SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, JUNE 26. 



Ixxix 



of Cordyline indivisa vera came from the same source, and C. cmstralis 

 had been attacked in the same manner. These plant diseases will be 

 reported on at a future meeting. 



Paonies dying. — Mr. B. C. Williams, F.R.H.S., of Henington, 

 Dorchester, sent specimens of paeony attacked by the fungus Botrytis 

 PcBonicB (Sclerotinia Pceonice). The shoots droop before the flower opens, 

 and just above the surface of the soil a white web of fungal thread may 

 be seen spreading over the surface of the stern. Later, resting bodies or 

 hard lumps (sclerotia) of a black colour are formed both above and below 

 the surface of the soil. The diseased shoots should be removed and 

 burnt as soon as discovered, and fresh stable manure should not be used 

 for mulching. If plants have been attacked, it is well to remove the 

 old soil from about them and replace it with fresh soil with which lime 

 has been mixed. This should be done in the spring. 



Plants exhibited. — A newly introduced Begonia, B. Poggei, from 

 Kasai, Congo, having deep green leaves about 4 inches in length and 

 2 inches in width, only slightly oblique at the base, and small pink 

 flowers in lateral clusters, the pistillate flowers having a fusiform ovary 

 nearly 1 inch in length, showing no trace of the wings that are usual in 

 the genus, was shown by the Director of the Botanic Gardens, Brussels. 

 A Botanical Certificate was unanimously awarded to this plant on the 

 ground of novelty and curious structure. 



Abnormal Floiuers of the Foxglove. — Mr. C. W. H. Greaves, of 

 Pwllheli, North Wales, sent draw^ings illustrating the abnormal flowers 

 of a self-sown foxglove {Digitalis lyurpurea). The plant is a vigorous 

 one, with normal foliage and eight racemes bearing some forty or fifty 

 flowers each. A few of the flowers at the lower part of the raceme are 

 normal, but the majority on each raceme exhibit the following marked 

 variations (from the normal). The corolla is markedly bilabiate, the odd 

 (anterior) petal hanging dowm in a manner suggestive of the labellum 

 of certain orchids. The filaments of the anterior pair of stamens — which 

 are usually parallel to those of the posterior pair — curve outwards sharply 

 at the points, w^here the upper and lower "lips " of the corolla diverge. 

 The most curious feature, however, is that at the anterior edge, and near 

 the tip, of each of the antero-lateral petals there is a single well-developed 

 anther lobe. The latter are of the usual yellow colour wath purple spots, 

 and they contain pollen grains which appear quite normal under the 

 microscope. There is no indication of filaments leading up to these 

 anther lobes. The peculiar interest of these abnormal flowers appears 

 to me to lie in the staminoid petals ; for, although petaloid anthers are 

 of quite common occurrence, the converse metamorphosis is, in my 

 experience at any rate, a rarity. I may add that the plant bearing these 

 flowers has possibly been superfed by the somewhat free use of liquid 

 manure ; but this, according to the generally accepted theory, should 

 have induced what Goethe would have termed "retrogressive" meta- 

 morphosis, instead of the opposite tendency here exhibited. See Henslow 

 in " Journ. Linn. Soc." xix. 1882, p. 216. 



Abyiormal Groioth of Rhododendron. — Dr. Masters show^ed a drawing 

 of fb shoot of Rhododendron (B. Ancklandii x B. B'ortunei), from Sir 

 E. G. Loder, Leonardslee, Horsham, cut from a plant about twenty years 



