SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, NOVEMBER 19. CCXXXvii 



pale), Orchis Morio, Agraphis nutans. (Blue) A^iagallis arvensis. 

 (Pale blue) Agraphis nuians, Campanula Trachelium. (Salmon pink) 

 Papaver Rhoeas. 



Catasetum macro carp um, female flower. — Mr. G. Eae Fraser, 

 Letohmore Heath, Herts, sent an inflorescence of Catasetum macro - 

 carpum bearing five female flowers, from the same plant as the one 

 exhibited on October 8, 1910. He remarked that the plant has made 

 three futile attempts tO' flower since then, and at the fourth had pro- 

 duced the present spike. Mr. E. A. Eolfe reported that it agreed 

 with the plant figured as Monacanthus viridis by Lindley in the 

 Botanical Register (t. 1752), from a plant which flowered with Lord 

 Fitzwilliam, at Wentworth, which is now known as the female of 

 Catasetum macrocarpum Eich. It is not, however, the original 

 Monacanthus viridis Lindl., which is the female of another species. 



Scientific Committee, November 19, 1912. 



Mr. E. A. Bowles, M.A., F.L.S., F.E.S., in the Chair, and eleven 



members present. 



Variation in Nephrolepis. — Mr. W. Marshall, V.M.H., sent a plant 

 of Nephrolepis exaltata var. todeaoides, which, after once repotting, had 

 been allowed to grow as it liked. It had given rise to fronds exactly 

 similar to those of the type of N. exaltata and also to numerous other 

 forms, including todeaoides, some with more, some with less, fre- 

 quently divided pinnules than that plant. The case of this fern is a 

 very curious one, paralleled, however, by certain other garden plants. 

 The type was introduced from the Tropics about 1793, and gained the 

 reputation of being the most useful of its genus. A few varieties were 

 recognized during the nineteenth century, but it \vas not until after the 

 beginning of the twentieth century that many made their appearance, 

 and since then they have come thick and fast. The first of them 

 apparently came from America, but others have appeared in England 

 since. The striking exhibit of Messrs. May in the Science and Edu- 

 cation Section at the Eoyal International Exhibition showed the 

 origin and course of variation in the plants of this genus in a remark- 

 able manner. 



The Glastonbury Thorn. — Mr. W. E. Ledger showed flowers O'f the 

 well-known Glastonbury Thorn from his garden at Wimbledon. This 

 •variety {Crataegus Oxyacantha var. praecox) apparently flowers on short 

 shoots, which have no definite resting period as in the normal form of 

 the species, where spurs producing flowers in alternate years are the 

 rule, with a definite winter rest. The Committee could call to mind 

 no analogous cases among apples or pears, and would be glad to learn 

 of any that may be known. 



Drosophyllum lusitanicum. — Mrs. Bergheim, of Belsize Park, sent 

 plants of this interesting carnivorous plant. The genus is allied to 

 Drosera, but the foliage is erect in habit, and the glandular tentacles 



