382 Remar/cs on Cytisus Addm'i. 



Vitry, after his death, examines it, and is satisfied that even to its 

 roots the stock is C. Adam/, and not C. Z/aburnum ; and asserts 

 thereupon that it was a mule from seed, and that M. Adam 

 must have been mistaken in thinking the shoot had proceeded 

 from the graft. No rehance can be placed on this conflicting 

 statement. M. Camuzet has furnished no proof of the identity 

 of the plant he examined, nor even of the inference he draws, 

 for he does not say that the stock had any branch below the 

 graft; and its supposed difference from C. Z/aburnum could have 

 been only perceived in the appearance of the bark, which is not 

 satisfactory. M. Leclerc Thouin's observations are not directed 

 to this Cytisus, but to a monstrous orange differing from the 

 fruit of the plant from which the graft was supposed to have been 

 taken. He supposes that vessels of cellular tissue, in lateral 

 contact with each other, may be filled with the sap of the two 

 different varieties separated by the most slender partition, and 

 the sap of the one modified by passing into the other. It will 

 be seen by the original words which I have subjoined in a note*, 

 and which form the only sentence directly to the point, that M. 

 Leclerc, speaking of mathematical surfaces with reference to 

 such a subject, does not make his meaning very distinctly intel- 

 ligible ; but, as far as I can understand it, it does not seem to 

 militate against my supposition, and I see nothing in the papers 

 to which I am referred which should induce me to alter it. 



It is known that a bud proceeds from the cellular tissue of the 

 plant. It must therefore originate in the juices within the 

 cells, or in the juices between the cells, or in both. Which- 

 ever of the three be assumed to be the true fact, I see no reason 

 why the two woods united by insertion may not operate jointly 

 to produce a bud, and, if they do so, the produce must be ex- 

 pected to partake of their joint peculiarities. Taking it to pro- 

 ceed from the juices within the cells, it is certain that cells may 

 be confluent, and their contents in progress become mingled in 

 some one cell, because, unless two lacerated or cut cells could 

 unite, no nourishment could be given to the piece inserted ; and, 

 if two half cells can grow together, their contents can be min- 

 gled, and the cells proceeding therefrom will partake of a joint 

 origin. Taking the bud to proceed from the outward juices per- 

 vading the interstices of the cells, the combination of the two 

 fluids, so as to produce a joint result, is still more easy ; and, if it 



* " II devient facile de concevoir que la matiere organisable soit absorbee 

 egalement et assimilee difFeremment dans deux vesicules voisines, alors meme 

 que leurs parois se seraient en pai'tie sendees ; que la seve de I'une se modifie 

 en passant dans I'autre, et que la difference specifique apparaisse nettement 

 tranchee du deux cotes d'une double cloison, si minee a nos yeux, que nous 

 pouvons presque la considerer comme une surface raathematique." (Vol. xviii. 

 p. 303.) 



