NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



547 



Lilium testaceum. By H. P. (Garden, July 3, 1909, p. 326.) The 

 writer tries to trace the origin of this beautiful Lily; he quotes from a 

 monograph by F. de Cannart d'Hamale, printed at Malines in 1870, from 

 which it appears that it was first discovered by Monsieur Fr. Ad. Haage, 

 junior, of Erfurt, in 1836, among a consignment of Martagons, and intro- 

 duced into Belgium by L. van Houtte, of Ghent, who had received a case 

 full of it from Van Weissenborn, of Erfurt, in 1840. — H. B. D. 



Lime Washes, Adhesive Power of. By the Duke of Bedford, K.G., 



and Spencer U. Pickering, F.E.S. (Woburn, Eighth Beport, 1908, pp. 73- 

 82). — Various experiments have been made to see how the adhesive powers 

 of lime washes could be improved. None of the substances added to the 

 lime wash satisfactorily prevented the flaking of the lime off the trees, 

 but good results were obtained by the addition of 5 per cent, of flowers 

 of sulphur, and also by the addition 6 to 12 per cent, of solar distillate. 

 The adhesiveness of whiting was found to be less than that of lime, 

 while bad results attended the addition of the basic sulphates of iron and 

 copper, resin, paper pulp, salt, treacle, and soap. — A. P. 



Linaria, Pollination in (Bot. Gaz. vol. xlvii., No. 6, June 1909, 

 pp. 454-466; with 4 figs.).— Mr. E. T. Hill finds that as the heat (and 

 perhaps light) increases in summer, the flowers of Linaria canadensis 

 become gradually smaller and tend towards cleistogamy. (The smaller 

 flowers require less food and permit a husbanding of resources for the 

 production of seed.) The first flowers may be 6-8 mm. long while the 

 later may be only 3-4 mm. Cleistogamy occurs on stems not more than 

 2 cm. high. A similar reduction in size may be observed in Pavonia 

 spp., which begin to bloom in May and to diminish in size or become 

 cleistogamous until the autumnal equinox, after which they again become 

 larger until the beginning of winter and the close of their floral season. 



a. F. S.-E. 



Luminosity in Plants. By Bertha Chandler (Trans. Bot. Sci. 

 Edin., 1908, part iv. pp. 333-337). — A review of recorded cases of lumi- 

 nosity in plants from Linnseus onwards. A case is mentioned of decaying 

 potatos becoming so luminous that at night the room in which they were 

 stored appeared from outside to be on fire ! 



The author mentions the work of Mornay and Martius, and that of 

 Molisch, but makes no contributions to existing knowledge. — E. A. Bd. 



Magnesia, its Alimentary Importance in the Life of Plants. 



By Georges Truffaut (Gard. Mag. No. 2910, Aug. 7, 1909, pp. 614 ; 

 fig.). — The author gives the results of analyses of the ashes of a large 

 number of plants, and concludes from the large percentage of magnesia 

 found in them that it plays a more important role in plant life than is 

 usually supposed. Analysis proved its absence in measurable quantity 

 from a number of soils. The high percentage of magnesia in the ashes 

 of roses being noted, and certain soils in which it was deficient producing 

 weak growth of roses, it was found that magnesia salts added as a manure 

 produced marked results of increased vigour and growth. — E. B. 



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