370 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 8, 1884 
M. Szovitsianum, Baker ; M. micranthum. Fertile flowers nearly 
white, teeth very little incurved.—M. pallens, Fisch. Autumnal.— 
M. parviflormn, Desf. 
Group III.—Perianth of fertile flowers obovoid cylindrical, 
about twice as long as broad; leaves oblanceolate.—M. latifolium, 
Kirk; M. Bourgai, Baker. Leaves lorate; fertile flowers blue- 
black.—M. commutatum, Guss; M. compactum, Baker; M. neg- 
lectum, Guss; M. pendulum, Trout. Fertile flowers bright violet.— 
M. concinnum, Baker .— Leaves subterete; fertile flowers blue- 
black.—M. racemosum, Mill; M. Mordoanum, Held. Fertile 
flowers greenish.—M. maritimum, Desf. Fertile flowers yellowish. 
—M. Gussonei, Baker. 
Muscari botryoides, of which there are many useful garden 
forms and varieties, is one of the earliest to flower. The flower 
Fig. 88.—Muscari Szovitsianum. 
heads are nearly an inch long, light blue, and with globular 
flowers a little longer than broad ; the leaves are nearly a foot 
in length at the time of flowering, glaucous, flat and broad, by 
which, apart from all other characters, it is easily distinguished 
from all the others. The varieties album and pallidum are both 
desirable plants, the latter especially, from the peculiar and rare 
shade of its blue. 
M. Heldreichii, a variety of which is widely distributed in 
gardens under the name pulchellum, is a very fine free-flowering 
conical-headed plant, very showy, and having leaves of a beautiful 
glaucous green tint a little broader than the type. M. Hel¬ 
dreichii is nearly related to M. botryoides, but it has narrower 
and more erect leaves and much larger flower heads, increases 
rapidly, and is extremely useful in pots. M. Aucheri is also 
pretty, and deserves attention. 
M. armeniacum is a very pretty and free-flowering species, 
and although pretty close in general appearance to M. com¬ 
pactum, it is easily distinguished from it in having dark 
lilac instead of blue-coloured flowers. The leaves are broad, 
nearly a foot long at the time of flowering, deeply channelled, 
and having an agreeable glaucous green tint. The flower heads 
are invariably about 2 inches in length, and the flowers, which 
are packed densely together, are of a dark or livid lilac colour 
and having pretty white teeth. The uppermost, or sterile flowers, 
are bright blue. This species flowers late, often extending well 
into May, and when nearly all the others are past. 
M. Szovitsianum is one of the prettiest and most profuse¬ 
flowering species yet introduced to cultivation. It has narrow 
roundish leaves, about 6 inches in length, much deeper channelled 
than in the above species, and but slightly glaucous. The flower 
heads are from 1 to 2 inches in length, flowers bright light blue 
or lilac, with white teeth slightly recurved. The upper flowers 
are sparse, much smaller and narrower than the lower ones, 
which never fail to mark this species. Its flowers, which are 
very fragrant, are abundantly produced in March and April, 
each bulb bearing several spikes. Yery useful for pot culture. 
A native of the Caucasus and Persia, and stands our early spring 
frosts and east winds well. The woodcut, fig. 88, represents two 
spikes of this species. M. micranthum, a very fine and floriferous 
species, also belongs to this group, as also does M. conicum. 
M. neglectum, having many flower heads, seldom less than 
between 2 or 3 inches in length, and having from thirty to forty 
flowers densely packed together, nearly twice as large as M. Szo¬ 
vitsianum, and very fragrant, black-blue, with incurved yery 
pretty white teeth. The leaves are flat, strap-shaped, light 
green, very useful, and close to which comes M. compactum 
and M. commutatum. Found growing in the grassy meadows 
of Italy and Sicily. 
