430 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



In addition to the species admitted into tbe flora, great care has 

 been taken in the treatment of varieties, and of the more con- 

 spicuous forms ; critical botanists will value these details, which 

 show deep research and some originality. CompositcB is a family 

 which offers a good deal of difficulty in the due limitation of its 

 numerous genera, and the thistles form an instance of such diffi- 

 culty ; our author, however, is probably right in following the best 

 authorities, and in separating geuerically the species which possess 

 pappus with plumose setae from those with scabrid setae ; the former 

 set, with eight British species, being referred to Cirsiiun, and the 

 latter, with four species, to Cardmis. Of course, the Carline thistle 

 and the cotton thistle are, as usual, referred to Carlina and Ono- 

 pordum respectively. 



The meadow thistle, familiar to English botanists under the 

 name of Carduus pratemh Huds., is given on page 49 as "Cirsium 

 britannicum Scop. Iter Gorizense, in Ann. ii. Hist. Nat. p. 60 

 (1769)": there is, however, sufficient reason to question the 

 correctness of this name for the species. Scopoli in his book. 

 Annus 11. Historico-Xaturalis, pp. 60, 61, Iter Tyrolense (1769), 

 established Cirsium Britannicum ; he described the plant (and a 

 variety), and stated that it was the Cirsium Britannicum Clusii rcpcns 

 I. of Bauhin, the Cirsium II. of Clusius, and the Cirsium singuUri 

 capitulo squcuuato of C. Bauhin. Both the description and all the 

 references point rather to Cirsium heteropJiyilum Hill than to Cardials 

 pratensis Huds. ; the variety is the form with more than oue flower- 

 head on the stem. He also quoted a plant, with characteristic 

 figure, of Haller (Enum. Meth. Stirp. Helvet. p. 688, tab. xxi.), 

 which belongs to Cirsium hetcrophijilum Hill ; he further added that 

 without doubt his plant was the Carduus foliis lanceolatis dentatis 

 amplexicaulibus spinulis inaqualibus ciliatls caule iuermi of Linnaeus. 

 The Linnean plant is Carduus helenioides L. Sp. PI. ed. i. p. 825, n. 20, 

 which is now considered synonymous with Cirsium heterophyllum 

 Hill, and is not Carduus pratensis Huds. It seems therefore that 

 Cirsium britannicum Scop, is a synonym of C. heteroplnjUum Hill. 



It is not certain whether Cirsium canum All. (1785) is the same 

 species as Carduus pratensis Huds., but it would be safe to use 

 Cirsium anylicum Cand. El. France, iv. p. 118 (1805) for the 

 meadow thistle. There is no adequate reason to deny that Carduus 

 dissectus L. Sp. PI. ed. i. p. 822, n. 8, is the same species as 

 C. pratensis Huds., although from the time of Lightfoot (1777) to 

 the present day the identity has been disputed ; no type-specimen 

 seems to exist, but all the references given by Linnaeus agree. 



Mr. WilHams is, no doubt, correct (page 60) in his use of the 

 name Cirsium acaule Scop., but the earliest reference should be to 

 Scopoli's Annus II, Hist.-Xat. above cited, p. 62. 



Excellent examples of careful detail are afforded in the account 

 of Crejjis rirens h., with its varieties and forms, and in the treat- 

 ment of Centaurea Jacea, in which the author arrives at conclusions 

 different from those hitherto usually accepted by British botanists. 

 The appreciation of such wealth of information will induce bota- 

 nists to look forward with pleasant anticipation to the continuation 



^^' ^^^ ^^°^'^- W. P. HiERN. 



