1858.] BOTANICAL NOTES^ NOTICES, AND QUERIES. 327 



flower. Broccoli, Savoys, and curled Greens are derived from one stock, 

 Brassica oleracea. This plant grows wild on the sea-shore, and when cul- 

 tivated it assumes peculiar forms. Thus it forms a heaii;, as in ordinary 

 Cabbage ; its flower-stalks become thickened and shortened, as in Cauli- 

 flower and Eroccoli ; or its parenchyma is highly developed between the 

 vessels, so as to give rise to the crisp and curled appearance of Greens. 

 This tendency in the plant to produce monstrosities was early noticed by 

 cultivators, and care was taken to propagate those individuals which 

 showed abnormal appearances. The seeds of such were saved, put into 

 good soil, and no plants were allowed to remain except such as presented 

 the required form. In this manner certain races of culiuai-y vegetables 

 have been established. If, however, these cultivated plants are allowed to 

 grow wild, and scatter their seeds in ordinary soU, they wiU, in the pro- 

 gress of time, revert to the original type or species. Instances such as 

 these show the remarkable efi"ects of cultivation in pei-petuating varieties 

 by seed." Babing-ton (fourth edition). Hooker and Amott (seventh edi- 

 tion), and Withering (sixth edition), all give this plant as the origin of 

 the garden Cabbage. I have cultivated the plant from seeds obtained at 

 the Orme's Head, for three generations of it, and found the leaves became 

 much larger and broader in proportion than they were in a wild state, the 

 tendency to form heart also being much greater than in its native habitat. 



With regard to J^gilops, I used the word trying as I did not think it 

 had been sufficiently experimented on to be quite proved as a fact. The 

 authority for it is M. Esprit Fabre d'Agde, whose views are to be found, 

 according to Balfour, in the 'Gardeners' Chronicle' for July 17th, 34th, 

 and 31st, 1852. He gives the time required for the change as twelve 

 years. Professor Henslow read a Paper at the meeting of the British 

 Association in 1856, in which he says he does not think M. Pabre's ori- 

 ginal statement is without foundation. I have only seen the newspaper 

 report yet ; the Association Eeport being only just out. W. Cheshiee. 



Tew. 



" Yon black and funeral yew, 

 That bathes the charnel house with dew." 



" Ancient Christians used to put hedera quoque vel lamTis et hnjusmodi, 

 qu8e semper sero aut virorem in sarcophago coi-pori substernientur, ad 

 signiflcandum quod qui moriuutm* in Clmsto, vivere nee desinunt ! Nam 

 licet mundo moriuntur secundum corpus, tamen secundam vivunt et re- 

 vivescunt in Deo. Kosemary, etc. signifying that though the body was 

 dead, yet, like plants, it woiild revive (again) ; that the soul, like ever- 

 greens, was immortal, on which seasons make but slight change. Yet in 

 churchyards from this origin." — JEvans's 'North TFales,' p. 59. 



Spread of Thistles. 



These pests of cultivation have emigrated with man into South America. 

 In the vast plains of Buenos Ayres, Thistles now almost exclude every 

 other vegetable production. They have now spread over extensive dis- 

 tricts, and are rapidly extending their possessions. 



