NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
155 
it can produce the (lower-stem. In the same way, if the seed of a so-called 
“biennial” is kept back all the winter and only sown in the next spring, the 
plant, in a like way, loses a year of its growth. There is, therefore, no such a 
thing as a biennial plant in Nature ; it only becomes so by losing a year of its 
growth through artificial means. Would not “winter root-leafed plant” be a 
better name than “biennial”? It throws out root-leaves in the autumn, and 
afterwards it must wait all through the winter before it can throw up its flower- 
stem, which it does next spring, after remaining through the coming winter with 
root-leaves only. The blossoming and seeding of a plant is the determining era 
of its existence. If the flowers of an annual are cut off before it seeds, it will 
come up again and again, for the main design in the construction of a plant 
seems to be its own reproduction. If a plant dies down after blossoming and 
seeding, root-stock and all, and does not grow up again, it is an annual. If it 
dies down as far as the root-stock after blossoming and seeding, and afterwards 
grows again, it is a perennial. Some annuals, such as Poa annua, reproduce 
themselves many times in the course of a year. There is not a single plant that 
flowers and seeds twice over, that is, in two successive years, and then ceases 
to exist, as many people are led to suppose, by the term “ biennial.” Nor 
will any plant lake two years before it can blossom and seed, unless its seed is 
kept back out of the ground during the winter by man, but it will always repro- 
duce itself within twelve months, provided the soil is natural to it, and it is 
allowed to spring up in the autumn. 
Hampstead, Peter Hastie. 
June 10, 1907. 
525. Plant Freaks. — I note that the double white Arabis this year is 
throwing out flower after flower from the centre of the first flower to as many as 
four, coming on one after the other with bracts and some eight petals. It is 
seldom that more than two flowers show at the same time. 
The Hen-and-Chicken daisy mentioned by Mr. O. C. Silverlock was common 
sixty years ago. J. ACUTT. 
526. London Plants. — The Daily Mail has recently called attention to 
the remarkable series of plants now growing on the vacant sites in Aldwych and 
Kingsway. The list is as follows ; — 
Trifolium repens. 
Senecio vulgaris. 
Convolvulus arvensis. 
Sinapis arvensis. 
Rumex aculus. 
Senecio Jacohaa. 
Stellaria media. 
Polygonum aviculare. 
Tussilago Farfara. 
Carduus arvensis. 
Plelilotus officinalis. 
Epilobium angustifolium . 
Plantago major. 
Reseda lutea. 
Solanum nigrum. 
Ranunculus acris. 
Silene Cucutalus. 
Pyrus Mai us. 
Prunus domestica. 
Phleum pratense. 
Holcus mollis. 
Bro}nus sierilis. 
Dactylis glomerata. 
Festuca elatior. 
Lolium perenne. 
A vena fatua. 
A. saliva. 
Triticum vulgare. 
527. Unlovely Scenery. — I shall be very pleased if you will allow me, 
through the medium of Nature Notes, to reply to the note on “ Unlovely 
Scenery,” by Edmund Thos. Baubeny. Although not a Yorkshireman born and 
bred, I have lived in West Yorkshire long enough to have thoroughly sampled the 
delights of the western dales and rivers. I will candidly admit at the beginning 
that the three southern rivers, namely, the Don, Calder and Aire, are not by any 
means clean and appreciated during the summer months. But what can be ex- 
pected from rivers which pass through a manufacturing district containing such 
towns as Leeds, Bradford and Sheffield. The Aire is, however, improving, 
owing largely to the restrictions placed on manufacturing firms to the west of 
Leeds, who used to empty all their waste liquors into the river. Although I 
cannot say from personal experience with regard to the dying off of the oak and 
