BOTANICAL NOTES AND NEWS 131 



more often among tares than among cereals alone. Agrostemma 

 Githago is one of the most frequent of such casuals, and is often 

 plentiful among tares, but seldom reappears next year on the same 

 ground. Last September I met twice in one week with casuals, not 

 previously seen by me in Scotland, among tares in North Aberdeen. 

 In a small field about a mile N.W. from Inverurie were growing 

 together with the tares the following : Saponaria Vaccaria, L. (a not 

 infrequent casual near Aberdeen); Galium Vaillantii, DC.; G. tricorne, 

 Stokes ; Asperula arvensis, L., all four in fair quantity, and one 

 specimen of a slender Astragalus (?) too young to permit of identifi- 

 cation. None of the species had been previously noticed in North 

 Aberdeen (93). On inquiry I learned that the seed had been pur- 

 chased in Inverurie. 



Three days later, in a patch of tares in Culsalmond, several miles 

 north-west of the other locality, I noticed a peculiar tare among the 

 common Vicia sativa, with greenish petals, and close to it found 

 another, also new to me, with narrow purple flowers. A reference 

 to Reichenbach's " Icones Florae Germanicae et Helvetica? " enabled 

 me to identify the first as Vicia melanops, Sibth., a native of Southern 

 Europe, and the second as Vicia dasycarpa, Ten., also from Southern 

 Europe ; and with the type occurred a variety of glabrescens (Koch). 

 The seed in this case I was told had been purchased at a shop in a 

 small village a mile or two distant ; but the aliens indicated that the 

 seed in both localities had been imported from the continent of 

 Europe. JAMES W. H. TRAIL. 



On Poa laxa and Poa strieta of our British Floras. Under 

 this heading Mr. Druce contributes to the Linnean Society's Journal 

 ("Botany," xxxvi. pp. 421-429, 3oth July 1903) a valuable paper 

 on the true relations of these grasses to one another and to other 

 forms. After examination of the type specimens and of the plants 

 in their native habitats, he arrives at the conclusion that there 

 are only two forms clearly distinguishable, with the following 

 synonymy : 



POA ALPINA, L., var. AUCTIFOLIA, G. C. Druce = P. strieta, Syme 

 (in " E. B." t. 1 7 93) = .P. flexuosa, Knapp, Don, and Parnell, 

 z\\ pro parte = P. laxa, Bab. Man. = " laxa proper " (Hooker's 

 "S. F." 1870). 



P. LAXA, Hasnke, var. SCOTICA, G. C. Druce = P. minor, Bab. 

 Man. = " P. flexuosa, Sm." of Syme = / > . ettlaxa, Syme (in 

 "E. B." t. 1164) = P. laxa, var. minor (Hooker's, " S. F." 

 1870)= ".P. laxa proper" (Hooker's " S. F." 1886). 



These two are described, and the history of the various changes 

 in the nomenclature that they have been known by in Britain is 

 treated of with considerable fulness. 



