460 Florlcultural and Botanical Notices, 



and mostly perpendicularly, into the earth ; and at various distances, within 

 1 ft. of the surface, a tuber is formed on many of them, of the size of a 

 small potato or less, not terminally, or principally so, as in the potato 

 plant, but by the enlargement of the fibres at some distance from either 

 extremity. It is a simple mass of alburnum, resembling in appearance the 

 kernel of a cocoa nut, but softer, and of a taste rather bitter ; which fla- 

 vour is not reduced either by boiling or drying. It is probable that a 

 regular supply of moisture, in accordance with the requirements of the 

 plant, would altogether prevent their formation. We know that some 

 species of grass which are strictly fibrous-rooted, particularly the Phleum 

 pratense L. [and, perhaps, the Jvena elatior L., iKrdeum bulbosum L., 

 Jlopecurus bulbosus L., Phalaris bulbosa Cav., andPhalaris nodosa fiieb.], 

 produce tubers in situations where they are exposed to the occasional want 

 of fluids necessary for their luxuriant or healthy increase. When suffering 

 under such privations, it may be easily conceived that the stems and roots 

 of a plant become less flexible; and its vessels, being constringed by 

 drought, would be incapable, when subsequently supplied with a due por- 

 tion of fluids, of ready and free dilatation. In this state, the fluids col- 

 lected by the extremities of the roots may be prevented, by the rigidity of 

 those parts near the surface of the earth, from freely ascending. At this 

 point, an accumulation of the juices occurs ; and, somewhat analogous to 

 a tumour in an artery arising from dilatation, a tuber is produced. These 

 tubers, gradually increasing, subsequently become reservoirs, to meet 

 any deficiency of supply that may casually occur. Thus we see Infinite 

 Wisdom make the very existence of a want the means of its remedy." 

 " A proper distinction must be observed between such tubers as are 

 mere reservoirs of unprepared fluids, and those which are depositories of 

 elaborated juices from the plant, in which the vitality of a future individual 

 of its species exists." The above views merit the consideration of the 

 young gardener; and, should Phlomis tuberosa L. not be one of the plants 

 cultivated in the garden in which he is employed, I may mention O'robus 

 tuberosus Z., iathyrus tuberosus L., pseonies, and georginas, as plants 

 possessing tubers, all, I believe, but certainly those of the georginas, desti- 

 tute of buds or eyes ; and J'pios tuberosa Mcen., the common potato, 

 Helianthus tuberosus, and Wedelia aiirea, exemplifying tubers beset 

 with buds. It may be well to examine if Mr. Maund's theory will at all 

 conduce to account for the granulations, or minute tubers, which are inva- 

 riably strung on the fibres of every leguminous plant : the laburnum, the 

 common false acacia, and the white clover, are familiar instances. — ./. D. 



CXXV. Cordiacede. 



563. CO'RVIA. 



grandiflora Lindl. large-fiwd Si □ or ... au W S.Amer. ? 1827. C ].p Bot.reg.14gj 



A very fine species, with large white broadly funnel-shaped corollas, 

 which now, it is feared, is not in this country. It flowered in 1828, in a 

 stove in Lee's Hammersmith Nursery. That it belongs to the genus 

 C6rd2« is not positively known, for no specimens have been preserved, and 

 consequently the semblances of the drawing have been the only guides to 

 referring it to any genus. (Bot. Reg., figured in May, described in June.) 



MONOCOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS. 



CCXXXVIII. AmdrylMete. 



933a. *A\TAX Sal. (.Narcissus L.) 



albicans Haw. whitish tf A or 1 ap "W Spain ... O s.l Sw.fl.gar.2. s.145 



Beautiful and rare, but possessed by Mr. Ellicombe of Vicarage Bitton, 

 near Bath, and Mr. Haworth of Chelsea. Mr. Sweet has seen it also " in 

 other collections about London, introduced from Holland this year, under 

 the name of iVarcissus moschatus ;" but the N. moschatus of the Linnaean 



