MAT. 181 



(Vicia sylvatica,) covers the banks of the brook most 

 profusely with its lengthened braids twisting high 

 among the thickets. At Sapey bridge, too, where 

 a tumbling rill offers its tribute to the larger brook, 

 the flowers of the Columbine brightened the banks, 

 and the common Balm {Melissa officinalis}, appeared 

 as if wild. In a very overgrown and steepish place 

 near this spot, close to the main stream, I detected 

 the curious Geum intermedium, and a few yards fur- 

 ther several tall plants of the graceful Water Avens 

 (G. rivale). The former plant illustrates one of those 

 curious points that frequently claim the attention of 

 botanists the bounds within which species may vary 

 or approximate to other species. Geum intermedium, 

 so designated by EHBAKT, is a highly remarkable 

 plant, as large as G. rivale, and the corolla nearly as 

 fine, only that the petals are of a brilliant yellow as in 

 the common G. urbanum, but thrice as large. When 

 compared with G. rivale, its size and height are the 

 same, and the foliage agrees in softness and thinness 

 (not having the stiff prominent veins beneath so con- 

 spicuous in G. urbanum}, but the terminal lobe instead 

 of being only deeply cut as in rivale, is divided to the 

 base. The stem leaves are larger than in rivale, 

 deeply three-lobed, and the stipules much larger with 

 deeply indented teeth. Flowers slightly nodding, 

 calyx green, patent, not so hairy as in rivale, nor pur- 

 ple as in that. Petals brilliant yellow, not quite so 

 large nor with the prominent diverging veins so 

 noticeable in G. rivale. Upper joint of the awn 

 covered with long hairs, but the glabrous point is 

 strait, not nodding as in rivale. The larger flowers, 

 much broader petals, and patent calyx at once distin- 



