SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, AUGUST 14. 



Ixxxiii 



of peaches showing brown spots at the base of the leaves and dropping 

 their foliage as a result of the attack of the fungus Botrytis cinera on the 

 imperfectly ripened wood. The only thing to be done is to cut out all 

 diseased shoots and burn them, and then spray the trees with a rose-red 

 solution of potassium permanganate. 



Scientific Committee, August 14, 1906. 



Mr. G. Massee, F.L.S., V.M.H., in the Chair, and seven members 

 present, with Mrs. E. Hancock visitor. 



Diseased Crinum and Cordyline. — Mr. Giissow reported that he had 

 examined these shown on June 26 by Mr. Worsley, but had been unable 

 to find on either any parasite to which the death of the plants could be 

 attributed. 



Beversion in Picotee. — Concerning the plant shown by Mr. Douglas at 

 the last meeting, Mr. F. Williams, F.L.S., writes : — The stem sent to me 

 bears a female flower only, and the styles are very much coiled, as is so 

 frequently the case when only female flowers are produced. From the 

 clear and interesting history given with the plant, the result is not at all 

 a matter of surprise. It is certainly a curious result. It is an attempt 

 on the part of the seedling at atavistic reversion to simpler type — of a 

 form of reversion so lucidly described by Mendel in his experiments on 

 hybridisation, and to which I have drawn attention in reviews of Mendel's 

 work in the " Journal of Botany," and in an explanatory note in my " Pro- 

 dromus Florae Britannicje," Part III. The whole energy of the plant was 

 directed to modification — and a very marked one — of its nutritive organs 

 at the expense of the development of its floral organs. . . . The whole of 

 its energy of growth was expended in the modification of the leaves. . . . 

 Even when the flower is produced it is (in the specimen sent) an imper- 

 fect one. No doubt it was less coddled in its cultivation than other 

 specimens, and so took the opportunity in a hardier environment to 

 revert to a similar type. I have before pointed out that pinks resent 

 coddling as much as they can ; the natural habitat of all species of 

 Dianthus is in exposed situations — slopes of hills facing the wind, edges 

 of rocks, overhanging ledges, unprotected banks, and open sandy ground. 

 Altogether the specimen has a much more wild appearance than its some- 

 what artificial origin suggests." 



Smut in Carnation. — Mr. Massee, V.M.H., reported that flowers of car- 

 nation " Miss Audrey Campbell " with discoloured centres were attacked 

 by the fungus Ustilago violacea, and to the presence of this fungus the 

 discoloration was due. The spores of the fungus are produced in the 

 anthers. In several of our wild plants belonging to the pink family this 

 disease occurs, and in those instances the mycelium is perennial in the 

 root. Hence it appears every year, and a plant once infected remains so 

 for life." 



Malformed Inflorescences. — Mr. Odell showed some specimens of Tri- 

 folium repens virescent, similar to those shown at the last meeting by 

 Mr. Sutton. He said that he found it much more frequently in temporary 



