81 
I have called this a "natural graft." Maxwell Masters, in his Vegetable 
Teratology, speaks of this adhesion of the axes of plants belonging to different 
species as of rather rare occurrence. The adhesion of two individuals of the same 
species is not rare. "We are, of course, familiar with the amalgamation of the 
woody tissues of our Mistletoes (Lorantlius) and their numerous hosts. 
The Peach can be successfully grafted on the Plum (both Prunus), the 
Apple on the Pear (Pyrus}, the Pear on the Quince (Pyrus), the Tomato on the 
Potato (Solanum). Certain species belonging to different genera unite and grow 
satisfactorily as the Medlar (Mespilus) on the Hawthorn (Crataegus) and the 
Spanish Chestnut (Castanea) on the Oak (Quercus). 
Masters quotes Moquin Tandon, where " by accident a branch of the species 
of Sophora passed through a fork made of two diverging branches of an Elder 
(Sambucm). The branch of the Sophora contracted a firm adhesion to the Elder, 
and what is remarkable is that, although the latter has much softer wood than 
the former, yet the branch of the harder wooded tree was flattened, as if subject to 
great pressure." 
"It is possible that some of the cases similar to those spoken of by Columella, 
Virgil,* and other classical writers, may have originated in the accidental admission 
of seeds into the crevices of trees ; in time the seeds grew, and as they did so, the 
young plants contracted an adhesion to the supporting tree."t 
This is obviously the case with Mr. Musson's specimen; the origin of my 
George's River specimen is not quite similar. 
lieverting to the George's River specimen, the fact is evident that the woods 
and barks of two different species have adhered to each other, have fused in fact, 
and the different textures of the barks and the different colours of the woods enable 
us to note the organic union very readily. We have indeed a composite log, but 
the timbers are joined together by an art transcending that of the most skilful 
woodworker. The union appears to be nearly as complete as if the log were homo- 
geneous and the result had been arrived at by staining. And yet, looking more 
closely at the specimen, one observes the lack of continuity of the kino rings which 
are very abundant in the red wood (E. licemastoma) both in the mature and sap 
wood, but which largely cease at the junction with the pale wood (E. capiteliata). 
That there is organic union between the two timbers is borne out, not only by their 
obvious fusion, but also by the fact that the red wood " runs " here and there into 
the paler timber as if the woody fibres, pigmented by red colouring matter (perhaps 
phlobaphenes or other tannin derivatives), had lent some of their colouring matter 
to the fibres of the paler timber with which they are in close juxtaposition. 
An anatomical study of the wood at the line of junction might throw light 
upon the relations of the cells and vessels of the two timbers at their points of 
contact, and I hope someone will make the examination. I suppose the sections 
* Daubeny, "Lectures on Roman Husbandry," p. 156. t Masters' " Vegetable Teratology," p. 56. 
