96 THE .TOUENAL OF BOTANT 



Elementary Notes on the Beproduction of Angiosperms, by 

 A. H. Church, M.A. (Oxford University Press ; Botanical Memoirs, 

 No. 5. 2s. net.), contains the schedules often lectures, each occupy- 

 ing the two sides of a page, which cover every aspect of the subject, 

 the last lecture treating even of hybridization. Seldom have w^e 

 seen so much information crowded into so small a compass ; the 

 *' notes," in fact, would make an excellent resume upon which to base 

 an exhaustive detailed account, a volume of a thousand pages. 

 '* Cram-books " — and the one before us recalls analyses of Political 

 Science and Paley's Evidences of ante-" Prehm." days — need an 

 apology; and Dr. Church has provided one concluding his lecture- 

 schedules, which he heads, significantly " Minimum Botany." The 

 least we can say of this production is that we are inclined to envy 

 the students who had the privilege of hearing Dr. Church's lectures. — 

 H. F. W. 



The Eleventh Report of the Botany Committee of the Devonshire 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, edited by Mr. Hiern, 

 contains an account of what has been published recently on the flora 

 of the county in which the papers by Mr. C. P. Hurst and 

 Miss Lister in this Journal for 1919 are summarised and the additions, 

 including crvptogams, made by local observers for each district are 

 chronicled. The Poppies and Violets of the Torquay district have 

 received much attention, and Miss Larter records a curious form of 

 Gornus sanguinea " with long drooping racemes formed by the gall 

 Oligotrophus Oorni ; they had the appearance of ivory flowers 

 depending from the stems." 



Two years ago we quoted from the Evening News some verses on 

 the Coltsfoot, as commemorating a plant whose praises were not often 

 sung. The same justification applies in at least equal degree to the 

 Groundsel, to whom the same author has now, in the same paper 

 (Feb. 16), dedicated the following : 



** The groundsel is a homely fellow 

 Who seldom gets his due. 

 Who cares if his small flag of yellow 



Flies all the winter through ? 

 He has no claim to strength or grace, 

 No subtle charm of form or face. 

 " But in this year of springtime wonder 

 Companions brave as he 

 Who push the prison bars asunder 



And, daring to be free, 

 Attract all eyes and leave him more 

 Neglected than he was before. 

 *' And is the groundsel, then, dejected ? 

 No, splendid little chap, 

 'Tis only just what he expected. 



He doesn't care a rap ! 

 He is contented that he yields 

 The richest crop on fallow fields. 



C. E. B." 



