220 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Botany* 3 ^' 



Variety of Beech Foliage. — There is an in- 

 teresting note in Science-Gossip (ante p. 137), 

 describing a curious beech-tree, in which part of 

 the foliage was much narrower in the leaf than 

 usual. It may be of interest to mention that I 

 have for man}- years noticed an exactly similar 

 tree in a garden thicket here. The proportion of 

 ordinary foliage has been steadily decreasing, and 

 to-day there is only one small branch of it left. 

 — Arthur E. Boycott, The Grange, Hereford ; July 25th, 

 1895- 



Impatiens fulva near Newbury. — I have 

 noticed the orange balsam (Impatiens fulva) on the 

 banks of the Enborne stream, near Newbury, for 

 the past three seasons. It seems to have been 

 originally introduced at Milford Lake, Highclose 

 Park, some twenty years ago, and from thence it 

 has spread along the stream for some miles, and 

 appears to be well established, particularly at 

 "Washwater, where it is abundant. — A. B. Jackson, 

 Mapledene, Enborne Road, Newbury; October 12th , 

 i895- 



COHESION OF CRABTREE AND HAWTHORN.— 



Some time ago I came across a rather curious tree 

 growing in the Forest of Dean. At first sight it 

 appeared to be an ordinary crab-apple, branching 

 near the ground into four, but on closer inspection 

 I found that one of the branches was a hawthorn 

 which seemed to be entirely fused into the crab. 

 The bark and wood of the trees are so similar that 

 it seems impossible to tell where the crab ends and 

 the hawthorn begins. "Whether the latter had 

 been grafted on, or grown from a seed in a hollow 

 formed by the three other branches, I was unable 

 to find out. I suppose grafting might be suc- 

 cessful with trees so nearly allied. — F. J. Provis, 

 Coleford, Glos. ; September 'jth, 1895. 



Effect of Snow ox Plants. — As a proof of 

 the fertilising influence of snow on plant life, I have 

 to mention among things which have come under 

 my notice this season, the following observations 

 in connection with the plants of this district. After 

 a winter of unprecedented severity, we had a com- 

 paratively genial spring, and all plants flowered 

 with exceptional luxuriance, the blooms being 

 superior specimens and the colours verv brilliant. 

 The summer was not, as a whole, very favourable 

 for plants, but the style of flowering which com- 

 menced so auspiciously in the spring was continued 

 through the rest of the season. The whole of the 

 leguminous plants have flowered better, and borne 

 more pease than generally. In fact this extends 

 from the true natives here of this peculiar and 

 important order, to the cultivated or naturalised 

 exotics in our gardens, fields, or sheltered sur- 

 roundings. It is true that many hay-fields were 

 deficient of red clover, but I believe that this was 

 due to the wet and uncongenial fall more than the 

 snowy winter. "What plants were in existence 

 were well-grown, rich flowering specimens, showing 

 that the soil contained a good supply of the in- 



gredients required to produce superior specimens. 

 I may follow this up by noticing that many plants 

 of broom (Spartium scoparium) were destroyed in 

 winter, but those that escaped gave good flowering 

 and seed-producing results. Broom is about the 

 easiest destroyed plant through severe weather 

 which we have here. Birds-loot trefoil (Lotus 

 cornLulatus) produced an enormous quantity of 

 pease, this being more remarkable because that I 

 could scarcely find a pod at all the preceding season. 

 The vetches had also splendid returns of pease. 

 Touching on the Rosacea^, there was also in this 

 case remarkable brilliancy of flowers, while I have 

 not seen such a magnificent crop of fruit from the 

 indigenous or naturalised fruit bearing representa- 

 tives of that order. Both cherries and raspberries 

 were a superior crop. I have never seen such a 

 splendid crop of fruit upon the rowan or mountain- 

 ash (Pyrus autuparia) as there is to record this year. 

 All the representatives of the family had superior 

 flowers. We ma)' notice the grass of parnassus 

 (Parnassia palustris) as one among some others that 

 flowered over a wider area than usual. That is to 

 say, the plants were enabled to flower over spots 

 where the}" generally do not do so. The habit of 

 this plant is that it occurs in patches in wet ground 

 and a part of these flower regularly, the rest 

 generally fail to produce blossoms, but this year 

 the flowers appeared over more of these latter than 

 usual. I noticed berries for the first time upon a 

 plant of honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum), which 

 has established itself on the open moor. Willow- 

 herbs and bed-straws produced superior plants and 

 flowers. The composite order did not fall behind. 

 The field-daisy (Bellis perennis) might be given as 

 an example, as in several cases I noticed more rings 

 of petals on the flowers than are usual. Bell 

 flowers are also worthy of notice in the same 

 direction as the others. Then two of our indi- 

 genous fruit-bearing shrubs, bilberry and cowberry 

 (Vaccinium myrtillus and V. vitis-idaea) have pro- 

 duced very large quantities of excellent fruit. The 

 latter probably broke the record in this direction ; 

 berries being also abundant in many places where 

 they scarcely bear any at all in ordinary seasons, 

 just a series of practically barren plants which 

 were brought to produce an excellent crop. 

 I also observed a specimen of marsh-speedwell 

 (Veronica scutellata) producing flowers this year in 

 a habitat where a plant has been under my obser- 

 vation for several years, but did not produce 

 flowers in any of them, while the other plants 

 of the same order, viz., Scrophularinae have 

 generally yielded superior flowers and seed. 

 Now for a word on the Orchidacea:. These vary 

 much from year to year, as far as numbers and 

 standard of flowers, as well as seed, are concerned. 

 The flowers were about an average in numbers and 

 above average in qualitv. The most remarkable 

 incident which came under my notice was finding 

 upwards of twenty plants in flower of marsh-orchis 

 (Orchis latifolia) on a patch of damp ground where 

 they could not have flowered in previous years 

 without being observed. It is equally unlikely 

 that they had got there for the first time. They 

 must have been there for some years and gained by 

 the winter's invigoration and flowered thereafter. 

 The lower orders of flowering-plants, such as sedges 

 and grasses, obtained similar results as their more 

 conspicuous neighbours ; while ferns have produced 

 superior fronds, deeply studded with spores, with 

 the other flowerless plants generally following them 

 in the same category. — William Wilson, Hillock, 

 Terpersie, Alford, Aberdeenshire ; September, 1895. 



