594 Mutations 



is now so universally cultivated. I take the fol- 

 lowing statements from an interesting historical 

 essay of Prof. Jaggi. He describes three orig- 

 inal localities. One is near the Swiss village, 

 Buch am Irchel, and is located on the Stamm- 

 berg. During the 17th century five purple 

 beeches are recorded to have grown on this spot. 

 Four of them have died, but one is still alive. 

 Seedlings have germinated around this little 

 group, and have been mostly dug up and trans- 

 planted into neighboring gardens. Nothing is 

 known about the real origin of these plants, but 

 according to an old document, it seems that 

 about the year 1190 the purple beeches of Buch 

 were already enjoying some renown, and at- 

 tracting large numbers of pilgrims, owing to 

 some old legend. The church of Embrach is said 

 to have been built in connection with this legend, 

 and was a goal for pilgrimages during many 

 centuries. 



A second native locality of the purple beech 

 is found in a forest near Sondershausen in 

 Thuringen, Germany, where a fine group of 

 these trees is to be seen. They were mentioned 

 for the first time in the latter half of the 

 eighteenth century, but must have been old spec- 

 imens long before that time. The third locality 

 seems to be of much later origin. It is a forest 

 near Roveredo in South Tyrol, where a new 



