96 PHYSIOGNOMY OF PLANTS. 



lichens, giving it a pleasing appearance. Judging by the 

 size of a small piece of wood which has been cut out above 

 the door, and in which the marks of 200 annular rings 

 have been counted, the oak of Saintes would be between 

 1800 and 2000 years old. (Annales de la Societe <T Agri- 

 culture de la Bochelle, 1843, p. 380.) 



In the wild rose-tree of the crypt of the Cathedral of 

 Hildesheim, said to be a thousand years old, it is the root 

 only, and not the stem, which is eight centuries old, accord- 

 ing to accurate information derived from ancient and 

 trustworthy original documents, for the knowledge of which 

 I am indebted to the kindness of Stadtgerichts-Assessor 

 Bonier. A legend connects the rose-tree with a vow made 

 by the first founder of the cathedral, Ludwig the Pious ; 

 and an original document of the llth century says, " that 

 when Bishop Hezilo rebuilt the cathedral which had been 

 burnt down, he enclosed the roots of the rose-tree with a 

 vault which still exists, raised upon this vault the crypt, 

 which was re-consecrated in 1061, and spread out the 

 branches of the rose-tree upon the walls." The stem 

 now living is 26|- feet high and about two inches thick, 

 and the outspread branches cover about 32 feet of the 

 external wall of the eastern crypt ; it is doubtless of con- 

 siderable antiquity, and well deserving of the celebrity which 

 it has gained throughout Germany. 



If extraordinary development in point of size is to be 

 regarded as a proof of long continued organic life, parti- 

 cular attention is due to one of the thalassophytes of the 

 sub-marine vegetable world, *. e. y to the Fucus giganteus, 



