FLORICULTURAL NOTICES, 
41 
states that tlie plant grows usually in moist and shaded places, whereas, the 
specimen in question was procured from an open plain of dry, and sandy, or 
gravelly soil. Its hairiness, the diminutive size of its parts, and the deeper colour 
of its flowers, are thus at once accounted for ; for it is the peculiar tendency of 
such a situation to impart these characters. In prosecuting this search after the 
name of an individual plant, a definition and illustration of many botanical terms 
will have been obtained ; it is probable that the nature of some particular organ 
will also have been satisfactorily discovered ; and its successful issue will encourage 
the individual to extend his observations, from each of which similarly gratifying 
results may be anticipated. 
In thus minutely examining the organs of plants, not only will their names be 
impressed upon the memory, but all their hidden beauties descried ; and as pecu- 
liarities of structure or variations of character in the same species present them- 
selves, an inquiry will be awakened concerning the nature and operation of their 
functions, which will inevitably lead to a full investigation, and consequent eluci- 
dation, of that extensive, but intensely-interesting subject — vegetable physiology. 
Before concluding this article, we would remind the young botanist, that it is 
always advisable to procure a number of specimens of a species, if possible, before 
comparing it with any established characters ; as the appearance and habit of 
plants are so much influenced by local circumstances, that the attempt to attach 
a specific distinction to a plant of which only one specimen is possessed, very fre- 
quently jDroves abortive, solely from this cause. 
FLORICULTURAL NOTICES. 
NEW AND RARE PLANTS, FIGURED IN THE LEADING BOTANICAL PERIODICALS FOR 
FEBRUARY. 
CLASS I.— PLANTS WITH TWO COTYLEDONS (DICOTYLEDONE^). 
THE GERANIUM TRIBE {Geraniacece). 
Geranium tuberosum ; var. ramosum. Tuberous Geranium, branched variety. 
A small, but pretty, and most profuse-flowering hardy perennial variet)^ It 
diff'ers from the original species in its stems being much branched, and very leafy. 
The flowers are usually axillary, of a pinkish-red colour, and are produced in pairs. 
The Hon. W. F. Strangways collected specimens of this plant near Potenza, and 
its numerous blossoms impart to it a rather ornamental appearance in the flower 
border, although, in this respect, it is inferior to many of our British species. The 
tubers of the roots are described as being as large as walnuts, and the plant may 
be easily multiplied by detaching them. Bot. Reg. 10. 
VOL. VI. NO. LXII. G 
