SHORT NOTES 201 



SHOUT NOTES. 



Impatiens olandulifeka Uovle (J. Roylcl Walp. : sec Journ. 

 Bot. 11)00, 87) FORMA ALiiA. Although 1 am not able to tind any 

 delinite botanical characters by which this handsome plant is differen- 

 tiated from the type, I think it deserves a name and a note. It does 

 not seem to be generally known — Sir David Prain tells me they d(t 

 not have it at Kew, and the only garden in which I have seen it 

 save those to which I have introduced it is that of Miss Jekyll at 

 Munstead, where in 1911 it was growing in masses at the back of a 

 lono- mixed border, for which it formed an admirable background and 

 whence my seeds were derived. The plant is always of very erect 

 and robust habit and sometimes attains a height of six feet; the 

 tlowers are pure white, and during the six years 1 have grown it have 

 never shown the slightest tendency to revert to type — this is also 

 Miss JekylFs experience ; the stems, the branching of which is very 

 symmetrical, are light green and the foliage is usually lighter in hue 

 than that of the type. Miss Jekyll does not know whence she 

 obtained the plant, but thinks it was from Norwich. It is a most 

 prolific seeder, and hence may readily become a nuisance ; but for 

 rough open spaces where it will not interfere with anything else, it 

 would be exceedingly effective. Later in the season I shall be glad 

 to send seeds to anyone who cares to send a stamped envelope for 

 the purpose : I have already introduced it to gardens in England and 

 Ireland to the satisfaction of those who have grown it, save for 

 the drawbacks presented by its great fertility. The form seems to 

 me at least as worthy of a name as that figured and described by 

 Sir Joseph Hooker (Bot. Mag. t. 7017) as /. Boy lei var. pallidi- 

 jlora. — James Britten. 



CEnantiie crocata L. In Bentham & Hooker's Handbook it 

 is stated that the juice of this plant becomes yellow when exposed to 

 the air. Beyond a yellowish tinge on a broken piece of stem, I have 

 not succeeded in seeing the yellow juice. I sineared a piece of paper 

 with the juice, and it left no stain. You will, perhaps, excuse my 

 troubling you with such a simple point, but the statement seems mis- 

 leading, especially to beginners.— W. A. Nicholson. 



[Withering {Arrangement, ed. 7, ii. 382) speaks of the root as 

 " abounding with an orange-coloured, fetid, very poisonous juice, such 

 as exudes less plentifully from all parts of the herb when wounded." 

 An editorial note quotes Miller as saying that " the juice is at first 

 like milk and turns afterwards to a saffron colour " : Miller also 

 says (Diet. ed. 8) that "the stalks, being broken, emit a yellowish 

 fcetid juice." The editorial note quoted mentions on the authority of 

 Prof, (afterwards Sir W. J.) Hooker "a remarkable variety, if 

 not a new species, occasionally observed in the neighbourhood of 

 Plymouth, yielding merely a watery liuid instead of a fetid yellow 

 juice." — Ed. Journ. Bot.] 



Orchis hircina in Sussex. A specimen of Orchis liircina was 



found near Lewes, Sussex, in June last by Miss May French, a 



school-girl who was collecting a bunch of wild flowers for a village 



flower-show. The spike was in bud when picked, and she thought it 



Journal of Botany.— Vol. 58. [August, 1920.] q 



