604 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



plant, having from fifty to one hundred flower 

 buds, will continue in blow till the month of 

 January. Those that are removed early, will 

 now be in flower in January, and ready to suc- 

 ceed the others. Such as have ceased flowering, 

 are immediately to be removed to the hothouse, 

 where they will begin to make new wood, and 

 wiU be ready to come into succession next sea- 

 son. By thus attending to shift the plants from 

 a warm to a cold situation, a regular succession 

 of flowers may be obtained from October to the 

 following July. The winter flowers are, how- 

 ever, superior and longer lived than those of 

 summer. They flower best when kept in rather 

 small pots or tubs. The mould should be kept 

 constantly moist with water, and in the summer 

 months the leaves may also be occasionally 

 sprinkled with this fluid. " There are," adds 

 Mr Henderson, " several large camellias at Wood- 

 hall that have not been shifted these five years, 

 and they are still in high health, having always 

 produced above a hundred fine large flowers 

 every year. Six years ago I shifted a single 

 camellia from a twelve inch pot into a tub seven- 

 teen inches wide by seventeen inches deep, and 

 grafted it with two different sorts of double red, 

 one double striped, and one double white. It is 

 stiU in the same tub, and all the four sorts in 

 high health. I have had all the four sorts in 

 flower at once on it, producing a fine contrast of 

 colours. The plant is large and handsome, being 

 eight feet six inches high, and six feet nine 

 inches wide. There is another plant here twelve 

 feet high, liaving upon it all the sorts I possess. 

 They were only grafted last summer, and a num- 

 ber of the sorts are showing flowers. Grafts of 

 all of them have been taken, and are growing 

 well."* 



Japonica ( aucuba japonica) . Natural family 

 loranthem ; monoecia, ietrandria, of Linnaeus. 

 This is. a well known evergreen shrub, a native 

 of Japan. The leaves are similar to those of the 

 laurel, only they are thickly mottled with yel- 

 lowish spots. Female flowers only have been 

 produced in this country, but in its native cli- 

 mate it bears fruit like the laurel berry, a red 

 oblong drupe, with a sweetish pulp, and a kemal 

 with a bitter taste. It is of very easy culture, 

 and flourishes in the open air in this country, 

 enduring our severe winters. 



Lahrestinus (iiihwrnum). Pentandria, trigy- 

 nia, of Linnseus. This is a genus of evergreen 

 garden shrubs of considerable beauty, of which 

 there are several well known species. The small 

 dwarf, V. tinus, is a highly ornamental shrub. 

 The leaves are ovate, oblong, shining ; the 

 flowers white, numerous, and showy. The 

 gueldor rose, v. opolus, has a large bunch of 

 white flowers similar to those of the hydrangea, 



* CaledoB Mem. Vol, III. 



and like them abortive. Some of the species are 

 natives of Europe, and others of America. They 

 are of easy culture, and thrive in the open air 

 in our climate. 



Sensitive Plant (Mimosa. J Natural family 

 leffuminosce ; polj/andria, moncecia, of Linnaeus. 

 This is a family of beautiful and delicate shi-ubs, 

 with small pinnatifid leaves, natives of Brazil 

 and the West India islands. 



Several of the species, especially m. sensitiva 

 and m.pudica, are remarkable for possessing that 



M. Sensitiva M. Pudica. 



Sensitive Plants. 



degree of irritability, as to shrink and contract 

 their leaves on being touched. The leaves also 

 fold up close to each other on the approach of 

 night, and expand during the day and sunshine. 

 The cause of this motion has given rise to much 

 discussion among botanists. We have already 

 alluded to this subject, and shall here give a sum- 

 mary of the opinions of Dutrochet, as drawn up 

 by Professor Lindley. M. Dutrochet states that, 

 having ascertained hot nitric acid to possess the 

 property of separating and reducing to its sim- 

 plest form the whole mass of vegetable tissue, 

 and that the action of the same acid produced 

 other effects equally advantageous for the exa- 

 mination of the most obscure parts of vegetable 

 structure, he was induced to give his attention 

 to that of the mimosa pudica, in the hope of 

 gaining some evidence respecting the cause to 

 which its sensibility is to be ascribed. Begin- 

 ning with the pith, he observed a considerable 

 number of minute globules of a greenish colour 

 intermingled among the cells, and adhering to 

 them in an irregular manner. After attempting 

 to show the probability of these globules having 

 deceived M. Mirbel in various points of his 

 Analysis of Vegetation, and especially in regard 

 to the pores which that botanist supposes to 

 exist in the cellular tissue of plants, Dutrochet 

 proceeds to remark, that the application of hot 

 nitric acid to these globules renders them per- 

 fectly opaque. Whence he concludes, that 

 they are in fact minute cells, fiUed with a 

 particular fluid, which is subject to become con- 

 crete by the application of acids. Now, it is 

 known that such fluids as are thus altered by 



