926 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



four or five years before they look at all mature ; a border of hardy plants 

 must have at least two years to come to fair strength ; but wall plants, 

 with their roots in the cool depths and their heads in the sun, grow 

 away at once, and reward the careful planter well within the year. It 

 is only needful that the wall shall be thick enough to allow the moisture 

 to condense within it. Retaining walls are the best, because the soil 

 that is supported by one of their sides stores a constant supply of moisture 

 in immediate contact with them. In such a wall you have only to make 

 a little opening, introduce the roots of your plant, and fix it in position 

 with a little moss or sphagnum, or a little rather stiff mould ; then you 

 make it all firm by means of a few small angular stones. — E. T. C. 



Water-plants, Fruits and Seeds of Certain. By Adolf Fauth 

 (Beih. Bot. Cent. xiv. pp. 827-373 ; with 3 plates). — The author gives 

 some interesting details on the anatomy, germination, and distribution of 

 the following plants : — Alisma Plantago has a floating fruit (through 

 intercellular air spaces in the carpels) and is protected by the woody 

 thickening in the carpels and cork-testa. The radicle, in germination, 

 fixes itself by root-hairs, and cotyledon becomes green. Alisma natans. 

 The carpels have fibrous strings and the protection of the seed is 

 due to the two lamellae, of which one is formed from the nucellus 

 remains, and the other from the remains of the embryo-sac. Sagittaria 

 sagittifolia. — The seed doss not fill the cavity of the carpels, so that the 

 fruit has an air space which makes it able to float in water. Part of the 

 pericarp consists of cork, but there are two or three intercellular oil canals, 

 of which the oil helps in the floating of the seed. They swiin a long time 

 and germinate next spring. BiUomus umbcllatus. — Seeds have peculiar 

 ribs, running lengthwise, and formed of projecting epidermis cells. They 

 fall into the mud and are well protected by the hard testa. Callitriche 

 stagnalis. — The pericarp, which is somewhat fleshy, becomes decayed, and 

 the four stony seeds separately drop into the water. Probably parts of 

 the plants with seeds are carried away by the current, or the seeds may be 

 distributed by water-current. A hardened part of the pericarp protects 

 the seed. The radicle is short and is pushed out of a gap in the stony 

 shell by the growth of the hypocotyl. The seedling (except root) is 

 covered by peculiar gland-hairs. Ilippuris vulgaris. — A somewhat 

 fleshy one-seeded stone-fruit from an inferior ovary. Protected by the 

 hard inner pericarp ; cotyledon becomes green. Myriophyllum spicatum. — 

 The ovary is also inferior and contains four seeds, which have each a pro- 

 tecting stone derived from the pericarp. A peculiar plug of cellulose 

 formed at the top of the seed closes in the stone at the top, and is pushed 

 aside by the embryo in germination. The branching habit and position 

 of the flowers at the ends of the branches probably ensure the seeds 

 dropping at little distance from the parent when the fleshy part of the 

 carpel is decayed. Sometimes also the branches are frozen in the ice and 

 carried off when the ice breaks. Limnanthemmn mjmphoides has a 

 green berry fruit. The seed floats, especially as it is flat in shape and has 

 a circle of buoyant hairs round it. It is also carried on the plumage of 

 waterbirds. Menyanthes trifoliata. — The seeds are either blown by the 

 wind, carried by birds, or float on the water surface. The lightness of the 



