SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, MAY 4. 



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SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE. 



May 4, 1909. 



Mr. E. A. Bowles, M.A., F.L.S., F.E.S., in the Chair, with sixteen 

 members present and W. E. Ledger, visitor. 



Hybrid Narcissus. — Mr. Douglas, V.M.H., showed specimens of a 

 hybrid Narcissus obtained by crossing N. calathinus (which is not quite 

 hardy) with the bicolor trumpet daffodil ' Weardale Perfection.' The hybrid 

 was a white trumpet daffodil with a somewhat short trumpet. It has 

 proved hardy. 



Variations in Primroses. — Mr. Douglas commented upon the con- 

 siderable variations often seen in cultivated primroses in the comparative 

 length of the style and the positions of the stamens, and showed speci- 

 mens to illustrate his remarks. Extreme examples of departure from 

 the normal conditions were seen in a flower in which the anthers and 

 the stigma were level at the base of the corolla tube, and in another 

 where the style projected much beyond the mouth of the corolla tube. 



Hybrid Salices, &c. — Mr. Eraser, F.L.S., exhibited living and 

 herbarium specimens of the following plants : — 



(1) Salix frag His x triandra ( = alopecuroides Zausch.) gynandrous 

 specimens of the tree, which is normally male. Some cf the smaller 

 branches bore female catkins with a few stamens amongst them. The 

 ovary is similar to that of S. fragilis, and the stigmas recall S. triandra. 

 The posterior gland is often changed into one or two ovaries, separate 

 or combined. The stamens are usually three ; in the female catkin there 

 may be one, two, or three ovaries, and sometimes one stamen and one 

 ovary (collateral). 



(2) Salix Myrsinites x nigricans ( = punctata, Wahlb). 



(3) Salix Arbuscula x herbacea ( = simulatrix, F. B. White). 



Mr. Fraser also exhibited specimens showing sepalody of the petals 

 in wallflower, and pistillody of the stamens in the same flower, and 

 f asciation of the flower stem of Cardamine pratensis. 



Branching in Tulips. — Mr. Hooper Pearson showed branched stems 

 of tulips of the Darwin form from Mons. Bony, Clermont-Ferrand, France, 

 the varieties representing considerable variety in colour. There were 

 usually four flowers, but sometimes as many as seven from a single bulb. 

 The stems showed some degree of fasciation such as is frequently seen in 

 " these tulips. The exhibit was particularly interesting since it was stated that 

 the branching character had become perfectly fixed when the plants were 

 reproduced vegetatively, and that seedlings give a considerable proportion 

 of plants showing the same character. In the case of tulips the branching 

 character cannot be due to the union of several flowers, as is usually the 

 case in fasciation, since normally the tulip is one-flowered. It must, 

 therefore, be due to division of the flower- forming tissue at a very early 

 stage of its development (fig. 83). 



