Notes and Gleanings. 313 



oood companion plant to Intermedia. It will indicate the exact botanical rela- 

 tions of this variety, and also exemplify the elegancies of botanical nomenclature, 

 if we add that its proper (or say legal) name is P^-vnula cortusoides v. amce?ia, 

 s. V. alba, s. s. v. striata viridis. A rose by any other name would smell as 

 sweet, and if this primula bore a shorter name it would be none the less pretty. 



GrandiJIora is apocryphal. When a plant of ain(Ena is extra well grown it 

 becomes " grandiflora," and ince versa, if grandiflora is only middling well- 

 grown it becomes " amoena." To put the case in plain English, Grandiflora is 

 a nursery name for a nonentity. 



Oculata is only a good state of Amoena, showing a distinct white eye. To 

 repeat the solemn truth just uttered, Oculata is a nursery name for a nonentity. 



Lilacina is an exquisitely beautiful plant. The flowers are large, quite flat, 

 the edges fringed or lacerated, the color palest blush, overlaid with delicate 

 veins of lilac and palest purplish rose. This and Amoena are the best of the 

 group, but the others we have recommended are quite needful to any cultivator 

 who can find amusement in the cultivation of first-class frame and Alpine 

 plants. S. H., in Floral World. 



Structure of Leaves. — The succulent material of the leaf consists of a 

 great number of small bodies, called cells. Each forms a little closed cavity. 

 The pressure of these upon one another gives the same effect as the little com- 

 partments of an India rubber door-mat. Each compartment is at first filled 

 with a morsel of jelly-like substance, called protoplasm. It is on this proto- 

 plasm that vitality depends. The wall of each cell is dead material, and only 

 confines and encloses the protoplasm. In some of the more obscure plants the 

 protoplasm escapes under some circumstances from the cell, and exhibits spon- 

 taneous movements ; but in the cell of the leaf it can only move in little cur- 

 rents over the cell walls. Portions of the protoplasm in the cells of the leaf are 

 finally detatched in little granules, and become colored under the action of light, 

 by the conversion of a part into chlorophyll, or leaf-green. A proper supply of 

 warmth, varying in amount in different plants, is necessary for the formation of 

 this substance. The presence of iron has been found to be another necessary 

 circumstance ; this is remarkable, because it is also an essential ingredient in 

 the coloring matter of blood. Leaf-green is a most important substance in the 

 plant economy. 



The interior of the leaf is not quite solid ; the cells are more loosely arranged, 

 forming passages communicating with the outside through little mouth-hke 

 openings on the under side of the leaf. Air finds its way into these, and with it 

 the carbonic acid, which is thrown into the air as the result of every kind of 

 combustion and decay. In the granules of the chlorophyll-containing cells, the 

 carbon is fixed, combined with the elements of water, and the oxygen is re- 

 turned. The sun's light and heat supply the force required to tear the car- 

 bonic acid asunder. In this way starch is formed. This is insoluble ; but in 

 darkness, during the night, it becomes dissolved in the cell, and is then trans- 

 ferred to other parts of the plant, where it is stored, up as a reserve for the 

 plant's future use, again becoming insoluble. Protoplasm differs from substances 



