NOTES ON MADEIRA PLANTS. 163 



found in Madeira to two. Since Asplenium (Allantodia) umbrosum has 

 been found in the Himalayas, the number of species of Fern com- 

 mon and peculiar to the Canaries, Madeira, and the Azores, is reduced 

 to two 5 and of these Asplenium (Allantodia) axillare forms one, the 

 specific distinctness of which appears to be open to considerable 



doubt.' 



I will take this opportunity of mentioning, that when in England 

 last summer, I made out, by reference to the plants in the Banksian 

 Herbarium, that specimens of the Fern commonly known as Nepftro- 

 dium (or Lastrea) fcenisecii (a Fern about which so much has been 

 written), collected in Madeira by Masson in 1776, had been designated 

 Polypodium cemulum by Dr. Solander ; and upon reference to books, it 

 appeared clear that Aiton and Willdenow had adopted Dr. Solander's 

 name. Consequently, if priority of application is to regulate nomen- 

 clature, the name Neplirodium, (or Lastrea) fcenisecii must give way to 

 that of Lastrea cemula. The Fern which has been cultivated for many 

 years by nurserymen under the erroneous name of Aspidium (Polysti- 

 chum) (ernulum, is the Aspidium frondosum of Solander and Lowe. 



In Mr. Bunbury's ' List of Plants apparently peculiar to Madeira ■ 

 (see his remarks on the Botany of Madeira in the first volume of the 

 'Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society'), a list restricted 

 to twenty-one plants out of about eighty-five, there appears Lotus glau- 

 cus, Sol., a plant which grows at the Azores and the Cape Verdes. In 

 his ' List of Plants common to Madeira and the Canaries ' (eighteen 



Webb 



Weste 



Turning to Mr. Lowe's recent and valuable paper (' Hooker's Lon- 

 don Journal of Botany,' 1856, pp. 289-302), botanists may like to 

 know, what Mr. Lowe has omitted to state, that Pedrosia Porlosanc- 

 tana, Lowe, had been previously described by Mr. Webb under the 

 name of Lotus Loweanus, (Phyt. Can. vol. i. p. 87), and that Pedrosia 

 fiorida, Lowe, agrees with Lotus sessili/olius, DC., as described by Mr. 

 Webb in the same work, vol. ii. p. 85, and figured on tab. 60. The 

 former plant appears to be peculiar to Porto Santo, whilst the latter is 

 common to that island and Tenerifte. Thirdly, is there any valid spe- 

 cific distinction between Mr. Lowe's Porto-Santan Medicago calcar and 

 M. helix, Wffld., var. 0. spuma, Guss., a Canarian and Mnhhrrnnoan 

 plant of which Mr. Webb gathered specimens in Porto Santo, and gav. 



