38 J. H. MAIDEN. 



Musson's specimen is especially interesting because two 

 different genera are concerned in the graft. 



I have called this a " natural graft." Maxwell Masters 

 in his Vegetable Teratology speaks of this adhesion of the 

 axes of plants belonging to different species as of rather 

 rare occurrence. The adhesion of two individuals of the 

 same species is not rare. We are of course familiar with 

 the amalgamation of the woody tissues of our Mistletoes 

 (Loranthus) and their numerous hosts. 



Masters quotes Moquin Tandon, where " by accident a 

 branch of a species of Sophora passed through a fork made 

 of two diverging branches of an Elder (Sambucus). The 

 branch of the Soph ova contracted a firm adhesion to the 

 Elder, and what is remarkable is that, although the latter 

 has much softer wood than the former, yet the branch of 

 the harder wooded tree was flattened, as if subject to great 

 pressure." 



"It is possible that some of the cases similar to those 

 spoken of by Columella, Virgil, 1 and other classical writers, 

 may have originated in the accidental admission of seeds 

 into the crevices of trees ; in time the seeds grew, and as 

 they did so, the young plants contracted an adhesion to 

 the supporting tree." 2 



This is obviously the case with Mr. Musson's specimen ; 

 the origin of my George's River specimen is not quite 

 similar. 



Reverting to the George's River specimen, the fact is 

 evident that the woods and barks of two different species 

 have adhered to each other, have fused in fact, and the 

 different textures of the barks and the different colours of 

 the woods enable us to note the organic union very readily. 



1 Daubeny, "Lectures on Roman Husbandry," p. 156. 

 2 Masters' " Vegetable Teratology/' p. 56. 





