Zhc Selbome Society’s tffoagastne 
No. ii. NOVEMBER 15, 1890. Vol. I. 
THE INFLUENCE OF THE ENVIRONMENT UPON 
PLANTS. 
N the first number of the Selborne Magazine I very briefly 
sketched a theory of the Evolution of Plants, differing 
widely from that which is connected with the name of 
Mr. Darwin. Since that time I have published a 
volume in the International Scientific Series on the subject, and 
have secured the adhesion of a large number of naturalists in 
our own country and abroad. I now lay the following account 
of my views before the readers of Nature Notes with the hope 
that some of the many Selbornians who are in the habit of 
carefully studying nature, may be able to supply some facts which 
will confirm the hypothesis I have suggested. I shall be equally 
obliged to those who will give an account of observations which 
appear to contradict it ; as my object is not to defend a theory 
at all hazards, but by continual investigation to ascertain the 
truth. 
Let me first give in a sentence or two the main points on 
which all evolutionists are agreed ; I shall refer only to the 
vegetable kingdom. Concerning it the evolutionary belief may 
be briefly summed up as follows : it was thought at one time 
that all species of plants were fixed entities, and admitted of no, 
or at least very little change ; so that “ varieties ” were restricted 
and never transcended the limits of the characters by which the 
species was recognisable — that the latter were, in fact, specific 
creations. A more extended study of plant life has shown that 
these views are quite untenable, and that all plants have des- 
cended from pre-existing ones by “ descent with modification,” 
as it is called. 
Now, if one has become satisfied that evolution is the only 
interpretation of existing life, the question arises : How have 
plants become changed ? A very obvious phenomenon is that 
