14 Proceedings. 



observed that the plant was a native of the Andes, and 

 that only three members of the genus were known, all 

 South American, Mexican, or belonging to the Galapagos 

 archipelago. It was figured in the Botanical Magazine 

 (plate 3620) more than 50 years ago. It was named by 

 Humboldt and Kunth, in honour of the celebrated chemist 

 Boussingault, whose researches in botanical physiology 

 and chemical agriculture are the foundation of much 

 of the successful practice of modern agriculturists 

 and horticulturists. The plant is often to be seen in 

 the court-yards of Parisian and other French houses, 

 but as it flowers there in late September or October 

 it does not attract the special attention of the summer 

 tourist. It is grown for its profuse flowering racemes of 

 whitish flowers, the odour of which is not unlike that of the 

 common meadow-sweet or hawthorn. It is a climbing 

 plant, with very slender branches and large glossy heart- 

 shaped leaves, and being of rapid growth it soon covers over 

 trellis-work, balconies, and the like with its convolvulus- 

 like leaves, and its graceful spikes of flowers. The least 

 frost cuts it down, but with a little top covering it stands 

 the winters of the south of France ; about Paris the 

 gardeners keep it in caves or other cover as soon as frost 

 sets in. It has frequently flowered in this country when 

 grown in the open ground with a favourable!^ aspect, but it 

 comes on best in the greenhouse. The special peculiarity 

 of the plant is its habit of producing tubers in the axils 

 of its leaves ; these tubers have only a fragile attach- 

 ment to the stem and a mechanical shock will often 

 cause them to fall. A healthy plant will have many 

 fallen tubers at its base, each one of which is capable of 

 originating an entirely new plant. Some of our common 

 British plants produce analogous organs ; the pilewort 

 {Ranunculus Ficaria^ L.) frequently produces them, and 

 such plants are to be collected in the Bollin Valley, near 



