52 PHYSIOGNOMY OF PLANTS. 



ditism is ^quent in the entire family of Urticese, but a 

 peculiar and still unexplained phenomenon has been presented 

 in the forcing-houses at Kew by a small New Holland shrub, 

 the Crelebogyne of Smith. This phsenogamous plant pro- 

 duces in England perfect seeds without trace of male organs, 

 or the hybridising introduction of the pollen of other species. 

 An ingenious botanist, Adrien de Jussieu, in his " Cours 

 Elementaire de Botanique," 1840, p. 463, expresses himself 

 on the subject as follows : Un genre d'Euphorbiacees (?) 

 assez nouvellement decrit mais cultive depuis plusieurs 

 annees dans les serres d'Angleterre, le Ccelebogyne, y a plu- 

 sieurs fois fructine, et ses graines etaient evidemment par- 

 faites, puisque non seulement on y a observe un embryon 

 bien constitue, mais qu'en le semant cet embryon s'est deve- 

 loppe en une plante semblable. Or les fleurs sont dioiques ; 

 on ne connait et ne possede pas (en Angleterre) de pieds 

 males, et les recherches les plus minutieuses, faites par les 

 meilleurs observateurs, n'ont pu jusqu'ici faire decouvrir la 

 moindre trace d'antheres ou seulement de pollen. I/embryon 

 ne venait done pas de ce pollen, qui manque entierement : il 

 a du se former de toute piece dans 1'ovule." 



In order to obtain a fresh confirmation or elucidation of 

 this highly important and isolated phenomenon, I addressed 

 myself not long since to my young friend Dr. Joseph Hooker, 

 who, after making the Antarctic voyage with Sir James 

 Boss, has now joined the great Thibeto- Himalayan expedition. 

 Dr. Hooker wrote to me in reply, on his arrival at Alexandria 

 near the end of December 1847jibefore embarking at Suez: 

 " Our Ccelebogyne still flowers with my father at Kew as well 



