or.Sl-HVATIoNS ON SO.Ml-; ol' TIIK I'LANTS KX 11 1 151 T l-ll). 
called 'Mountain Tea.' Mr. lienslow observed that several plants 
possess the same principle (an alkaloid), which has induced the making 
of a "tea" i.e. a decoction — by various natioiis, <[uite ind(^pendently of 
each other : as Tea (proper) in China; Collee (native of Africa); Cocoa 
(Tropical America) ; Paraguay Tea (a species of Holly of South 
America, the Common Holly being used for Tea by the peasants of the 
]>lack Forest); Guarana, from a plant allied to the Horse-chestnut — a 
valuable drug for headaches— from Tropical America. 
Climjuxci Fekn. — A fine specimen exhibited by Mr. Hill oi Lyyoclium 
Japonicum was an illustration of the property of twining acquired by one 
fern only. Mr. Henslow explained how this has arisen, viz. by plants 
growing in a shady place in which the stems get ''drawn," as direct sun- 
light arrests elongation. Then, as the elongated stems "circumnutate," 
they soon find themselves curling up other plants, and thus acquire the 
true climbing habit. 
Xeroxema Moorei, a plant shown by Mr. Veitch, is curious for the 
way the flowers grow on a horizontal instead of an erect spike, conse- 
quently they are all turned to the upper side, or " secund " in botanical 
language. It is a liliaceous plant, and comes from New Caledonia. 
New Daffodil. — Mr. Kendall exhibited a remarkably fine Daffodil, 
named ' King Alfred,' di j^f'opos oi the millenary of England's greatest 
king. It is believed to be a cross between N. Emperor and N. maximus. 
Alluding to hybrid Narcissi, Mr. Henslow observed that the Kev. C. 
Wolley-Dod had noticed how many natural hybrids among Narcissi 
were infertile by having defective pollen, as, e.g., between the Daffodil 
and N. triandrus, and N. Cyclamineus ; though those between the 
Daffodil and the Poets' — the source of the Incomparabilis section — 
occur wild in Spain, and seem to be fertile. 
Azalea Hybrids.— A fine collection of A. mollis x sinensis, exhibited 
by Messrs. P. and G. Cuthbert, illustrated the ease with which species of 
the same " section " will cross ; whereas it is by no means easy to get 
any useful results from attempting to cross the above species with A. 
indica. Similar results occur between the Rhododendrons of the East, 
which cross freely together ; but refuse to do so with those of India and 
America. 
