SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, MAY 18. 



cxv 



Scientific Committee, May 18, 1909. 



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

 members present and E. H. Wilson, visitor. 



The Committee heartily welcomed Mr. E. H. Wilson on his return 

 from his journey of botanical exploration in Western China. 



Bose with foliar sepals. — Lieut. -Col. Currie, Norwich, sent a specimen 

 of the rose ' Niphetos ' having one of the sepals developed into a perfect 

 leaf with five leaflets and stipules well developed. While the peculiarity 

 is not rare, so perfectly developed a specimen as this is seldom met with. 



Banunculus auricomus. — Dr. Rendle, F.E.S., showed specimens of 

 the depauperate form of B. auricomus with one or two petals only in 

 some flowers, and in others the petals scarcely developed. This species 

 often has very imperfect flowers. 



Salix pentandra. — Mr. Fraser, F.L.S., showed specimens of the 

 flowers of Salix pentandra in which the posterior gland had proliferated 

 and given rise to two or three small pistils in addition to the normal one. 

 He pointed out that in the genus Populus belonging to the same family 

 as Salix there is a perianth, and that Bentham had regarded the gland in 

 Salix as homologous with the perianth of Populus. He found on 

 examination of the frequent cases of abnormal development of this gland 

 or disc in Salix pentandra, considerable grounds for believing Bentham's 

 view to be the correct one. Frequently the gland became so much 

 developed that it grew almost three parts round the pedicel of the 

 ovary. 



Viola lutea and V. lutea amoena. — Mr. Fraser also showed specimens 

 of these two Violas collected in meadows at considerable elevations in 

 Scotland. He said that the Scotch raisers of the garden violas had used 

 this species in their formation, and from it had been derived the perennial 

 habit of these varieties. Mr. Cuthbertson corroborated the statement, 

 saying that this had been the case in 1859 and 1860, but he thought that 

 little good would be likely to arise by recrossing the species with the 

 Violas of the present day since they were so generally hardy and perennial. 

 He had planted over 100 varieties in an Essex garden in October 1907, 

 and had found that a very large proportion of them had survived the 

 severity even of the past winter, the varieties ' Eoyal Sovereign ' and 

 i Bullion ' being particularly noticeable in this respect. 



Frost injury. — Mr. F. J. Baker showed leaves of peas having white 

 patches upon them, from Cambridgeshire. They seemed to show signs of 

 albinism, but were also injured by frost. It is possible that the latter was 

 connected with former phenomenon, since, as Professor Church pointed 

 out, the albino spots upon a leaf always contain a larger percentage of 

 water than the green parts, and thus are probably more liable to injury by 

 frost than the green parts. There is also always less lime and potash in 

 the white parts of a variegated leaf than in the green. 



Primula hybrids. — Mr. H. J. Veitch, V.M.H., showed a series of 

 crosses between Primula pulverulenta and P. Cochburniana. These are 

 both native of Western China, the former being of a rich purple colour 



