NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



825 



leaves, the author writes : " In the case of K. Bentii it occasionally, 

 though rarely, happens that one of the rudimentary leaves is strongly 

 two-toothed. It seems possible, therefore, that the extraordinary character 

 of the foliage of the hybrids derives from the parent in which it was 

 latent. ... K. laciniata, which extends from Tropical Africa through- 

 out India to Java, has deeply pinnatifid leaves with sometimes linear 

 segments. The leaves of K. Schweinfurthii, from Abyssinia, are also 

 similarly divided. The conclusion seems irresistible that we have in the 

 case of the hybrid a reversion to an ancestral character which exists 

 elsewhere in the genus, but is latent in both parents." With regard to 

 the colour of the flowers, the author writes : " I must confess that I was 

 completely at a loss to explain how a bright pink could arise from a cross 

 between an orange and a white. The explanation, however, occurred to 

 my friend, Dr. Lotsy, who, while staying at Kew, had been much in- 

 terested in the hybrid. The orange colour of the flowers of A', flammed is 

 due to deep yellow chromoplasts immersed in pink cell- sap. In K. Bentii 

 both chromoplasts and cell-sap are c dourless. The hybrid has inherited 

 the white chromoplasts of one parent and the coloured cell-sap of the 

 other." Whatever occurs is probably in accordance with an unknown 

 law, for pink results in other cases from crossing white and orange, and 

 in Begonia weltoniensis it arrives whichever way the respectively white 

 and orange parents may be crossed. The cross reciprocal to that which 

 produced K. kewensis was made, viz. " K. Bentii $ x K. flammea $ . A 

 number of seedlings were raised which at first differed in no appreciable 

 character from seedlings of the same age of K. Bentii, as represented in 

 plate xxii. All were exactly alike, and exhibited at first no trace of 

 hybrid origin. But though raised at the same time and subjected to 

 exactly the same treatment as the reverse cross described above . . . they at 

 once showed a marked constitutional difference in the extreme slowness of 

 their growth. When K. kewensis was three feet high, the plants of the 

 reverse cross had only attained six inches. It is, however, interesting to 

 note that after cultivation for two years and a half they have begun to 

 develop the same pinnatisect leaves which are so characteristic a feature in 

 K. kewensis. As none of the plants have yet flowered, what will happen 

 then can only be a matter of conjecture. It is probable, however, that 

 they will resemble those of K. keivensis, for, as Darwin observes, ' hybrids 

 raised from reciprocal crosses . . . rarely differ in external character ' 

 (Origin, 6th edition, 244)."— B. I. L. 



Kirengeshoma palmata.— By W. B. H. (Bot. Mag. t. 7944).— 



Native of Japan. Nat. ord. Saxifragacece ; tribe Hydrangea'. A compact 

 herb, 2 feet high, at Kew, but 4 feet as a native ; leaves palmately lobed ; 

 flowers yellow, campanulate, \\ to If inch diam.— G. II. 



Koelreuteria paniculata. By O. Brand (Die Gart. No. 1, p. 10, 

 October 12, 1904 ; with illustration). — One of our most interesting and 

 beautiful of flowering trees or shrubs. It is slightly tender when young, 

 and in a severe winter part of the year's growth is destroyed by frost. 

 The flowers are produced in long racemes and are bright golden -yellow. 



G. B. 



