200 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



place the plant has of course to be shifted to another block, a 

 change that can never be effected without a wholesale disturbance 

 of the roots. Then again, especially if the temperature be humid, 

 a minute kind of Alga, belonging apparently to the genus Colo- 

 thrix, soon makes its appearance, which is excessively injurious 

 to the aerial roots of tender Orchids, and which it is extremely 

 difficult, I might almost say impossible, to keep in check. Under 

 these circumstances, it occurred to me that nothing more was 

 needed than to copy in hard-baked clay the sort of branch on 

 which Orchids usually thrive, which copy would, at all events, 

 have this advantage, that once seated upon it, they need never 

 again be disturbed. I accordingly communicated my views to 

 Messrs. Boone and Son (of Norton, near Burslem, Staffordshire), 

 who had been in the habit of supplying me with garden-pots, and 

 who speedily produced many very clever imitations of branches of 

 wood (one of which is represented in the woodcut), and which 

 seem to answer their purpose perfectly well*. 



XXXIX. Notice of a curious Case of Lateral Fusion. 

 By the Bev. M. J. Berkeley, M.A., F.L.S. 

 A curious Vegetable Marrow was produced at the Horticultural 

 Society's Meeting, Tuesday, August 22, from the gardens at Chis- 

 wick, which deserves a short notice. It is well known that occa- 

 sionally the tendrils of gourds bear fruit apparently from the 

 fusion of an axillary bud with the tendril, a circumstance which, 

 perhaps, may be illustrated by the fact that figs seem very fre- 

 quently to be developed from a bud in the axil of the two sti- 

 pules, one on either side. The fusion in the present case is with 

 the branch itself, and must have taken place at a very early period ; 

 for though the female flower which produced the gourd must have 

 been situated at the base of the branch with which it is confluent, 

 it has become soldered with two or more flowers at the upper 

 part of the branch so as to make an oblique scar running down 

 from the apex of the fruit to the branch. It is to be observed, 

 moreover, that the first male flower is axillary, whereas, in addi- 

 tion to the second axillary male flower, there is one in a line with 

 it, fused below with the tendril, which is developed into a little 

 leaf. The ribs of the branch above are very succulent, and per- 

 fectly united with the fruit. 



* These blocks (which are of all sizes) may be had in the Arcades at South 

 Kensington. They are not at all expensive. 



