426 Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 



twenty, all fertile, with two minute scales at the base of each. A 

 drawing of the plant accompanied the communication. 



Dr. Balfour noticed the discovery, by Mr. Crighton, of Campa- 

 nula rapunculoides, near Luffness. 



Mr. James M'Nab exhibited a beautiful collection of British Or- 

 chids, containing specimens of all the species known as natives, with 

 one exception. 



Some new and rare plants from the hothouses of the Botanic 

 Garden were exhibited to the meeting, among which Thomasia to- 

 mentosa from Swan River, Posoqueria longifiora, Abutilon Russel- 

 lianum, Pistia stratiotes in flower, and a new species of Turrcea, were 

 particularly interesting. 



November 12. — Professor Balfour, President, in the Chair. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. " On three species of Glyceria," by Mr. Fred. Townsend. 

 The author gave full descriptions of Glyceria fluitans, Br., G.plicata, 

 Fries, and of a supposed new species found in Cambridgeshire and 

 Warwickshire, which he proposes to name G. hybrida, and pointed 

 out the distinctions by which they may be known from each other. 



2. Dr. Balfour read a description of Exogonium Purga, Benth., 

 the true Jalap plant, and noticed some points connected with its 

 medical history. The jalap plant was for a long time referred to 

 Convolvulus Jalapa of Linnaeus and Willdenow, or Ipom&a macrorhiza 

 of Michaux, a native of Vera Cruz. It has recently been proved, 

 however, from various sources, to be the plant now under notice, 

 which grows in the hill country near Jalapa in Mexico, at a height 

 of about 6000 feet above the level of the sea. The plant was first 

 sent to the Edinburgh Botanic Garden by Dr. Christison, who re- 

 ceived it from Dr. Coxe of Philadelphia, and it has flowered several 

 times in a cold frame. It belongs to the Nat. Ord. Convolvulacese. 

 Specimens of the recent plant were exhibited. He also exhibited a 

 fresh specimen in flower of Stenocarpus Cunninghami of Hooker. 

 This plant has been long known in gardens under the name of 

 Agnostus sinuatus. It is a small evergreen tree belonging to the 

 Nat. Order Proteacese. It was found by Allan Cunningham on the 

 banks of the Brisbane River, Moreton Bay, and has flowered this 

 season for the first time in Britain. 



3. " Remarks on a Pyrola found in Lancashire," by Mr. Kenyon. 

 Specimens of this plant, which is considered by its discoverer as a 

 new species, and which he proposes to call P. maritima, in allusion 

 to the localities in which it is generally found, were shown to the 

 meeting. It is nearly allied to P. rotundifolia, from which it may 

 be distinguished by its size, the form and length of its sepals, and 

 length of the stamens. Some excellent botanists who have exa- 

 mined it, are of opinion that it is only a variety of that species. 



Mr. Wm. M'lvor of the Kew Cfardens sent specimens of an Oro- 

 banche, considered by him to be 0. lucorum, Braun, gathered on 

 Epsom Downs ; also Thorea ramosissima, from Studley, Yorkshire ; 

 and Hormospora mutabilis, from the Thames, near Walton. 



