376 Botanical Society of London. 



A specimen of (Enanthe pimpinelloides (Linn.), to show the cylin- 

 drical form of the fruit, which exactly corresponds with that of the 

 Sardinian plant (admitted to be the true species), except in having 

 less callosity at the base. This was taken from a plant in Mr. Wat- 

 son's garden, the parent of which had been brought thither from a 

 hedge-bank in the Isle of Wight. Mr. Watson recognised a second 

 species in Britain, often sent to him under the name of (Enanthe peu- 

 cedanifolia, and readily distinguished by its turbinate or elliptic fruit, 

 upon extremely short pedicels, and more resembling (E. globulosa 

 than (E. pimpinelloides. The peculiar form of the root in some other 

 specimens, resembling that of a dahlia in miniature, induces a sup- 

 position that these may be a third species, although Mr. Watson has 

 satisfied himself that the roots vary greatly with age and situation, 

 and do not afford such certain characters for distinction as may be 

 found in the fruit. The (E. Lachenalii (of Babington's ' Manual') 

 is apparently the species frequently sent under the name of (E. peu- 

 cedanifolia, though occasionally named (E. pimpinelloides by English 

 botanists. Mr. Watson would illustrate this subject more fully on 

 another occasion. 



Specimens of the garden fennel, to show the little importance to 

 be attached to the difference of the stems being fistulose or filled with 

 pith. These specimens were sections of stems arising from a single 

 root, of different dimensions, but of nearly equal age and stage of de- 

 velopment. Some of them (the thicker) were hollow, others filled 

 with pith. A question respecting a distinction of species between the 

 wild and garden fennels has been raised in consequence of one author 

 describing the stems as fistulose, while another finds them solid ; but 

 since both conditions can exist on one root at the same time, such a 

 distinction would be quite inadmissible for a specific character. 



A stem of Hieracium Lawsoni, which had borne twenty flowers in 

 Mr. Watson's garden this spring, and others had flowered more 

 numerously than this one. In the wild state on the Grampians (the 

 locality from which the plants were brought three years ago) this 

 species has usually two, three, or four flowers only. He had seen a 

 wild Irish specimen with six or eight flowers. No care had been 

 bestowed upon the plants in his garden, except occasional watering 

 in dry weather, and removal of weeds from about them. Mr. Watson 

 sent the specimen merely as an example of the little dependence to 

 be placed upon the number of flowers in the Hieracia ; indeed among 

 the Composite generally. A wild plant, growing free from the in- 

 terference of other plants about it, might also increase its flowers 

 five or tenfold, as practical botanists must be well aware from ob- 

 servation. 



Read " A Synoptical View of the British Fruticose Rubi, arranged 

 in groups, with explanatory remarks " (part 4), by Edwin Lees, Esq., 

 F.L.S. The paper was accompanied by drawings and specimens. 



August 2. — J. Reynolds, Esq., Treasurer, in the Chair. 



Mr. G. S. Gibson and Mr. J. Tatham, jun., presented specimens 

 of a new British plant, Spergula stricta of Swartz (Arenaria uliginosa, 

 Schleich. and DeCand. ; Alsinantha stricta, Fenzl and Reichenbach), 



