Vol. HL, No, 9] BULLETIN OF THB TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB, New York, September, 1872, 
73. Notes by Mr. Hall—tIt is well known that the name Bugloss comes 
from the Greek Bovylwaocce, and means “ Ox-tongue;” but Dioseo- 
rides relates (Ihave not the work at hand, and cannot remember pre- 
cisely the place) that the Greek vame is only a translation of the 
Phenician “ Haleshon Eleph,” «name the Carthaginians applied to 
an herb they used medicinally. The name, any Hebraist will im- 
mediately see, means “the tongue of ox,” or as we would say, “the 
ox-tongue.” 
Some years since, I found in Sennet, Cayuga County, a number 
of exceedingly large specimens of Phegopteris hexagonoptera, Fée. 
On burning some broken pieces, after I had dried them, I noticed 
that instead of leaving an ordinary ash, each piece left a white glo- 
bule of nearly pure carbonate of potash. Ithen took a whole frond 
and set one end on fire, holding the other, when a little white glob- 
bule of KO,CO, followed up the burning end, hissing and boiling 
and increasing as it went on, and attaining the size of a very large 
Pin-head by the time the frond had burned up to my fingers ; but 
no other ash appeared. I repeated the experiment several times 
with the same result, and have since tried specimens from other 
localities, and have often found that the fern would thus burn en- 
tirely up, with nothing solid left but a white globule of carbonate 
of potash. How pure the salt was I cannot say, as I only satisfied 
myself of its main character. I ought to mention that the soil in 
which the specimens first mentioned grew was mainly formed of 
decayed wood. : 
74. The Willows of Amherst, Mass—All the common species are 
abundant, six or seven sometimes being in close proximity, ; 
Salix discolor shows its catkins soon after the first of April, and is 
rapidly followed by S, humilis, tristis and sericea, these by S. livida 
and cordata, and still later by S. lucida and nigra. Several varieties 
of S. fragilis and alba are cultivated for hedges and other purposes. 
S. myrtilloides is found in adjoining towns, and S. longifolia on the 
opnecticut river farther north. : ; : 
It is important that the place each species holds in Anderson’s 
arrangement should be known, but it is sufficiently puzzling to as- 
sign each its place according to Gray’s Manual, and the MOTE 80, As 
the term “species,” in many cases, really means “group,” and often 
‘avery co ive one. 
1. Sali Viscobn, Mable, as found here is reasonably constant as 
described, and the ordinary forms are readily recognized in flower. 
The mature leaves occasionally retain some pubescence beneath, and 
can hardly be told from the similar leaves of S. humilis except by 
their being serrate. Old bushes have often exceedingly small leaves. 
2. Salix humvilis, Marsh., seems to be a convenient name for all 
the protean forms occurring between undoubted S. discolor and S. — 
fristis. * * * 
One form, with slender, dark twigs and thin leaves, growing in 
the shade, is very like S. discolor. A second, with eee ons, Seay, 
downy shoots, numerous and thick leaves, very woolly beneath, and 
