31 
SCHIZANTHUS PRIESTII. 
(priest’s WHITE FLOWERING SCHIZANTHUS.) 
CLASS. 
DIANDRIA. 
ORDER. 
MONOGYNIA. 
NATURAL ORDER, 
SCROPHULARINEJE. 
Generic Character. — See page 5. 
Specific Character Whole herb slender and graceful, c l\ feet high, springing from a single bottom 
stem, and producing from 20 to 24 branches or side-stems, each containing from twenty to thirty 
flowers. Stems covered with glandular hairs, and are distinguished by their whitish hue. Leaves 
smooth, pinnatifid, of a light and beautiful green. Corolla wholly white, except a beautiful yellow 
spot at the base of the upper segment of each. 
This beautiful variety was raised from seed by Mr. Myles Priest, nurseryman, 
&c., of Reading*, Berkshire, who furnished us, some little time back, with the 
present figure and description ; it has much of the graceful character of, and corre- 
sponding generally with, the S. pinnatus , of which species it may possibly be a 
variety. Mr. Priest says it has upwards of 600 flowers open at one time, and that 
it continues flowering for upwards of five months. It has indeed a very beautiful 
appearance, and cannot fail to be admired. The drawing was taken in June, when 
the plant had been in flower nearly six weeks. There seems little doubt, from the 
accounts of those who have seen it, but that it is an entirely new and distinct 
variety. Mr. Priest has given it the same kind of treatment as the S. retusus , 
(see page 5,) and has a number of fine young plants which partake of the same 
nature as their parent, being quite distinguishable from S. pinnatus. 
The extraordinary irritability of certain plants forms a very striking feature in 
the vegetable world ; and the peculiarity of shape in others so nearly approaches 
the lowest link in the animal world, that it is not easy to define the difference 
between the one and the other. If, as is supposed, plants be really endued with 
sensation, and possess a nervous system, this difficulty is greatly augmented ; and 
the existence of either sensation or instinct, or of something very analogous, seems 
to have been partially proved. Vegetable poisons, such as belladonna, nux vomica, 
&c., which destroy animal life by acting only on the nervous system, cause the 
leaves, when applied to plants, to shrink or curl up, which, after appearing consi- 
derably agitated, become flaccid, and the plant dies in a few hours. The sensitive 
plant and some others close their leaves, and shrink back on the slightest touch, as 
if they apprehended danger. If two or three drops of prussic acid be poured upon 
the plant, the leaflets close, become agitated, flag, and do not regain their usual 
habit for upwards of eight hours. 
These poisons are known to be incapable of injuring the animal frame, except 
through the medium of the nerves; and this fact favours the supposition that 
certain organs exist in plants which are analogous to the nervous system in animals, 
and on which these poisons act. Indeed Dutrochet has observed in the walls of 
the cellular and fibrous tissue, small semi-transparent globular and linear bodies, 
