180 



REPORT OF THE CURATOR OE THE BOTANICAL 

 EXCHANGE CLUB FOR THE YEAR 1870. 



{Revised hy the Author^ 



I regret to have to notice this year a Lirge increase in the proportion 

 of non-contributing members to those who send parcels. I would beg 

 to suggest to the members that an increase of contributing members is 

 essential to the continuance of the Exchange Club, and I would urge 

 thera to try and enrol new contributors among their friends, so as to 

 enlarge as much as possible the area from which plants can be collected 

 for distribution. Great credit, for the numerous interesting species 

 sent, is due to those who have collected plants for the club this year, 

 among which the following are the most deserving of notice : — 



Tlialidrtun Kocliii, Fries. " Loch Conn, co. Mayo ; new to the L'ish 

 flora." — A. G. More. 



Niiphar pnmUa, DC. "Loch Lubnaig." — A. Craig Christie. I do 

 not recollect that this local plant has been recorded from the Loch above 

 mentioned, though it has been long known to grow in the Loch of 

 Menteith, in the same county, about five or six miles distant from 

 Loch Lubnaig. 



Aly-ssnm incanum, L. " Some scores of plants were seen in two clover 

 fields in Surrey, about a dozen miles apart ; one being at Pirford, the 

 other at Frimley. As I had never, before 1870, been within half a mile 

 of either field, I cannot say whether the occurrence of the plant was 

 limited to that year. Further particulars stated in the ' Jo\u-nal of Botany ' 

 for December, 1870."— H. C. Watson. 



Sisi/mbriuiii polijceratinm,!^. "Charleston, Fife, introduced with bal- 

 last? in great quantity." — A. Craig Christie. 



Erysimntii cheira)ithoides. " This plant is a common weed in and 

 around Buxton. I have noticed it for several successive years." — 

 Augustin Ley. 



Brassica campestris, L. (?) " A sei'ies of specimens from the Thames 

 side, in Surrey, to illustrate the gradual change, from the rough and 

 clear green leaves of the young plant, to the smooth and subglaucous 

 leaves of the flowering stage. This plant is plentiful in various spots 

 along the course of the Thames, in Surrey and Middlesex, where it has 

 been perfectly established for many years. A doubt of its original nati- 

 vity there is suggested by the fact that it seldom (if ever) spreads more 

 than very short distances from the river into the neighbouring fields. 

 Except in the constantly thin and stringy root, it scarcely differs from 

 the cultivated Turnip. In other respects it appears to have closer affinity 

 with the Turnip than it has with the Wild Navew, or Brassica. cam pest lis, 

 figured in ' English Botany.' All three are clearly distinct from the 

 Swede Turnip of agriculture — easily known from them by the glaucous 

 hue of the radical leaves, even the earliest, and the pale buff-orange 

 tint of its considerably larger flowers. See ' Journal of Botanv ' for 

 December, 1870."— H* C. Watson. 



Polygala calcarea, F. Schultz. " Swincombe Down, Oxon." — J. F. 

 DuTHiE. I am not aware that P. calcarea has been recorded from 

 Oxfordshire, although it is plentiful on the Berkshire side of the river. 



Dianthus prolifer, Lhm. " Near Southsea, Hants. Not very recently 

 recorded from this coast." — Fred. Stratton. 



