Qiieries and Anstvers. 717 



The Hydrangea, with blue and red Flowers on the same Plant. — In the 

 Encyclopczdia of Gardening (3cl ed., p. 864.), it is mentioned that the ashes 

 of spruce fir, ahim-water, and other things, applied to the roots of Hydrangea 

 Hortens/a, produce blue flowers ; and, also, that the earth, in particular situa- 

 tions, has the same effect. In favour of this, I may remark, that almost every 

 hydrangea in Cornwall, on the moory earth so common there, has blue 

 flowers. But I have noticed this year, in South Wales, and also in Jersey, 

 that blue and red flowers frequently occur on the same plant, while, within a 

 few yards, were bushes with flowers either entirely red, or entirely blue. In 

 this case, it could not be the earth which produced the effect; and I know 

 that no artificial means had been resorted to. Can any of your readers throw 

 any light on the subject ? — W. C. Nov. 8. 1836. 



Acacias ivhich throw up Suckers. — All the plants which I have of Acacia 

 dealbata, and which I thought were killed down to the ground, have made 

 fresh shoots from the stool, and are now very ornamental and bushy plants, 

 averaging 5 ft. in height. I conceive, therefore, that this species of the Jcacia 

 is highly deserving of cultivation, although occasionally subject to be cut down 

 by the most severe of our winters. I have young plants from seed, ripened 

 in the open air, which may perhaps prove, in some degree, more hardy than 

 the original plant which came from Van Diemen's Land. A peat soil seems 

 to suit them best. I am informed that many of the species of this genus 

 throw up suckers from the root, and these must be very desirable kinds for 

 planting in situations where they are liable (as they are with me) to be killed 

 down to the ground in winter. 1 should therefore be very greatly obliged to 

 you, or to any of your readers, and more especially to any such who may reside 

 in Australia, if they would favour me, through your pages, with a list of the 

 sucker-producing species. — T. W. B. Surrey, Oct. 1836. 



"Rosa Hdrdn is a hybrid raised at the Luxemburg, and is said to produce a 

 profusion of small golden flowers with a purple eye. I have brought over a 

 plant, and I should be glad to know if it is already in the country. — J. W. D. 

 Nov. 13. 1836. 



'Fungus melitensis. — It is well known that this fungus (which, by the by, 

 is not a fungus, but a phaenogamous plant) has long excited the attention of 

 botanists. It grows upon an insulated rock off the Island of Gozo, near 

 Malta, and its virtues were once so celebrated that the knights, after reserving 

 a sufficient quantity for the use of their island, distributed the rest among the 

 crowned heads of Europe, as the most valuable gift they could bestow. From 

 the inaccessible place in which only it is found, very few have been tempted 

 to visit its habitat. Dr. Walsh has done so, seen the plant m situ, and adds 

 some curious particulars of its history, not noticed before. He crossed over 

 to the stupendous rock on which it grows, by means of cables fastened to the 

 opposite cliff (the only means of approach), and thus describes the place and 

 plant : — 



" The summit is an irregular plain, with an area of about half an acre in 

 circumference, covered with a slight surface of mould, in which several marine 

 plants were growing, particularly the Cheiranthus incanus, in great luxuriance 

 and beauty. My guide, after some search, pointed out to me several plants 

 of the fungus protruding themselves just above the soil. They were of a dark 

 ferruginous red, and exactly resembled knobs of rusty ii'on driven into the 

 ground. Beside them grew a large plant of the ^J'triplex genus ; and on pulling 

 it up we found the fungus growing as a parasite on the fibres of its roots, and 

 the rudiments of several young ones forming. Having permission to take up 

 a few specimens, I prepared to do so, to the great horror of the man, who 

 seemed to think it a kind of sacrilege committed by unhallowed hands." 

 After stating the exaggerated accounts published, of this vegetable, and the 

 estimate in which its medical properties ought really to be held, he thus adds : 

 — " But the circumstance which must always render it a great botanical 

 curiosity, is its singular habitat, and the circumscribed limits of its vegetation. 



