The area will be kept under observation next year. The plantain 

 * heads ' were enlarged to three times the normal growth. 



The Summer of 1955 appeared to produce an unusual number of 

 fasciations or monstrosities. This condition is fairly common in the 

 Compositae — hydra-headed daisies are often to be found. The con- 

 dition is less common in other Natural Orders. 31 examples were 

 brought to the Museum, notably a specimen of Herb Robert, the whole 

 plant as a fasciated stem 1| ins. wide, the growth at the top giving the 

 effect of a bouquet. A sprig of Woody Nightshade had three blossoms, 

 the essential organs of six flowers being joined as twins. A specimen of 

 Orchis maculata had flowers with no proper bib and a stalk of Hogweed 

 had spread widely from what looked like a platform three feet up the 

 stem. 



Various suggestions have been put forward to account for what 

 appears to be an increase in abnormality. Certainly the plants seem to 

 be responding to the stimulus of some injury, whether chemical or 

 mechanical. 



M. Walton, f.r.h.s., f.z.s. 



ZOSTERA MARINA 



Zostera, commonly known as the eel-grass or grass-wrack belongs 

 to one genus of flowering plants which live in the sea. It has thin, 

 narrow brilliant green leaves growing from 1 ft. to 3 ft. long. It is a 

 perennial grass and one of the few plants of which the flowers are polH- 

 nated under water. The underground stems or rhizomes live in the 

 muddy sand and only the upper frmges of the beds are exposed at the 

 lowest ebb tides. It needs some degree of shelter and is usually to be 

 found in protected bays or estuaries. Many marine animals, and also 

 ducks, geese and swans feed upon the Zostera. In the dried state, 

 which one sees on the Baltic shore of Denmark, the grass looks like 

 narrow strips of white paper. When dried, it is sometimes used com- 

 mercially for filling mattresses, upholstering furniture and for packing 

 glass. 



Zostera nana is a small species of this genus. It occurs on muddy 

 shores where it is freely exposed. 



S. Johnson Bird. 



13 



