384 SHORT NOTES. 



summer, and left, longer uncut. A single example of it was picked in 

 July of this year, near Marlborough College, Wilts ; whether solitary 

 or not there, cannot now be ascertained. While mentioning this plant 

 in the ' Compendium of the Cybele Britannica,' I knew only of two 

 old records; one so long back as 1766, the other by the late Mr. 

 Borrer some time in the present century. The plant is otherwise 

 known under the names of Farsetia incana and Berteroa incana. — 

 Hewbtt C. Watson. 



T'lora Vectensis. — Having recently gone through some histories 

 of the Isle of Wight, with a view to culling information bearing upon 

 its flora, I wish to put my results on record for the benefit of other 

 readers. I find no notices in Sir Eichard Worsley's ' History of the 

 Island ' (1781) ; nor is there any floral matter in Wyndham's ' Picture 

 of the Isle of Wight' (1794). Albin in his history (1795) says, 

 " Almost every species which are to be found in any other part of 

 England are met with here. They abound in quantity as well as in 

 variety ; so that persons are annually employed in the summer season 

 to collect those of a medical nature by professional and other gentle- 

 men who visit the island for that purpose" (p. 10). He instances, 

 however, only one plant, the Satyrion, or Bee-orchis, found in the 

 environs of Carisbrooke Castle. The only reference to island plants 

 in Tennant's ' Journey to Dover and the Isle of Wight ' is in vol. ii. 

 p. 152 ; "the southern coast in some parts much covered with brush- 

 wood; such is Shanklin Chine." In Tomkins' 'Tour to the Isle of 

 Wio-ht' (1796), allusion is made (vol. i. p. 186) to the occurrence of 

 the Bee-orchis (0. ap^ferd) in meadows near Carisbrooke, and the clift's 

 of Freshwater are stated (vol. ii. p. 71) to "abound with Samphire" 

 {Cntlimum marUinmm) ; but of both these plants we find more 

 copious details in the ' History of the Isle of Wight,' by the Kev. 

 Richard Warner (1795). This writer remarks that a large volume 

 might be devoted to the natural history alone, and gives up a chapter 

 to the botany of the island ; he considers, however, " the mere syste- 

 matic classification of herbs and flowers, without a view to their 

 utility " (as simples, etc.), " to be but a trifling pursuit, an useless 

 waste of time and patience." He mentions, however, hnifour plants, 

 ''Digitalis, or Foxglove, in almost every hedgebank " (p. 24 8); 0. 

 apifera in fields about Carisbrooke Castle (p. 248) ; with remarks on 

 its " nectarium," " by which appearance, it is probable, a number of 



