Queries and Answers. 377 



there be also a good supply of vegetable matter. — Robert Mallet, 9^, Ca- 

 pel Street, Dublin, Dec. 17. 1832. 



Seeds. — M. Petersen mentions, in a communication respecting the 

 Copenhagen botanic garden (Vol. IV. p. 200.), that, of 1800 different 

 seeds sent from Denmark to Calcutta in 1820, 1400 vegetated in 4< days : 

 whereas, of those sent from thence to Europe, almost all perished before 

 arrival. It would be very desirable if M. Petersen could state what pre- 

 cautions were taken in packing, in both instances, and, if possible, in what 

 part of the ship the packages were placed. Can any of your readers state 

 whether instances occur of seeds having been packed in boxes made of 

 cork, surrounded by flannel, and the result ? I suggest this method, be- 

 lieving that uniformity of temperature is of the utmost importance in the 

 preservation of vegetable life. — Charles M. W . London, Feb. 12. 1833. 



Sckinus Molle, Fragments of its live Leaves exhibit chemical Phenomena. 

 — A curious phenomenon may be observed by breaking a leafstalk of 

 iSchinus Molle into pieces, and putting them in water. As the divisions 

 float on the water, the sap that exudes from their lower ends seems to be 

 changed into a kind of gas, which is evolved at intervals of a few seconds, 

 and, as it streams along the surface of the water, it separates into nu- 

 merous little starlike figures, tinted with faint red and blue. These are 

 extinguished almost in an instant ; but, after the evolutions from the leaf- 

 stalk have apparently ceased, other little stars suddenly appear on the 

 surface, several inches distant from each other, and in places where no trace 

 of the former ones is visible on the water. Perhaps some of your che- 

 mical readers will explain this phenomenon. — J. B. W, Jan. \. 183.3. 



As the phenomenon was once shown to me by a gentleman in Suffolk, 

 Robert Bevan, Esq., the broken portions of the leaves moved about, and 

 changed places with each other, as dancers do. Mr. Bevan remarked, that 

 their motions had been aptly compared to a fleet of ships employed in 

 manoeuvring. — J. D. 



The above has stood in type two months. The delay admits the fol- 

 lowing most welcome contribution to an answer to J. B. W.'s query, by 

 Dr. Lindley, given in his description of Duvau« latifolia (the duvauas were 

 formerly called species of (Schinus) in the Botanical Register for May, 

 t. 1380. " A pretty phenomenon is exhibited by the leaves when thrown 

 into water : after lying a short time, they will be found to start and jump 

 as if they were alive, while at the instant of each start a jet of oily matter 

 is discharged into the water. This circumstance appears to be owing to 

 some peculiar irritability of the parenchyma of the leaves, which, when 

 acted upon by water, causes the turpentine sacs, that abound in the leaves, 

 to empty themselves with violence; and the movements of the leaves 

 may be ascribed to the recoil produced by the discharge. Thus we have 

 in every leaf a sort of vegetable battery, which will keep up its fire 

 until the stock of ammunition is expended." 



Gardenia, radicans : by ivhat Means can it be induced to grow healthily, 

 and blossom freely and finely ? — I hope some cultivator, who can at his or 

 her pleasure produce both these results on this lovely plant, will teach all 

 of us henceforth how to do the same ; for, at almost all the places I call at, 

 I see only sickly plants of it, and these barren of blossoms. — R. T. 



I know a cultivator who, fifteen years ago (I was then a lad in his 

 employ), grew and bloomed the plant, satisfactorily ; and, if I remember 

 rightly, thus : cuttings of the tips of the branches of plants that had 

 flowered were, early in the autumn, struck in heath mould and white sand, 

 under bell-glasses, in a stove I think, and, when so struck, each trans- 

 planted into a small sixty, in soil two thirds heath mould, one third loam, 

 and kept through the winter in a stove. These plants were, in early spring, 

 transfen-ed to the first hotbed that was ready, and grown vigorously in a 



