44 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



BOTANICAL MONSTROSITIES. 



TF the readers of Science -Gossip who are 

 ■*■ interested in Lieut. -Col. Blathwayt's article 

 in last month's issue (ante page 6), will watch the 

 asparagus beds in their neighbourhood during and 

 after the period of cutting, they will, I think, 

 frequently find items distorted in almost, if not 

 quite the same manner 

 as his ash-plant there 

 figured. We may pro- 

 bably conclude that 

 the cause of these ab- 

 normal forms is the 

 use of the knife in 

 cutting, which damages 

 some of the buds under 

 the soil, and thus in- 

 fluences in some way 

 the growth of the shoot. 

 As Colonel Blathwayt 

 says that his ash-stem 

 was grown on the base 

 of a tree which had 

 been cut down, we 

 may fairly conclude 

 also, that it may have 

 been produced from 

 the same cause. I 

 have frequently seen 

 stems of asparagus in 

 shape like a crozier, 

 and even some which 

 were coiled very much 

 after the fashion of 

 some of the coiled pods 

 of the Leguminosas, 

 but of course on a very 

 much larger scale, the 

 stems being over half- 

 an-inch wide. 



I have a specimen 

 daisy (Bellis perennis) 

 with peduncle over 

 half-an-inch wide, hav- 

 ing the appearance of several flowers fused together 

 (fig. i, p. 42) ; this was found growing on the short 

 turf of a cricket-ground, and would again point to a 

 probable injury by a roller or lawn-mower. 



Another monstrosity in my possession is a plant 

 of the hedge mustard (Sisymbrium officinale), which, 

 as all will remember, has usually a tall stem with 

 closely appressed leaves and blossoms. This was 

 found in the gateway of a footpath, and the result 

 of its position was the suppression of the stem so 

 that the blossoms were in a bunch surrounded by 

 the leaves, somewhat similar to the leaf arrange- 

 ment of a cauliflower. These two cases seem to fur- 



Fig. 3. Picris. — Picris hieracioides. Mons. 



nish instances of monstrosities arising from injury. 

 If my memory serves, some authors attribute 

 these mal-formations to excessive nutrition, and if 

 this be the case, possibly a specimen of the 

 cornflower (Centaurea cyanns), which is also in my col- 

 lection, may serve as an illustration (fig. 2, p. 43), 

 having been found in a 

 chase near a large ma- 

 nure-heap, from which 

 it received a liberal 

 amount of liquid, and 

 its stems, of which 

 there were four, were 

 over an inch in width. 

 I have drawn (fig. 3.) 

 a stem of Picris hiera- 

 cioides, from a plant 

 having two, which grew 

 on the railway em- 

 bankment, but whether 

 it had been subjected 

 to injury or an exces- 

 sive food supply I was 

 unable to determine. 



This by no means 

 exhausts the specimens 

 of monstrosities in my 

 collection ; but those 

 already mentioned may 

 possibly lead other 

 botanists, who are in- 

 terested in such remark- 

 able deviations from 

 the type in plants, to 

 give us the result of 

 their experience in 

 some other localities. 

 These should be ac- 

 companied with details 

 and probable cause. 



Edwin E. Turner, 

 Coggeshall, Essex. 



GIRAFFE AT THE ZOO. 



'HPHE Zoological Society of London is to be 

 congratulated on the acquisition of a fine 

 young giraffe (Giraffa camelopardis), after a three 

 years' absence of this species from its gardens at 

 Regent's Park. The specimen came from South 

 Africa, and differs in markings and form, though 

 not in species, from those hitherto exhibited in 

 England, which have been from North-Eastern 

 Central Africa. We hope that a mate may be 

 obtained for this animal during the next year. 

 Camelopards are becoming very rare, and may 

 possibly be extinct animals in a few years. 



