40 



HARDWICKE'S SC IE NO E-G U S S IP. 



A GOSSIP ABOUT RAEE PLANTS. 



"DESIDES the plants I spoke of iu a former 

 -'-' article, other specialities may well claim the 

 attention of any botanist who makes Anglesea the 

 ground of liis rambles. There is Potamogeton Ian- 

 ceolatus, which grows in the river Lligwy, a small 

 stream that has its exit near to Moelfra, the scene 

 of the deplorable Royal Charter wreck. This Pota- 

 mogeton was sent to Sir J. E. Smith by the Rev. 

 Hugh Davies, author of " Welsh Botanology," and 

 ■was doubtless gathered in the above locality, 

 although Smith vaguely mentions " Lakes in North 

 Wales." After a lapse of more than half a century 

 we find that Dr. Syme (than whom no higher autho- 

 rity can be quoted on such a matter) repudiates all 

 other British localities recorded for this "most 

 distinct" species; and he does not M'ith certainty 

 identify this Lligwy plant with anything known 

 from the Continent or elsewhere ; thus rendering 

 our Anglesea locality the sole source of this pond- 

 weed. The species stands, in fact, as a pure Welsh 

 (Anglesea) product; and truly it grows in a most 

 " dim Sassenach " quarter of the island. Here and 

 there, along the full course of the above-named 

 stream, specimens may easily be obtained and in 

 plenty, but the plaut in fruit has never yet been 

 met with, so that the fruit remains unknown, 

 although flowers in plenty are produced. Either to 

 procure the fruit, or to show the why and the 

 wherefore of its absence will be appreciated work 

 for a botanist to accomplish. 



Long years ago there was found on the Anglesea 

 coast the Z'/o//s maritima. The celebrated naturalist 

 John Ray thus mentions its occurrence in his 

 " Synopsis :"— " Gnaphalium maritimum C. B., 

 maritimum multis J. B., marinum Ger., marinum 

 seu Cotonaria Park; Sea Cud-weed or Cotton- 

 weed, We found it plentifully on the sand near 

 Abermcney Ferry, in the isle of Anglesea, where 

 the common people call it Calamus aromaticus." 

 Although in plenty and well recognized when Ray 

 made his itinerary, it does not, as far as I know, 

 occur in subsequent records as having been met 

 with, and Anglesea is now judiciously bracketed 

 with the lost habitats on the south of England 

 coast, as it is not likely that so conspicuous a plant 

 would be overlooked by any botanist. Still, a per- 

 son in the neighbourhood would do well to institute 

 inquiries and explorations. Personally I have not 

 identified the locality given. Another rare com- 

 posite, the Linosyris vulgaris, or Chryfocoma Lino- 

 syris, also hails from the Anglesea seaboard, I 

 understand, in some old records, and if so, requires 

 recent confirmation, as it is hardly likely to occur, 

 being a limestone-loving species ; the plant has 

 lieen well authenticated from the not lar-distant 

 Orme's Head: whether it is to be found in this 

 latter station now is a question I have asked some 



who have botanized thereabouts, and have been 

 answered with the negative. The attractions of 

 Llandudno have doubtless drawn thither some of 

 the botanical readers of Sciekce-Gossip, who may 

 be able to make an authoritative response, and I 

 shall feel obliged if any can and will do so through 

 your pages. 



On the Aberffraw Common, near Llyn Coron, the 

 little Viola Ctirtisii grows in large quantity ; it is the 

 same form as that found at Braunton Barrows, fur- 

 ther north on the English coast, and is a diiferent 

 form to that which used to grow on the sandhills at 

 New Brighton, and passes under the same name. 



Callitriche autumncilis is also a good Anglesea 

 plant, first found by the late J\Ir. Wilson in the 

 outlet of Llyn Maelog, and this celebrated botanist 

 also discovered tlie true Carex punctata near Beau- 

 maris. In the spring and early summer Knappia 

 agrostidea — to give it the best-known title amongst 

 English botanists, of its many aliases, — is common 

 on AberSVaw Common, and Euphorbia Portlandica, 

 Inula critlunoides, Blysmui rufus, Erodium mos- 

 ehatuum, E. maritimum, Anthyllis Dillenii, Utricu- 

 laria minor, &c., are all gatherings the collector will 

 probably appreciate. 



Another rarity occurs to me to write a few words 

 about, although it is not in reality a plant of our 

 " Mona," but the history of the plant associates 

 with Anglesea botany. I refer to ErythrfPa latifolia, 

 concerning which so ranch misunderstanding has 

 arisen, and an Anglesea specimen incorrectly named 

 as such, is the cause of the bulk of the said mis- 

 understanding. The species E. latifolia was insti- 

 tuted by Sir J. E. Smith, and we are informed by 

 Dr. Syme that specimens from the neighbourhood 

 of Liverpool are existent in the Smithian Herbarium 

 at the Linnasan Society. It was, no doubt, in one 

 of Smith's several visits to his particular friend, 

 Mr. Roscoe, at Liverpool, during the first decade 

 of the century, that he became acquainted with the 

 plant through Dr. Bostock and Mr. John Shepherd, 

 had it not been for the contrary statement in the 

 " English Flora," namely, that he had never seen 

 the living plaut. One would have surmised, from 

 the very exact diagrams assigned to it, that Dr. 

 Smith had both seen and studied it in the growing 

 state, and proljably, I should have suggested, under 

 the direction of Mr. Shepherd, who was the then 

 able curator of the Botanic Garden at Liverpool, as 

 he was highly thought of by the doctor, and accom- 

 panied him in his botanical rambles during his 

 sojourns at Liverpool. The plant is referred to in 

 tiie "Addenda et Corrigenda" of "Flora Britan- 

 nica" (1S04), as a marked variety of E. centaurium, 

 and it is only in Smith's later work, his "English 

 Flora" (1828), that it is raised to the rank of a 

 species. It had not been included in the issue of 

 English Botany which was published up to 1814 

 but some short time after the untimely death 



