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BOTANICAL COLLECTIONS. 



Erica Mediterranea Mr James Townsend Mackay, curator of the Col- 

 lege botanic garden at Dublin, having made a botanical excursion to the 

 mountainous district of Cunnemara, during the past autumn, was fortunate 

 enough to find Erica Mediterranea "growing in prodigious abundance." 

 This is the most important addition which has of late years been made to 

 the Irish flora. The plant has long been cultivated in the gardens of the 

 curious. It withstands our Scottish winters in the open border with diffi- 

 culty, and only in sheltered situations, or near the sea-shore. It was re- 

 garded as being indigenous only to the countries bordering on the Mediter- 

 ranean, and to Portugal ; and certainly British botanists little expected to 

 be able to claim it as a native of the sister island. — Ed. New Phil. Journal^ 

 Dec. 1830. 



Iris tuherosa IMr Drummond, the curator of the botanical garden of 



Cork, some years ago discovered this plant in the neighbourhood of 

 Cork, at about an hour's walk from the town. It is said to grow in an old 

 hedge bank, composed of very dry soil, and in this situation produces flowers 

 freely, which it does rarely in gardens. " It will perhaps be thought by 

 some that the iris was not really a native, but merely the accidental outcast 

 of a garden. This, however, does not appear probable, as the plant is by no 

 means common — I may say it is rare- — in gardens; nor does it seem likely 

 that it should have been planted in this spot by some who wished to 

 naturalize it." — Rev. Mr Bree, in Maq. Nat. Hist. Jan. 1831. 



Elatine Hydropiper. — The plant figured under this name in English 

 botany having been long since proved to be E. hexandra, this was discarded 

 from the flora ; but it has lately been discovered by Mr Bowman on the 

 southeast side of Llyn Coron, near AbberfFraw in Anglesey, forming 

 matted tufts, four to six inches wide, both on the sandy margin of the lake, 

 and in the shallow water immediately contiguous. 



Culture of Exotic Vegetables in South Africa Mr J. Bowie is publishing 



in the South African Quarterly Journal a list of such exotic plants as are 

 adapted for the soil and climate of South Africa. This is accompanied 

 with notes on their uses, and mode of cultivation in that country. Among 

 those he recommends are, the Ukx EuropcBus, for the feeding of horses, kine, 

 and sheep ; Cytisus scoparius, for several purposes ; Sarnhucus niger ; JBuxus 

 sempervivens ; Ligustrum vulgare ; Pinus sylvestris ,- Pinus strobus ; Pinus 

 pinea ; Fraxinus excelsior ; Alnus glutinosa ; Myrtus communis ; JLaurus 

 nobilis ; Olea Europcea, which Mr Bowie recommends to be grafted on the 

 O. capensis ; Cinnamomum camphora ; Quercus robur ,• Cytisus laburnum ; 

 Mangifera Indica ; Psidium pyriferum ; all the CiYn, or orange genus ; Camellia 

 Thea, or tea plant ; Ribes rubrum ; Uva crispa, and grossularia. 



Rice Paper. — In 1820, M. Vallot endeavoured to demonstrate in the 

 Memoires de I'Academie de Dijon, (p. 187,) that this was the product of 

 the Tong-t-sao or Calamus petrceus of Loureiro. Dr Plooker, in 1829, 

 proved that it, or, at least, something with similar properties, is obtained 

 from slicing the pith of the Spola, or uEschynomena paludosa, Roxb. Some 

 other botanists suspect, that perhaps from neither is the true rice paper 

 obtained; it is a subject well worth the attention of those who have 

 correspondents in China. 



