July G. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
219 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
1 D 
; M 
1 
| | 
JULY 6-12, 1854. 
Weather near London in 
Barometer. Thermo. Wind. 
1 *53. 
ltain in 
Inches. 
6 
Th 
Aepus flavescens. 
29 . 940 — 29.880 
77 —58 
S.W. 
1 
7 
F 
Colymbete9 fontinalis. 
29 . 919 — 29 .S09 
84—63 
S.E. 
14 
8 
S 
Oxford Term ends. 
29 . 960 — 29.896 
79—59 
N.E. 
14 
9 
Sun 
4 Sunday after Trinity. 
29 . 925 — 29 . s6g 
81—57 
s. 
05 1 
1° 
M 
Trichius fasciatiii. 
29 . 906 — 29.425 
70-47 
N.W. 
01 
11 
Tu 
Salpingus 4-pustulatus. 
30.128—29.979 
72-46 
S.W. 
: 12 
w 
Apion vicise. 
30 . 017 — 29.944 
76-47 
S.W. 
— 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R.& S. 
Moon’s 
1 A S“- 
Clock 
af. Sun. 
53 a 3 
16 a 8 
0 
36 
11 
4 
21 
53 
16 
0 
59 
12 
4 
31 
54 
15 
1 
32 
13 
4 
40 
55 
14 
2 
19 
14 
4 
50 
56 
14 
rises. 
© 
4 
58 
57 
13 
9 
a 2 
• 16 
5 
7 
58 
12 
10 
20 
17 
5 
14 
Day ol 
Year. 
187 
188 
189 
190 
191 
192 
193 
lOthh'lBM ‘ourln^hecertd' f V‘ e ST^est heat,^"/occined oi'the' 
10tli in 1851. During the period 123 days were fine, and on 66 rain fell. 
and lowes 
cold, S8°, 
t tem- 
on the 
BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
( Continued from page 229.) 
DBABA.—WHITLOW GLASS. 
Geneeic Chaeactee. —Calyx equal at the base, some¬ 
what spreading, deciduous; leaves egg-shaped, concave. 
Petals either cloven, notched or entire, spreading, with 
short claws. Filaments simple. Anthers of two roundish 
lobes. Ccrmen egg-shaped. Style very short, or none. 
Stigma a round head, flat. Pouch oblong-oval, laterally 
compressed, entire, tipped with the style or stigma, of two 
cells; valves nearly flat, separating from the bottom; par¬ 
tition membranous, of the same shape and breadth. Seeds 
many in each cell, small, roundish, without a border; coty¬ 
ledons accumbent. 
Deaba aizoides : Yellow Alpine, or Hairy-leaved Whitlow 
Grass; Sea-green Whitlow Grass. 
Description. —It is a perennial. Stems tufted, about two 
inches high, repeatedly branched in a determinate manner, 
the leafy branches of the present year bearing each a 
solitary, terminal, naked stalk, with a few bright yellow 
clusters of flowers. Petals yellow, slightly notched, twice 
the length of the calyx. Anthers yellow. Leaves very 
numerous, closely imbricated, linear-lanceolate, rigid, of a 
shining green, keeled, fringed with white bristly hairs. 
Time of flowering. —March and April. 
Places where found. —Very rare. On rocks and walb near 
Swansea. 
History. —It was first discovered to be a native plant, in 
the year 1795, at Wormshead, about sixteen miles west of 
Swansea. The discoverer was John Lucas, Esq., of Stout 
Hill, in that neighbourhood. It is a pretty, agreeably- 
scented plant, and well suited for rockwork. It is abundant 
in Switzerland and other alpine continental districts. It 
was known to Clusius and others of our early botanists, but 
they called it Sedum petreeum , or Rock Houseleek with 
small yellow flowers. The generic name Draha, is from 
drahe, acrid, the leaves of some of the species being very 
pungent; the specific name, aizoides, or Aizoon-like, from 
its resemblance to one species of the genus Aizoon. The 
genus blongs to Tetradynamia siliculosa of the Linnsean 
system.— {Smith. Withering. Martyn.) 
One of the most striking phenomena in vegetation is 
the power which plants possess of making unnatural 
efforts to propagate and secure the extension of their 
species. It may be justly characterised as their “beings 
end and aim." Thus, as the seed of Polygonum vivi- 
pamm and Poa alpina are often, from their alpine birth¬ 
place, incapable of ripening, those plants produce 
among their flowers a kind of bulb capable of growing 
and producing a perfect plant. If Strawberries are 
prevented bearing fruit they become abundantly more 
productive of runners; and many shrubs and trees, 
when similarly deprived of the opportunity to pro- 
i duce seed, struggle to diffuse themselves by throwing 
| up numerous suckers from their roots. 
It is very unusual for the flower-stems of any plant 
to retain even their vitality for any length of time after 
being cut, but, in the case of the Hollyhock, they have 
No. CCCI, Vol. XH. 
such power, and to continue the processes of vegetation 
until they have perfected seed. 
Messrs. Paul, of the Cbeshunt Nurseries, exhibited, 
at Glasgow, about twelvemonths since, some very beau¬ 
tiful spikes of this flower, and they have sent us the 
following narrative of the subsequent adventures of 
those spikes, which they justly characterise as “ a very 
extraordinary instance of the power with which vege¬ 
table life is endued for the preservation of its kind.” 
After the Glasgow Show was over, nine of the spikes 
were taken by Mr. James Neilson, auctioneer, of Fal¬ 
kirk, who thus pursues their history:— 
“ They were immediately put in water and placed on 
a table, so as to continue the gratification of viewing 
them as long as they would remain fresh. After ten 
days, however, they began to assume the sere and yollow 
leaf, and hence they were removed, and laid on a heap 
l 
