14 SHORT NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Xiphinm.'" It may be easily distinguished from that species by having 

 the tube prolonged for an inch or more above the ovary. It flowers from 

 February to April. Willkonira and Laiige report the plant from Alge- 

 ciras, but it is by no means clear from their description whether it be 

 what is here meant. 



5. X. fUfolium, Klatt; bulbo ovoidco membranaceo-tunicato, caule 

 flexuoso ssepe bipedali 1-2-floro, foliis cauliuis 4-6 distichis falcatis an- 

 gustissime linearibus, sursum filiforniibus, deorsum dorso semiteretibiis, 

 spathee valvis 3-4-uncialibus leviter ventricosis ad basin limbi attingenti- 

 bus, pedicello ovario sequante, perianthii tubo subuticiaU, limbo 2^-3-un- 

 ciali saturate purpureo, segmentis exterioribus anguste obovatis dimidio 

 iuferiore sensim angustata, interioribus panduriformibus erectis distiucte 

 brevioribus, stigmatibus cum cristis segmentis interioribus sequilongis et 

 sequilatis. — X.fiUfvlium, Klatt, Linnaea, vol. xxiv. p. 571. Iris JiiifoUa, 

 Boiss. Voy. Esp. p. 602. t. 170 ; Willk. et Lange, Prodr. Hisp. vol. i. 

 p. 142. 



Bidb ovoid, 12-15 lines thick; the outer coat prolonged up the base 

 of the stem and maculate with red-brown. Stem 1^-2 feet high, erect, 

 with 2-3 very narrow leaves laxly placed on each side ; the lowest 12-18 

 inches long, filiform upwards, not more than 1-g— 2 lines broad where they 

 leave the stem. Spatlie 3-4 inches long, slightly ventricose ; the valves 

 5-6 lines broad, reaching up to the base of the limb. Ovary and pedicel 

 each 15-18 lines long. Tube an inch long above the ovary. Limb a bright 

 deep violet, 2^-3 inches deep ; the outer divisions 8-9 lines broad, nar- 

 rowed gradually from the middle to the base ; the inner erect, panduri- 

 form, distinctly shorter, \ inch broad ; the stigmas as long as the inner 

 divisions, ^ inch broad at the base of the crest. 



Hab. Spain ; mountains of Granada at an altitude of 3000-4000 feet, 

 and in the neighbourhood of Gibraltar, Boissier, Keldart, Findlay ! lately 

 introduced into English gardens by Mr. Geo. Maw. 



This is a little-known species, beautifully figured by Boissier. It 

 comes nearest the last, but difi"ers appreciably in the leaves and limb of the 

 perianth. It is reported by Mr. Munby from Algeria, but is not the 

 Oran plant which he intends by the name the last ? 

 {To he continued.) 



SHORT NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Queries. —Perhaps it may not be foreign to the design of the 

 ' Journal of Botany ' if I suggest the introduction to its pages of queries. 

 Difficulties, not to say problems, arise before all of us now and then, and 

 when the query, with its solution from some one wiser than the querist, 

 is of interest to botanists generally, it seems quite in order tliat it should 

 be printed in these pages. I therefore submit several queries which I 

 shall be glad to have answered, and in reciprocity I shall be equally glad 

 to contribute what I may be able in the shape of replies to the questions 

 of others. 



1. Do the common Periwinkles, Viuca major and V. minor, ever ripen 

 fruit in England ? 



2. In the ' Botanical Eegister,' under Gratregm Oxyacantha, var. Olive- 

 riann, the common Hawthorn is said to have a black-fruited variety in 

 English woods ; where does this variety exist wild ? 



