Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 307 



BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 



Feb. 14, 1850. — Professor Fleming, in the Chair. 



Mr. M'Nab exhibited the flowering rachis with terminal bracts of 

 the red-fruited variety of Musa sapientum, and stated that the plant 

 in the Botanic Garden was received from Mr. Lockhart, Botanic Gar- 

 den, Trinidad, during the year 18 -12. It had frequently ripened its 

 fruit in the Botanic Garden at Edinburgh. The plant which produced 

 the rachis shown was only twenty months from the sucker state wheu 

 it first showed its fruit in May 1849. It continued to ripen gradually 

 till the end of December, when a few of the first, or best ripened of 

 the fruits, were gathered. The rachis, from the point to its insertion 

 into the plant, was 6 feet long, and produced five matured clusters 

 averaging 8-9 lbs. each in weight, and each having fifteen perfect 

 and well swelled fruits. Besides the five perfect clusters, it had two 

 imperfect ones, with fifteen immature fruits, varying from 1 to 3 inches 

 long. The fruiting plant is 14 ft. 6 in. in height above the tub, ex- 

 clusive of its leaves, which are 10 ft. long and 2 ft. G in. broad ; the 

 stem is 35 inches in circumference at its base. The weight of the 

 head of fruit, when in its perfect state, was estimated at from 75 lbs. 

 to 80 lbs. The plant is one of the largest in cultivation, and also one 

 of the most prolific, the fruit ripening successively over a period of 

 two months. 



Mr. M'Nab made the following report of plants in flower in the 

 Botanic Garden, &c. : — 



Feb. 8. Rhododendron dauricum in flower, sparingly, in Botanic 

 Garden. 

 9. Eranthis hyemalis in flower in Dr. Neill's Garden. 



11. Galanthus nivalis in flower in Botanic Garden — Gentian a 

 verna flowering in a cold frame in Dr. Neill's Garden. 



14. Galanthus plica tus in flower in Botanic Garden. 



14. Tussilayo fragrans, Helleborus fostidus, Primula veris, P. 

 vulgaris, Eranthis hyemalis, Garry a ellijitica, Arbutus 

 Unedo, Viburnum Tinus, Cydonia japonica, and cultivated 

 varieties of Viola tricolor, in flower in Botanic Garden. 



14. Helleborus odorus and //. atro-purpureus in flower in Expe- 

 rimental Garden. 



14. Ilepatica triloba and Corylus Avellana in flower in Dr. Neill's 

 Garden. 

 The following papers were read : — 



1 . " Notice of some of the rare Plants observed in Orkney during 

 the Summer of 1849," by John T. Syme, Esq. (See p. 266.) 



2. " On the Embryogeny of Hippuris vulgaris," by John Scott 

 Sanderson, Esq. (See p. 259.) 



3. " Account of an Excursion from Simla to the Burenda Pass, 

 and other parts of the Himalaya, in July and August 1847/' by 

 Lieutenant Robert Maclagan, Bengal Engineers, Principal of the 

 College of Civil Engineers, Roorkee, North-West Provinces of India. 

 The author of this paper left Simla on the 10th of July 1847, and 



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