NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



231 



Alleys, Pleached. By S. W. Fitzherbert {Garden, No. 1635, 

 p. 200; 21/3/03). — In the period when formality ruled in the garden 

 and topiary work was considered the highest form of embellishment for 

 the pleasance, the pleached alley was in vogue, and few were the better- 

 class dwellings of the time that did not number one or more of these 

 shaded walks among their chief attractions. Fashioned generally from 

 native Hornbeam, Beech, or Lime, the pleached alleys furnished pleasant 

 reports through many months of the year. Sometimes they are formed 

 of evergreens, such as Yew, Box, Holly, or Cotoneaster micropliylla. The 

 advantage seems to rest, however, entirely with deciduous trees, whose 

 varying conditions from month to month contrast agreeably with the 

 monotonous sameness of the evergreen, the shade of which is also often 

 too dense. Other good trees for use in the construction of alleys are the 

 weeping forms of the Ash and Elm. That this habit of growth is not 

 indispensable is shown by the majority of pleached alleys of old time 

 being formed of trees of upright growth, but those with naturally pendent 

 branches more readily assumed the required shape. Flowering trees may 

 thickly be used, but it must be remembered that if the branches are so 

 trained as to form a shaded walk in the summer, they will probably be too 

 crowded to ripen well, and therefore to blossom as profusely as if they 

 enjoyed more air and light. — E. T. C. 



Allium Ellisii. By Sir J. D. Hooker (Bot. Mag. tab. 7875).— Nat. 

 ord. Liliacece, tribe AlliecB. Native of Khorasan. A handsome plant, 

 with leaves 4-5 in number, 1 ft. in length, 2| ins. broad. Scape 1 ft. 

 high, bearing a globose compact umbel of bright rose-coloured flowers, 

 5 ins. in diameter. — G. H. 



Aloe rubroviolaeea. By Sir J. D. Hooker (Bot. Mag. tab. 7882).— 

 Nat. ord. Liliacece, tribe Aloinece. Native of S. Arabia. The stem 

 is 20 ins. high by 4 in diam. Leaves 2 ft. long by 6 ins. broad. Scape, 

 ascending, 2-branched, densely covered with pendulous, pale red flowers, 

 H in. long.— G. H. 



Amaryllidaceae, Petal Nerves in {Belli. Bot. Cent. xiv. ht. l, 

 p. 63 ; 10 figures). — Herr Curt Fraenkel describes the venation of the 

 petals in 117 species belonging to 50 genera of the above order. Ten 

 groups are described, and their systematic relationship (according to Pax) 

 is contrasted with the venation arranged according to these groups. The 

 result does not so far show any clear agreement between venation and 

 natural affinity. — G. F. S.-E. 



Anatomy of Male and Female Peduncles (Beih. Bot. Cent. 



xiii. ht. 3, p. 341 ; 20 figures in text). — Herr H. Dibbern gives a sketch 

 of the differences in anatomical structure as seen in the peduncles of 

 twenty-three plants. He shows that the inflorescence departs from the 

 typical anatomical structure of the ordinary stem, and especially as regards 

 the mechanical system or strengthening tissues; that the difference 

 varies according to the differences in weight of the flower-bearing and 

 vegetative stems ; and that the male and female axes also differ in those 

 cases in which the arrangement or weights to be supported are different. 



G. F. S.-E. 



