Domestic Notices : — England. 1 73 



observable in a grove of tbe Cedrus Libani, In some individuals the young 

 branches spread out more or less horizontal!}', while in others the head 

 assumes a compact and almost a cone-like form ; they likewise vary greatly in 

 tint, some being of a dead cypress4ike hue, and others of a much brighter 

 shade. Some of the trees, also, grow much more freely than others in the 

 same soil and situation. — J. B. W. Jan. H. 1840. 



Rhizomorpha suhterranea Pers. (JEncyc. of Plants, p. 1038.) — A very sin- 

 gular and rare fungus was lately found in a well in Back Street, Hertford, 

 attached to the under surface of an oaken slab. Some account of it was given 

 us by our esteemed Hertford correspondent, Mr. Wilds, and we have since 

 seen the specimen on Dr. Lindley's table, at the Horticultural Society's Rooms. 

 The most remarkable circumstance attending this fungus is, its strong resem- 

 blance in external appearance to ordinary roots, and by which all the species of 

 these interesting plants are peculiarly characterised ; a resemblance so strong, 

 that some botanists have described many of them as being merely the deformed 

 roots of flowering plants. The analogy, however, is very superficial, for, on a 

 careful observation, it is evident from their peculiar mode of ramification, 

 from their occasional anastomosis, and, lastly, from the absence of spongioles 

 at their extremities, that the branches of these very curious plants have no 

 very close resemblance to roots ; and, on a more minute investigation, it is 

 found that these root-shaped ramifications possess a structure differing essen- 

 tially from that of the roots of both exogenous and endogenous plants ; that 

 they contain no woody fibre, nor any of the modifications of vasiform tissue, 

 so invariably present in each individual of these two great classes of the vege- 

 table kingdom ; but that they consist entirely of cellular tissue, elongated into 

 extremely fine filaments in the white elastic axis, but of a coai'ser and more 

 condensed character in the dark brown inelastic and fragile integument. 



Like others of the fungaceous tribes, the plants belonging to this genus 

 increase by the addition of new filamentous tissue deposited in their interior, 

 and the function of reproduction is accomplished by means of sporules 

 developed at irregular intervals (not in indefinite situations or thalli, as in 

 lichens, &c.) in this internal filamentous tissue, the sporules being ultimately 

 emitted in vast numbers by the rupture of the integument by which the stems 

 are surrounded. The situations in which such dehiscences have occurred, in 

 the specimen just discovered, appear to be indicated by the presence of nume- 

 rous small tufts of brownish filaments attached to the external surface of the 

 main stem of the plant. Like many of the fungi, the rhizomorphas affix 

 themselves to organic matters undergoing decomposition, rather than to organ- 

 ised beings in a living state : moreover, they generally vegetate in a pendent 

 position, in moist and cool situations, and shunning assiduously the action of 

 the solar rays ; hence, in dark mines, in wells, in clefts of rocks, &c., or in 

 the hollow trunks of decaying trees, especially those of the willow tribe. 

 This genus is farther remarkable for the luminous properties possessed by, 

 perhaps, all its included species j many of them emit a phosphorescent light of 

 great intensity, sufficiently powerful to enable a person to read or write ; and, 

 in one instance recorded by Nees von Esenbeck, this property was observed 

 to be retained, in a specimen kept in a bottle, for nine days after its separation 

 from its natural attachments. It may be remarked, that no luminosity has 

 been observed in the specimen which has occasioned these remarks ; but it 

 should be stated that none was sought for till seven days after its discovery. 

 By far the greater number of these plants, hitherto known to us, have been 

 discovered on the Continent,in the mines of Sweden and Germany; indeed,it 

 has even been stated that they are never found in England. Some of the 

 species attain a length of many hundred feet, and vegetate so luxuriantly, that 

 the roofs, walls, and pillars of the mines in which they are found are entirely 

 covered with their branches ; the brilliant light which they emit, often dazzling 

 and enchanting the beholder, converting the dark and gloomy aspect of 

 those subterranean passages into a splendid scene of grandeur and magni- 



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