Our Botanical Column

Abstract

THE PANDANEÆ.—A fine series of Pandanus fruits has recently been received at the Kew Museum from Mr. John Home, of the Botanic Garden, Mauritius These fruits form the first consignment of a quantity collected in Mauritius and Seychelles by Mr. Home for transmission to Kew, as material for the Pandaneæ in the forthcoming Mauritius Flora, and will form a valuable addition to the Museum collection. The fruit-heads of the Pandaneæ like the cones of the Piceas, are very difficult to preserve entire except they be kept in fluid, and even then, if they are gathered too ripe the single drupes are apt to separate from the central axis. Those just to hand from Mr. Horne are the best set ever received at Kew, inasmuch as they appear to have been carefully selected and gathered before they were too ripe, wooden tallies with numbers cut in them firmly fixed upon each specimen with copper wire, and the whole sown up tightly in stout sacking or canvas and placed at once in rum. In this way the collection contained in five small barrels arrived in perfect safety at Kew, where the specimens, after being taken from the spirit and the canvas coverings cut away, were securely enclosed either in a network of thin copper wire or fine strong cord and gradually dried. We mention these facts because travellers and collectors too frequently send home specimens of Conifers, Cycad cones, or others of a similar nature simply rolled in paper or packed in sawdust; in the one case they dry and fall to pieces immediately upon opening, while in the other the sawdust absorbs moisture, and the fruit or cone simply rots and becomes quite worthless. Another advantage in sending woody fruits like the Pandani in fluid in the manner above described, is that they can be removed, dried, and mounted on wooden stands, by which they are more convenient for examination, and occupy much less space, and are manifestly more economical both for public and private collections than when preserved in large glass jars in alcohol. The collection, numbering some twenty-three heads of fruits, sufficiently illustrates the variety of form and size in the different species, the largest being some thirteen inches through, and the smallest not more than two inches. Mr. Balfour, who accompanied the Transit of Venus Expedition to Rodrigues, has also paid special attention to the Pandaneæ, and his collections, preserved, we believe in a similar manner, have recently arrived in this country.