SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, NOVEMBER 8. 
clxxxi 
Cyclamen europceum with long Bhizomes. —Some plants were 
sent by Rev. C. Wolley Dod, showing how this plant can produce 
its tuber several inches below the surface by means of a long 
rhizome penetrating vertically through the surface-soil. At 
the base of the rhizome was the globular tuber. Perhaps this 
may have resulted from the long drought, so that the tuber might 
be produced away from its influence. 
Proliferous Teasel Head. —Dr. Masters exhibited a specimen 
in which the bracts of the summit had become foliaceous. An 
examination by Mr. Massee of the tissues showed the presence 
of the fungus Sclerotinia lihertiana, both the sclerotia and the 
botrytis form being present. The probability is that the fungus 
had stimulated the bracts into their abnormal growth. 
Cankered Apple-trees. —Dr. Masters also exhibited branches 
of Apples swollen by Mistletoe, but within cracks of the bark 
there was present the fungus Nectria ditissima. He remarked 
that by removal of the grass, thorough loosening of the soil about 
the roots by forking it over, and by applying manure, the canker 
had disappeared from the trees so treated. 
Lavender with Dimorphic Leaves. —Dr. Masters called atten¬ 
tion to sprays of Lavender on which the majority of the leaves 
were small, grey, with stellate hairs, and with inrolled margins, 
these characters being acquired by many plants frequenting arid 
and hot regions. Some of the leaves, however, were much 
larger, dark green, and flat, such being characteristic of plants 
in a moister climate. The different appearance of the latter is 
caused, according to Professor Henslow, by there being much 
fewer hairs, and these, instead of having long and very slender 
branching rays, have only extremely short ones, with scarcely 
any branches ; consequently they scarcely overlap each other, 
and so reveal the green chlorophyll below and between them. 
With regard to the stomata, they are about equally and very 
sparingly distributed. They occur on both sides of the leaves. 
Potatos blackening ichen Boiled. —Mr. Rd. Morse forwarded 
raw and cooked Potatos, to show the difference in those cooked, 
as grown in a field and in the garden. The latter were much 
blackened, but not the former. They were the variety Windsor 
Castle. The soil of the field sent was very red from the pre¬ 
sence of iron ; consequently there was very little doubt that the 
tannic acid, being liberated by boiling, united with some salt of 
