean in 



Colour. In 4000 species. 1000 species. Colour. In 4000 species. 1000 species. 



White - - - 1193-3 284 1 Yellow - - 951-3 226 



Red - - - 923 220 



Violet - - - 307-5 73 



Blue - - 594-3 141 



Green - - 153 36 



Orange - - 50 12 



Brown - - 18-5 4 



Black . . 8-5 2 



