HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



163 



BOTANY. 



Primrose Oxlip (p. 115).— The example de- 

 scribed by " J. B." is, 1 think, a developed primrose, 

 and not a hybrid at all; that is, an oxlip produced 

 by development and not by hybridization. It 

 would be very interesting to find that the primrose 

 and oxlip fertilized each other, as well as the prim- 

 rose and cowslip, as "J. B." suggests; and I must 

 confess I see no reason why they should not do so. 

 Still such examples as the one described are, as far 

 as I know, so much more frequent in cultivated 

 primroses than in wild ones, that it looks as if the 

 richer nature of the soil alone was sufficient to cause 

 an exuberance of growth in the inflorescence. These 

 developed oxlips, as I take them to be, have nothing 

 in common with the cowslip except the umbellate 

 inflorescence ; whereas all hybrid oxlips partake in 

 some degree of the characters of each parent, and 

 generally smell like cowslips. Two years ago 1 

 asked, through the medium of Science-Gossip, some 

 of my friends to supply me with roots of the true 

 Primula elatior (Jacq.). I had several handsome 

 consignments sent me. They grow admirably in 

 garden, flowering freely, and are very ornamental, 

 and quite distinct from any other oxlip either hybrid 

 or developed. The shape of the seed-vessel seems 

 to me the best distinctive character ; but the odour 

 is also very peculiar, and rather disagreeable, re- 

 sembling that of the Starch Hyacinth.— Robert 

 Holland. 



Local Floras. — It occurs to me that if some of 

 your correspondents would furnish the titles of the 

 various local Eloras of Great Britain, it would be 

 most acceptable information to your botanical 

 readers. Few who cultivate that delightful science 

 fail to travel more or less during the summer ; and 

 often one might have the pleasure of gathering a 

 few rare plants, if furnished with a local Elora of 

 the place about to be visited. I am sorry not to 

 be able to set a better example, as the following 

 list contains all I have seen. Brewer's Elora of 

 Surrey, 1S63 ; Dyer and Triuen's Elora of Middle- 

 sex ; Edwin Lees's Botany of the Malvern Hills, 

 1S52 ; Relhan's Elora of Cambridgeshire ; Cooper's 

 Elora Metropolitana ; Watson's Botanical Guide; 

 and there are occasionally lists of plants in various 

 topographical works, as in Whitaker's " History of 

 Richmond," &c. " Watson " is little more than an 

 outline, and "Cooper" is nearly useless in the 

 vicinity of London ; e. g., who would now expect to 

 find the Leucojum cestioum in the Isle of Dogs ? No 

 doubt, many more works of the kind are in the 

 British Museum, but unless furnished with the 

 author's name it is difficult to find any book there. A 

 compilation, containing a classification of works ac- 

 cording to subjects, is much needed in the British 

 Museum, as "Watts" is now quite out of date. It is 



to be hoped that all who call themselves botanists, 

 when finding a rarity, will remember that useful 

 adage, " Of a little take a little," and not thought- 

 lessly gather ten times more of the plant than is 

 wanted : such rather deserve the name of " Plant- 

 haters" than "Plant-lovers."—//. E. Wilkinson, 

 Penge, S.E., Mag 19, 1871. 



Heartsease {Viola tricolor) is best known in 

 Danish by the name of stifmoder blomst, or step- 

 mother's flower ; the two large plain-coloured petals 

 being supposed to be the step-daughters, and the 

 others, which are more gay-looking, arc her own 

 daughters. A lady friend of mine who has been 

 some time in Denmark furnished me with the above 

 note respecting the Heartsease.— II. G. IF., Beau- 

 maris. 



Simethis bicolor, Kunth. — Has this rare 

 denizen of our island been found very recently on 

 the " sandy heath, now planted with firs, two miles 

 from Bournemouth, Dorset" ? At the very end of 

 May last, visiting what I concluded to be the right 

 spot, no trace of Simethis was visible. If not ex- 

 tinct, can any one who has found the plant of late 

 give such directions as will insure my success 

 another year ? It is much to be regretted that the 

 authors of new Eloras copy localities blindly, in the 

 way they do, either from some older manual, or 

 from the fountain-head of such information, and the 

 source whence botanical borrowers too often draw 

 error, — the out-of-date localities in that otherwise 

 excellent work " Cybele Britannica." These have 

 been, and are, copied year after year, ad nauseam, 

 without the least pretence at verification. " Take on 

 trust from another what a little patience and trouble 

 would ascertain for certain," has come to be a 

 standing rule, as though the great work begun by 

 H. C. Watson and other honoured veterans, was to 

 suffice for the present century, and find no one 

 capable of adding to and carrying it on. it is com- 

 paratively difficult to prove a negative, and yet 

 pretty certain that in one-half at least of the exact 

 localities given for rare plants in " Cybele," it would, 

 to-day, be perfectly useless to search. The produc- 

 tion of a " Local Flora," too, is, nowadays, a work 

 of compilation only: it is not considered at all 

 necessary for the author to be a practical working 

 botanist, nor for him to contribute one single 

 " station " to the work himself. And only during 

 the last day or two I have come across an instance 

 in which the author of a local Elora, for a large 

 and important district, was unable to recognize at 

 sight, in the fresh state, the order of a well-marked 

 ranunculaceous plant common enough in his own 

 neighbourhood ! — F. A. L. 



Tordylium maximum, Linn. — Can any one in- 

 form me if it be possible to obtain a few seeds of 

 this plant; if so, from whom?— F. A. L. 



