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298 THE NOKTHERN LIMIT OF EDIBLE BERRIES.
cisely the same terms. Fremontia is another. The discrepancies arise
from natural variations in the plants, but chiefly from the examination
of imperfect material. The beautiful yellow-flowered shrub Fremonlia,
at present so little known in gardens, was first of all placed among the
Mallows, till an examination of fresh not " mummified" specimens
clearly showed the plant to belong to Sterculiaceae and not to Malvacetie.
But even up to this time the plant is described as destitute of corolla
(the yellow portion being considered as calyx). This view, however,
is quite negatived by recent specimens, before us as we write, and in
which there is a small five-leaved calyx outside the large yellow corolla.
This calyx, however, or rather the greater portion of it, speedily falls
off", and hence at first sight of a fully developed flower there appears to
be no calyx. The stamens are opposite to the sepals and alternate
with the petals,—a circumstance which might have suggested the no-
tion that the yellow segments were truly petals. The early shedding
of the calyx is due to the formation of a very large quantity of thin-
walled oblong cells, which readily disintegrate, allow the sepals to fall
off at the slightest touch, and leave exposed a quantity of white mealy
material. The same thing takes place even in a more marked degree
in the base of the column of stamens, which becomes ultimately de-
tached from the base of the petals. There seems to be some difticulty
in the propagation of the Fremontia, which is the more to be regretted,
as it is calculated to be one of the brightest ornaments of the shrub-
bery.
—
Dr. Masters in ' Gardeners^ Chronicle.''
THE NORTHERN LIMIT OF EDIBLE BERRIES.
In a series of maps on physical geography, published by the National
Society, there is one by Dr. A. Petermann, showing the distribution of
the most important fruits over the globe. In most parts of the map, a
line describing the northern limit of edible berries is laid down con-
siderably below the frigid zone, while I find, by referring to specimens
in herbaria, that it is above the Arctic circle, and runs almost parallel
with latitude 72° N. Beyond that boundary no plants with succulent
fruits, no members of the genera Rnbm, Cornus, Empetrum, Vacciniiim,
and OxycoccHS, seem to grow ; and it is stated that in Lapland, dur-
ing some summers, berries do not ripen. The only berry-bearing