718 Queries and Ansxsoers. 



I have been informed, and have reason to think, that the genuine plant exists 

 no where but on the summit of the Hageria, and is limited to a sphere of a 

 few yards in circumference. The stone of which the rock is composed is of 

 a calcareous and pecuhar quality. It is so porous, that it greedily imbibes 

 moisture, particularly the acid of sea-water; so that a single drop falling on a 

 block of the stone is diffused through it like water through a lump of sugar; 

 and, in a given time, it breaks down and disolves in the same manner. The 

 same process insulated the rock, and, as it is every day going on, will finally 

 destroy it. Already the summit overhangs the base, which the acid of the 

 sea-water is continually dissolving and undermining. At no distant period the 

 whole will probably be precipitated, and bury in the deep its mysterious 

 fungus, which will then become an extinct plant, there being no where else to 

 be found a specimen of that curious vegetable, which, for several centuries, 

 had excited the interest and admiration of all Europe." (^Narrative of a 

 Residence at Constantinople,^ 



Can any of your readers inform me in what work the best coloured figures 

 of this singular fungus may be found ; or where, or in what manner, I could 

 procure a model of it coloured after nature ? — T. G, Londo7i, Sept, 16. 

 1836. 



Ornamental Hedges. — What plants are the most suitable for forming orna- 

 mental hedges, which shall, at the same time, be sufficient fences against sheep 

 and cattle ? I have tried sweet briar and hawthorn together ; but, from the 

 temporary duration of the former shrub, I find it soon dies off^ and leaves a 

 gap in the hedge. I have tried holly and hawthorn, and also the hawthorn 

 and the privet; but, though both mixtures make most excellent hedges, they 

 are neither odoriferous nor flowery. I have lately planted a mixture of 

 Cydonia japonica, and double furze, but I am afraid that the latter wil choke 

 the former. Has any one tried the Cydonia japonica alone, or with the common 

 hawthorn, or with holly ? It seems to me highly desirable, that the holly 

 should be generally used instead of the hawthorn ; because it does neither 

 harbour birds nor insects, nor produce so much moisture by evaporation as 

 deciduous-leaved shrubs. — S. T, 



Cactus [Cereus'] heptdgona, — Can any of your readers inform me if the 

 great Cactus heptagona ever flowered in this country ? 1 have a very fine 

 specimen, 8 ft. high, now showing flower in the green-house, here. — John 

 Clarke. Compton Gardens, near Sherborne, Dorset, May 2, 1836. 



Roses 171 Northamptonshire, — In Smith's Florisfs Magazine, vol. i. p. 10., 

 it is said, that it " is reported that most sorts of roses will not grow in the 

 county of Northampton, and probably not in any of the oolitic districts, 

 though they grow freely in the extreme north of the island." 1 should be 

 glad to know from you, or any of your readers who are well acquainted with 

 Northamptonshire, if they will state how far the above report is true ; and I 

 shall also be glad to know how far the probability of roses not growing in any 

 of the oolitic districts of England is borne out by facts. — J, D, Butler. Dublin, 

 Aug. 18.36. 



Tree Dahlias. — In Vol. XI. p. 680. mention is made of a tree dahlia in the 

 Liverpool Botanic Garden. Can you, or any of your readers, inform me how 

 the plant has succeeded there ? I have heard, also, that there is a plant in the 

 Edinburgh Botanic Garden ; and that Messrs. Loddiges had it direct from 

 Mexico, some years ago, but lost it. I understand the wood of the trunk of 

 this plant (for a tree it cannot properly be called, being sufFruticose in struc- 

 ture) is used for making packing-boxes, in the countries where it is indi- 

 genous. — Id, 



The Potatoes in Norwat/, all over the country, carry a white flower. In 

 whole fields, not one with red or purple flowers will be seen. Is this the 

 effect of climate, which seems to have a tendency to produce every thing in 

 the albino style ; houses, cattle, even children, appearing white varieties of 

 their species ? (Laing's Journ, of a Residence in Norivay during 1834, 1835, and 



