28 On the Longevity of the Yew. 



Asphodelece. places in St. Peter's Valley; also 



Scilla autumnalis. On the sand- in a marshy field near St. Brelade's 



hills and codes, very common. church. 



♦Allium (? sphaerocephalum). Banks Scirpus Savii. By the road side 



on both sides of the road between between the Quenvais and St. 



Beaumont and La Haule. I only Brelade's Bay. 



saw dead stalks of this plant ; but, Graminece 



from the description of it when in ^ 



flower, it appears to agree with J 



specimens of A. sphaerocephalum Filices. 



which I possess, gathered at Fon- Asplenium marinum. Cliffs at Ple- 



tainebleau. ; montPointandHavreGiffard. 



JuncecB. t lanceolatum. Rocks, walls, and 



Juncus acutus. On the Quenvais, hedge-banks, common; par- 



St. Ouen's Bay, Petit Port. ticularly fine in shady lanes 



Cyperdcece. between Greve de Lecq and 



Cyperus longus. Common in many Plemont Point. 



La Haule, St. Aubyn's, Oct. 20. 1836. 



— -i 



"id * sail 

 Art. VII. On the Longevity of the Yew, as ascertained Jrom actual 

 Sections of its Trunk ; and on the Origin of its frequent Occur- 

 rence in Churchyards. By J. E. Bowman, Esq., F.L.S. 



■ Though it has long been known that all exogenous or di- 

 cotyledonous trees form anew ring or layer of wood annually, 

 and that their age may be very nearly ascertained by the 

 number of these concentric circles in a transverse section, the 

 fact seems to have been made little use of, till the publication 

 of Professor De Candolle's interesting paper " On the Lon- 

 gevity of Trees, and the Means of ascertaining it." This 

 method had, indeed, been employed to estimate the age of the 

 huge baobab, or adansonia, of Senegal, and of the taxodium 

 of Mexico; but it had given them an antiquity so enormous, 

 that our reason paused, and a wish was felt that new and care- 

 ful examinations should be made by competent persons to 

 ascertain the fact. Our faith, however, will be strengthened, 

 if we bear in mind that the laws of vegetable life are totally 

 different from those of the animal kingdom. Animals attain 

 their full size at an early period of their existence, the original 

 bones, arteries, &c, continuing to perform the several func- 

 tions of the body until death, though the actual particles of 

 which they are composed constantly pass off and are replaced 

 by others : so that in an old animal we have more the sem- 



* Since writing the above, I have heard that my friend Mr. Joseph 

 Woods, during a short visit to Jersey last summer, has gathered Allium 

 sphaerocephalum ; so that I think I may safely conclude my plant to have 

 been rightly named. I was also told that Mr. Woods had discovered several 

 other plants new to the British flora ; but have only heard the name of 

 one, Eriica sativa D. C. (Brassica sativa Lin.) — No» 4. 



