274 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
September  19,  1901, 
NARCISSUS  QUEEN  OF  SPAIN.  (See  page  267.) 
Royal  Horticultural— Scientific  Committee,  Sept,  lOtlj. 
Present  :  Dr.  M.  T.  Masters  (in  the  chair)  ;  Messrs.  Hogg, 
Holmes,  Druery,  Mawley,  Chapman,  Dr.  Cooke,  Rev.  W.  Wilks,  and 
Rev.  G.  Henslow,  Hon.  Sec.  Visitor,  Mr.  Crawshay. 
Sedum  seedlings. — Mr.  Holmes  called  attention  to  curious  differences 
in  the  colouring  of  the  flowers  of  C.  maximum.  He  observed,  “  The 
flowers  as  seen  at  Kew  on  the  rcckery  are  green.  Those  of  the  variety 
purpurascens  (or  atropurpureum  ?)  are  purplish,  as  well  as  the  leaves 
and  stem.  In  the  plant  exhibited  the  colouring  appears  to  follow  the 
development  of  the  flower.  The  unopened  buds  have  a  purplish  flush, 
which  seems  to  disappear  when  the  protandrous  stamens  emerge; 
these  then  assume  a  pinkish-purple  tinge.  Finally,  when  the  flower 
opens  the  ovaries  are  at  first  green,  but  subsequently  assume  the  same 
purplish  tint.  This  looks  as  if  it  were  adapted,  in  the  first  place,  to 
attraot  insects  to  the  flower  when  the  anthers  are  mature,  and  seoondly 
to  the  ovaries.  The  flowers  on  the  corymb  show  some  flowers  with 
green  ovaries,  and  some  with  purplish  ones.” 
Fungus  pests  of  the  Carnation  family. — A  long  paper  on  the  diseases 
of  Carnations  and  other  genera  of  the  Caryophyllaceae  attacked  by 
fungi,  in  which  every  species  is  described,  accompanied  by  two  plates, 
was  presented  by  Dr.  M.  C.  Cooke,  who  gave  an  interesting  abstract. 
The  paper  will  be  published  in  full  in  the  Society’s  Journal.  An 
unanimous  vote  of  thanks  was  given  to  Dr.  Cooke  for  his  valuable 
contribution. 
Potentilla  with  foliaceous  flowers.  —  Rev.  C.  Wolley-Dod  sent 
specimens  of  P.  nepalensis,  in  which  the  parts  of  the  flowers  were 
changed  into  minute  green  leaves,  as  oconrs  on  the  green  Rose  and 
alpine  Strawberry. 
Malformed  Vetch  leaflets. — Miss  Armitage  of  Ross  sent  specimens  of 
the  foliage  of  a  Vetch,  in  which  the  leaflets  in  many  cases  resembled 
Pea  pods.  A  somewhat  similar  result  from  the  puncture  of  insects  is 
known  to  occur  in  Pistacia  lentiscus,  and  Beyeria  opaca,  of  Australia 
(Jour.  Lin.  Soo.,  1883,  p.  84,  pi.  21).  In  this  case  it  is  probably  due  to 
an  aphis. 
Begonia  subvirescent.— Mr.  Wilks  received  and  exhibited  a]  flower, 
one  petal  of  which  was  partially  green. 
Epilobium,  monstrous. — Mr.  Rasor  of  Woolpit,  Suffolk,  sent  mal¬ 
formed  flowers,  observing : — “  In  a  ditch  some  40  or  50  yards  long 
were  growing  hundreds  of  E.  hirsutum,  one  particular  batoh  of  which, 
containing  about  a  soore  of  plants,  had  flowers  similar  to  those  sent. 
You  will  observe  that  instead  of  the  usual  rose  coloured  petals  they  are 
much  reduced  in  size,  and  have  but  a  faint  tinge  of  colour  on  the 
margin.”  The  essential  organs  were  quite  perfect,  the  pollen  being 
shed  in  the  bud,  the  pistils  finally  setting  abundance  of  seeds,  though 
the  flowers  were  quite  unattractive  in  appearance  to  insects. 
Odontoglossum  diseased. — Mr.  Crawshay  asked  for  information  as  to 
the  cause  of  the  tips  of  leaves  becoming  yellow,  brown,  and  black.  The 
spots  appear  to  start  anywhere,  and  in  his  opini  m  were  endophytic.  It 
has  been  known  for  some  six  years,  and  though  often  examined  no 
fungus  has  been  discovered.  It  appears  on  leaves  of  the  first  bulb  and 
on  young  and  old  plants,  though  they  may  be  otherwise  perfectly 
healthy  and  causing  no  difference  in  the  flowers.  No  interpretation  has 
as  yet  been  found  for  the  phenomenon. 
Bombax  sp. — Rev.  W.  Wilks  asked,  on  behalf  of  a  correspondent, 
how  these  trees,  presumably  the  Baobab,  Adansonia  digitata  (though 
not  known  by  this  name  in  books),  of  Africa,  could  be  destroyed. 
The  large  trunks  are  so  soft  that  the  timber  cannot  be  sawn  or  cut  with 
an  axe.  Moreover,  the  natives  will  not  attempt  to  destroy  them  for 
fear  of  the  spirits  which  they  suppose  to  reside  in  these  trees. 
Gunpowder  and  dynamite  were  suggested,  and  saturating  with 
saltpetre  and  then  burning  might  probably  prove  effective. 
Bark  stripped  off. — Dr.  Masters  referred  to  an  inquiry  made  at  a 
previous  meeting  with  reference  to  strips  of  bark  of  an  oblong  shape, 
neatly  taken  off  the  branches  of  trees,  apparently  Larch  ;  no  interpre¬ 
tation  could  then  be  given.  It  has  been  now  suggested  that  the  strips  in 
question  may  have  been  pioked  off  by  nuthatches  for  the  purpose  of 
nest  building. 
Plum  roots  diseased. — Mr.  Veitch  sent  some  specimens,  which  Dr. 
Cooke  undertook  to  examine  and  report  upon. 
Viola  sylvestris  cleistogamous. — Mr.  Henslow  exhibited  specimens  of 
this  plant  in  flower  and  in  fruit,  observing  that  he  had  never  found  it 
otherwise  than  with  cleistogamous  buds,  which  are  borne  in  all  the  axils 
of  the  leaves,  whereas  in  V.  odorata  and  V.  hirta  they  only  occur  on  the 
runners  concealed  beneath  the  leaves.  Though  not  alluded  to  by 
Hooker  in  the  “  Students’  Flora,”  it  seemed  to  be  an  important 
distinction  between  V.  canina  with  V.  sylvatioa  and  the  last  two 
mentioned.  The  structure  of  the  buds  is  much  the  same  in  all,  the 
petals  being  reduced  to  minute  green  lanceolate  structures,  the  five 
anthers  having  spoon-shaped  connectives  pressed  down  upon  the  summit 
of  the  pistil.  This  has  a  short  curved  style  with  truncate  stigmatio 
orifice. 
NARCISSUS  MAXIMUS.  (See  page  267.) 
