admit of ready absorption and tardy perspiration. It is this which enables the Livelong and several others of the species to live and grow when separated from the root. One of these succulent leaves, as that of an Aloe, will, when partly dry, again become plump in a few hours if plunged into water. The Biting Stonecrop is very similar to some others of the yellow flowering species, but even when not in bloom it may be known from all others by the mode in which its short thick leaves are arranged on its barren stems, where they crowd so closely as to overlap each other. Country people call it Small House-leek, Prick Madam, Gold Chain, and Wall Pepper, the last name being merited by its pungent flavour; indeed, it should be tasted with caution, as its juice is acrid enough to blister the tongue. It was a plant much in use among the old herbalists, both as an outward application, and also, when boiled in beer, as a remedy in pestilential fevers. They deemed it an "expeller of poisons," and it stood preeminent among simples as a cure for ague. This species is the Trique Madame of the French. 8. S. sexanguláre (Tasteless Yellow Stonecrop).Leaves linear, blunt, rounded, and spurred at the base; cymes 3-cleft, and smooth; sepals acute, not swollen at the base. Plant perennial. This species is a very doubtful native, found rarely on old walls, as on those of Greenwich Park. The leaves are much longer than in the last species, and arranged in six rows on the barren shoots. 9. S. refléxum (Crooked Yellow Stonecrop).-Leaves awl-shaped, scattered, spurred at the base, convex on both sides; flowers in cymes; sepals egg-shaped, rather acute. Plant perennial. A variety of this kind, which has more slender leaves and is of glaucous hue, is termed by some botanists S. glaúcum. It is described as growing on some dry hills near Mildenhall, Suffolk, and on some other spots, but it is doubted if it is truly distinct from the ordinary form of the plant. Its leaves are described as not spreading, whereas in the general state of the Crooked Stonecrop they spread, and turn backwards. The flowering stems of this species are more slender and tough than those of any of the preceding kinds; they are from six to ten inches long. In July and August thick clusters of its bright yellow flowers are to be seen clothing many an old wall and sunny bank with golden beauty. Dr. George Johnston, says of this plant, remarking on its tenacity of life, "I pressed strongly, between dry papers, a specimen without radicles, and the flowers of which were not in the least expanded. The papers were changed every three or four days; but at the end of as many weeks so far was life from being extinct, that it had protruded many white root-fibres, from one to two inches long, and the flowers had fully expanded themselves." 10. S. rupéstre (St. Vincent's Rock Stonecrop).Leaves slightly flattened, spurred at the base, and 5 in a whorl, those of the barren branches overlapping each other; flowers in corymbs. Plant perennial. This species opens its flowers during June and July, not only on the St. Vincent's and Cheddar rocks, but also on walls about Darlington, and in some places in Wales. It is very nearly allied to the last, differing chiefly in its more flattened leaves. 11. S. Forsteriánum (Welsh Rock Stonecrop.) Leaves flattened, spurred at the base, those of the barren branches spreading in many rows. Plant peren nial. This species flowers in June and July, on rocks near waterfalls in Wales. The short, erect, densely leafy, barren stems, forming little rose-like tufts, are its chief characteristics, but some botanists doubt if it is essentially distinct from the preceding. ORDER XXXVI. GROSSULARIEÆ. THE GOOSEBERRY AND CURRANT TRIBE. Calyx growing from the summit of the ovary, 4 or 5 cleft; petals 4-5, small, inserted at the mouth of the calyx-tube, and alternating with the stamens. Ovary 1-celled, with the young seeds arranged in two opposite rows; style 2-4-cleft; berry crowned with the withered calyx, pulpy, containing stalked seeds among the pulp. This Order consists of shrubs with or without thorns, and with simple lobed alternate leaves, plaited while in bud. The woody stems and branches are round, or irregularly angled. The species grow only in the temperate parts of the world. 1. RIBES (Currant and Gooseberry).-Calyx 5-cleft; petals 5, inserted at the mouth of the calyx-tube; stamens 5; berry many-seeded, crowned by the withered calyx. Name given in ancient times by the Arabians to a species of Rhubarb. 1. RIBES (Currant and Gooseberry). * Flowers 1-3 together; branches thorny. 1. R. grossulária (Gooseberry).-Leaves rounded and lobed; flower-stalks short, hairy, 1-3-flowered, with a pair of small bracts; thorns either single, or two or three together. Among the many kinds of Gooseberry which are cultivated in our gardens few are preferred for their fruits to the varieties of this common species. The plant grows in many woods and hedges, though it does not seem to be truly wild. Rough and smooth, green, red, and yellow gooseberries may, many of them, claim this common species as their parent. From very early times the gooseberry has been much cultivated in this country, and it was by our forefathers called Feaberry. Mr. T. Hudson Turner says, "The earliest notice of the gooseberry which I have found is in the fourth year of Edward I., 1276, when plants of this genus were purchased for the king's garden at Westminster; but as it is an indigenous fruit, we may infer that it was known at a remote time, though probably only in a wild state." Tusser, who wrote his work on Husbandry in the time of Henry VIII., says : "The barbery, respis, and gooseberry too, Look now to be planted as other things doe;" and Lord Bacon, writing about fifty years after Tusser, says, "The earliest fruits are strawberries, cherries, gooseberries, and corrans; and after them, early apples, early pears, apricots, and rasps; and after them, damisons, and most kind of plums, peaches, &c.; and the latest are apples, wardens, grapes, nuts, quinces, sloes, |