so Thp: Ottawa Naturalist. [Juh- 



BOTANICAL NOTE. 

 Two Newly Introduced European Plants. 



Among some plants recently presented to the herbarium 

 at the Central Experimental Farm by the Rca-. Brother Marie 

 Victorin of Longueuil College, Que., were specimens of two 

 introduced European species, which are of more than usual 

 interest, viz.: the beautiful so called Flowering-rush, Butomus 

 umbcllatus, L. and the strong-smelling Danewort or Ground 

 Elder, Sanibucus Elnilus, L. These two plants are easily recog- 

 nized. Butomus is a water pk.nt of great heauty, which is 

 classified by some botanists with the Water-plgntain Family, 

 the Alism.acege and is there placed in the "Hand-list of Her- 

 baceous Plants of the Ro^'al Botanic Gardens", Kew (England), 

 1902, but in Gaston Bonnier's "Flore complete de la France" the 

 Butomeae are ranked as a separate family on account of their 

 nine stamens. The genus Buiomtis is interesting also from the 

 fact that it bears ovules all over the internal surface of its 

 carpels. Butomus mnhellahis is referred to by the eminent 

 English botanist, Dr. Leo. IT. Grindon, as "one of the hand- 

 somest plants England produces. It is well-known under the 

 erroneous name of Flov/ering-rush and is frequently cultivated 

 in botanic gardens." This plant has tall stems two to four feet 

 high, bearing at the summit of each a large umbel of showy 

 rosy-red flowers. The peduncles are from three to four inches 

 long, and each bears three rosy petals and three similarly 

 coloured sepals, which inclose six carpels and nine stamens. 

 The leaves are linear, two to three feet long, acutely three- 

 edged and more or less spirally tv.isted at the tips. Brother 

 Victorin writes that he first collected this species about two 

 years ago, when it was identified for him by his confrere the 

 Rev. Brother Roland Germain, who knew it M'ell in France. 

 The first specimens were found at Laprairie on the St. Lawrence 

 River, opposite to Montreal, in 1905, then in 1906 at Longueuil 

 and Beauharnois, and in 1907 at Chateauguay. Brother Victorin 

 believes that it also grows around the Boucherville Islands, 

 a few miles below Longueuil. The Rev. Professor Oliver of 

 Mont St. Louis, Montreal, has found the plant at Valois on 

 the Island of Montreal. Brother Victorin feels confident that 

 Butomus ripens its seeds at Longueuil, and this certainly seems 

 to be the case from specimens which he has forwarded. The 

 plant grov/s there to a considerable height, notwithstanding 

 the late date at which the water recedes from the river flats 

 where it o-^curs, so that it cannot appear above the surface 



