SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, AUGUST 19. 



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feet high, and as much in diameter. After some three or four years the 

 C. purpureus made its appearance in various parts of the Laburnum, and 

 is now to be seen in tufts all over the tree. A somewhat similar case is 

 recorded in the Gardeners' Chronicle (1857, p. 382), by Mr. E. Purser, 

 Clapham Park. He wrote : — " Some few years ago three grafts of the 

 Cytisus (purpureus) were inserted, and now the whole character of the 

 tree is changing, and every year it loses the yellow flower of the 

 Laburnum and produces the short purple flower." 



Cattleya and Lcelict Cross. — Mr. Douglas, V.M.H., exhioited a plant, 

 L.-C. 'Juno,' Edenside var., being C. MossicexL. majalis. It is usually 

 considered an invariable rule that hybrid Orchids betray the characters of 

 both parents. The present plant, though an undoubted cross, was thought 

 to be exceptional. A coloured illustration which Mr. Douglas exhibited 

 of C. Mossice, together with the plant, showed a degree of yellow in the 

 throat, which was wanting in the living plant. L. majalis has a very 

 spotted lip ; but this feature was also wanting in the plant. That a cross or 

 hybrid, though usually intermediate, may have one or other parent pre- 

 potent is well known ; but the second generation, as Dr. Masters observed, 

 will often reveal the other parentage more completely. 



Gypsophila paniculata dimorphic. — Prof. Henslow called attention to 

 the fact that different plants of this species may have different kinds of 

 flowers, being gynodicecious ; that is, in some the styles are greatly 

 elongated, while the stamens are abortive ; in others the styles are much 

 shorter and the stamens perfect. They spread outwards, and not inwards 

 as in the case of self-fertilising plants. 



Dendrobium Dalhousieanum synanthic. — Dr. Masters exhibited a 

 specimen (received from Mr. W. Potter, Beckenham) of two flowers 

 coherent by their ovaries and the two adjacent sepals, all the other parts 

 being distinct. 



Proposed Investigations. — Mr. Elwes wrote, in reference to the Larch 

 disease, of the difficulty experienced in obtaining any assistance from a 

 practical point of view in dealing with what was proving to be a very 

 serious disease among trees and one of immense economic importance. 

 He suggested that, if a qualified person could be found, he should under- 

 take a systematic investigation, for which a small grant from the Royal 

 Society would most probably be forthcoming. Mr. Elwes adds that the 

 disease cannot be studied in the laboratory alone, but only profitably by 

 visiting places where it has appeared, so as to discover the conditions 

 which produce it. 



Scientific Committee, August 19, 1902. 



Dr. M. T. Masters, F.R.S., in the Chair, and ten members present. 



Lavender, Improved. — Rev. W. Wilks showed a spray of a new 

 selected Lavender, having large dark purple corollas and calyx. The 

 scent was also stronger than that of the old form. He remarked that the 

 white Lavender was relatively devoid of scent. Mr. Bowles observed 

 that this new variety was somewhat like the dwarf form of Lavender 

 cultivated in some gardens. 