M. racemosum.—This is one of the most easily increased of 
all the Muscaris, belonging to the same section as the above, 
from which, however, it differs in having round instead of flat 
leaves. It produces yearly immense numbers of small bulbils, 
which increase rapidly in size, and often attain to the flowering 
stage the second year. The flowers ai-e nearly black, very in¬ 
teresting, the heads being about 2 inches in length, upper flowers 
pale blue, contrasting agreeably with the lower. 
M. Gussonei, a species with dull yellowish flowers, is still very 
scarce, but deserving of attention.—M. S. 
SPORTS PHYSIOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
( Continued from, page 232.) 
Cell-building is a process which is constantly going on in plant growth. 
Beyond the simple formation of cells, this union seems to be the means of 
the most important changes. To illustrate : The grains of pollen in a 
blossom are admitted to be independent male cells, which may be removed 
from one plant to another. In the same blossoms where the male cells are 
formed are the ovules or female cells, which cannot be removed without 
destroying them. These male and female cells are not independent parent 
cells— i.e., they cannot by division form other cells. Separately they can do 
nothing toward building up the tree, but soon perish. But bring the pollen 
or male cell in contact with the ovule or female cell, and they at once absorb 
the cell walls between them, unite their contents, and together form a new 
cell, which is the embryo or parent cell of a new plant. In this way every 
seed is formed by the union of the contents of two cells. And here we may 
see how no plant can, of itself, ever change its kind. If the pollen, or male 
cell, uniting with the female cell be of the same kind, then the embryo or 
seed cell must be the same, and the plant will be the same. But let the 
pollen or male cell be of a different variety, and although they will unite in 
the same way, yet the embryo or seed cell will be unlike either. It will be a 
mixed or hybrid cell, and the plant coming from it will be like it. Thus we 
see that all hybrids come from the union or mixing of the contents of two 
cells. The same is true of all cross-fertilised seeds. Two cells of different 
varieties unite to form a seed cell; hence the term “ variety hybrid ” applies 
to every crossed variety. 
Now, we wish to examine this union of cells a little more closely. When 
two cells thus unite, each contains a nucleus which appears to be little more 
than a small collection of protoplasm. But what gives this little particle of 
protoplasm in the male cell the power to produce such different results when 
uniting with female cells of different varieties ? Or, in other words, what 
determines the kind of the embryo cell thus formed ? In a natural tree, 
isolated from all others, every seed or embryo will be true to its kind. But 
in a grafted tree bearing several kinds of fruit, perhaps no two seeds will 
produce the same kind. Now every nucleus or primordial cell is formed in 
the protoplasm, and it would seem that the protoplasm should determine the 
kind, but this is not the fact. Neither is it the root that affords the sap, nor 
the leaf that elaborates it, nor the protoplasm formed from it. I have a 
natural Pear tree, which, many years ago, was grafted with the St. Michael. 
When that Pear cracked so badly I grafted it with the Dunmore. Not 
satisfied with that fruit, I grafted it again with the Anjou. Thus, I have 
four kinds of Pear wood growing one above the other. The wild stock 
furnishes all the sap that passes up through the four kinds of wood, which is 
elaborated, digested, and assimilated by the Anjou leaves and branches, and 
forms protoplasm in the cambium of the Anjou top. It is certainly Anjou 
protoplasm, for it forms Anjou cells, buds, fruit, and wood. But this same 
Anjou protoplasm passes down a little lower and forms Dunmore cells, buds, 
fruit, and wood; still lower, it forms St. Michael cells, buds, fruit, and 
wood; lower still, the wild fruit of fifty years ago is found. And this all 
takes place when there are only Anjou leaves on the tree. Now, when the 
protoplasm leaves the Anjou top, it is full of primordial cells formed there, 
which, if matured there, would be Anjou. What changes their nature as 
they pass down ? I come to the conclusion that each kind of wood must 
have an inherent power to determine its own kind of fruit, and that the 
nuclei or primordial cells have their kind determined by the wood where they 
, are matured, and not where they originated. Every kind of wood imparts 
