162 



HABDWICKE'S S CIENCE- GOSSIP. 



fJuLY 1, 1SG8. 



BOTANY. 



Claytonia Perfoliata (p. 140).— In the New 

 Series of the Phytologist, and I believe else- 

 where, I have seen the Claytonia found in Chats- 

 worth Park named C. alsino'ides, not C. perfoliata. 

 The former was also recorded from the Wood of 

 Scone, near Perth, by Mr. John Sim. If this be 

 really the one found at Chatsworth, and if it still 

 occur there, I suppose it has as much claim to our 

 notice as C. perfoliata. Can any one settle the 

 matter by referring to Chatsworth specimens ? I 

 found C. perfoliata some years back on a wall by 

 the " Green Man " public-house, at the entrance of 

 Putney Heath.— B. 



Winter-greens. — Will any reader of Science- 

 Gossip be kind enough to send me fresh specimens 

 of Pyrola media or P. secunda, especially the former? 

 I am anxious to compare them with P. minor, and 

 would gladly pay any expense incurred in sending. 

 — James Britten, High Wycombe. 



" Notes and Queries." — Can you or any of your 

 correspondents tell me in which number of Notes 

 and Qtieries I should find a list of Buckingham- 

 shire plants, collected chiefly in the neighbourhood 

 of Great Marlow ? I am informed that such a bst 

 ■was published in Notes and Queries some five or 

 six years back, and am anxious to obtain it. — B. 



Cornish Coast Perns. — Whilst on a tour last 

 month along the north coast of Cornwall, I saw 

 growing on the upper part of a sea-cave, near the 

 entrance, a fine specimen of the Osmunda regalis, 

 together with the Asplenimn marinum, and Athyrlum 

 jili.rfo?mina ; and I also saw the same plants in a 

 similar situation a little further on. This was on a 

 very rocky part of the coast called Bcdruthen Steps, 

 in Watergate Bay. As this situation is so very 

 unusual for Osmunda, I have thought it might 

 interest some of your readers. The rocks were of 

 a slaty character, containing lead ore. — George B. 

 Berrin. 



Andromeda Polyfolia.— In a week or so this 

 very beautiful plant wiH be plentifully in flower on 

 our Cheshire peat-bogs. It is described in the 

 books as flowering in June, which it really does ; 

 but, like honeysuckle, it also has two distinct 

 seasons of flowering, and will bloom again freely in 

 August, just about the time that the first crop of 

 fruit is ripening. This is not generally noticed in 

 botanical books. The bunches of flowers arc 

 terminal ; but as soon as they wither, several young 

 branches shoot out from below the fruit, just as they 

 do in the lihododendron, and in a mouth or more 

 these branches are also tipped with the delicate, 

 pale pink blossoms. This year I find that, probably 

 on account of an extremely dry, hot forcing spring 

 which we are having, many plants have, even now, 



produced one crop of fruit, and are already flowering 

 a second time on the young branches ; so that most 

 likely the Andromeda will flower three times this 

 year. — Bobert Holland, June 1st. 



Lemna gibba. — In Science- Gossip for January, 

 1S65, there is an interesting article on Lemnacece, in 

 which it is stated that the most natural habitat of 

 Lemna gibba is the stagnant water of ditches and 

 ponds in a semi-putrid condition, from the presence 

 therein of decayed vegetable and other matter. 

 That the plant exists in such situations I do not 

 doubt, after having read the article in question ; 

 but that impure water is at all requisite for its 

 existence I am able to disprove, for I have recently 

 found it flourishing under exactly opposite con- 

 ditions. Since my reading of the article, I have 

 searched diligently for L. gibba in the situations 

 there stated to be favourable to its production, 

 without having once met with it, although this 

 neighbourhood abounds with stagnant ditches and 

 ponds. A few days ago, however, I came upon it 

 growing in great abundance in a large pond, with an 

 area of about 150 square yards, and containing water 

 so transparent that, on pulling aside the dense 

 matting of duckweed with which its surface was 

 entirely covered, the bottom of the pond was clearly 

 visible at a depth of eighteen inches near the edge. 

 With a branch from the hedge I drew out a large 

 piece of the tangled duckweed, and on examining 

 it I found, to my surprise, that it consisted not of 

 L. minor, as I had anticipated, but of L. gibba, 

 thinly interspersed with L. trisulca, L.polyrrhiza, 

 and L. minor. Observing another pond of nearly 

 equal dimensions about twenty yards distant in an 

 adjoining field, I proceeded thither, and on ex- 

 amining the duckweed with which its surface was 

 partially covered, I found it to consist of L. minor, 

 sparsely intermixed with L. trisulca, L. gibba not 

 being present, although this pond is so close to the 

 other in which it is plentiful, and the water it con- 

 tained was in an impure state, caused by the 

 plunging of the cattle which I observed were grazing 

 in the field. On pursuing my excursion, I came to 

 another large pond of clear water about a couple of 

 hundred yards distant from the other two, which 

 was also covered with a green mantle, composed of 

 L.polyrrhiza, L. gibba, and L. minor— the first two 

 species preponderating. It is therefore clearly 

 proved to me that impure water is by no means 

 necessary to the existence or propagation of L. gibba, 

 as has been stated, and that L. gibba is not L. minor 

 converted by a fattening process. As the fore- 

 going facts may prove of interest to some of the 

 readers of Science-Gossip, and their insertion in 

 its pages elicit further information on the subject, I 

 have forwarded, for the satisfaction of the Editor, 

 specimens of the three most rare species, all of 

 which were taken from the one pond.—/. B. Chester. 



