~ 
56 Mr. Babington on Lychnis diurna and vespertina. — 
leaf (fig. 4.). Up to this period no roots are protruded; the 
young leaf is nourished solely by imbibition and by the fe- 
cula stored up at its base. It generally happens that no root 
is protruded until a second leaf has appeared; I have, how- 
ever, Seen a few cases in which a radicle appeared while only 
one leaf was yet visible. In most instances, shortly after the 
appearance of a second leaf, a root is protruded from the gem 
and always at one side near its neck (fig. 4.). This root 1s co- 
nical, at first entirely cellular and covered with minute fibrils : 
it constitutes the root of the plant, and the fibres on its sur- 
face are spongioles. A perpendicular section shows that this 
root has an organic connexion with the youngest of the 
leaves when two are produced previous to its appearance. 
May it not be admitted that these remarkable bodies present 
a miniature illustration of Professor Morren’s investigations 
regarding the functions of the Pith in Plants? See Annals, 
No. 22, vol. iv. pp. 73-87. 
Bb Rane" 
X.—On Lychnis diurna and vespertina of Sibthorp. By 
CuHaR.eEs C, Basrneton, Esq., M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S., &c. 
THINKING it right to bring before the public as early as is 
consistent with accuracy, any information that I may obtain 
concerning what may be denominated the contested parts of 
British descriptive botany, I make no apology for publishing 
specific characters for the two species of Lychnis which have 
been usually included under the name of L. dioica. 
In both of them I find a tendency to change in the colour 
of the flowers ; those of L. diurna, although most commonly 
red, may yet be sometimes found of so light a pink as to be 
called white ; and those of L. vespertina, which are usually 
white, vary occasionally to pink. In both the flowers are 
usually dicecious, but plants of each of them are at times 
found with perfect stamens and pistils in the same flowers. 
For this reason I propose to drop the name of dioica and to 
adopt those conferred by Sibthorp. 
I have not found any tendency to variation in the charac- 
ters drawn from the forms of the calyx-teeth and the capsule, 
and the direction of the teeth of the latter. oe 
I make no claim to originality in these characters, all of 
which have, I believe, long been detected and employed upon 
the continent ; but only wish to bring them before our younger 
British botanists, to whom I suspect that they are totally un- 
known. | 
