294 THE JOURNAL OF EOTANT 



SHORT NOTES. 



The Name Alsi^e. In the Keiv Bulletin (No. 19) Mr. T. A. 

 Sprague discusses at length the history of this name, which has heen 

 applied to three genera — Mlnuartia, Sfellaria, and Spergularia. 

 After a careful examination of the literature, Mr. Sprague concludes 

 that the type of Alsine is A. media L. ; this " thus becomes synony- 

 mous witli Blellaria L. [which] should be adopted under the Inter- 

 national Rules. Under the American Code, however, the former 

 name {_Alsine'\ is adopted in accordance with the principle of ' priority 

 of place,' in spite of six strong arguments in favour of Stellar ia. 

 This suggests that ' priority of place ' as regards genera should be 

 abandoned as leading to undesirable results." (It may be noted 

 parenthetically that examples supporting Mr. Sprague's contention 

 will be found in this Journal for 1890, pp. 29G-8, at a period when 

 •the nomenclature of Spcijjularia was under discussion.) ''Alsine 

 Linn, emend. Ga^rtn. (1791) should be replaced by Mimmrtia Linn. 

 (1753)." This was first pointed out by Mr. Hiern in a paper, to 

 which Mr. Sprague refers, in this Journal for 1899, 820 ; his conclu- 

 sions have been controverted by Dr. Moss {op. cit. VdlA, 196 and 

 more recently in Camb. Brit. Flora, iii. 32), but Mr. Sprague main- 

 tains Hiern's conclusions. " Alsine Linn, emend. Reichb. (1832) 

 should be replaced by Spercjiilaria T. & C. Prcsl (a nomen conser- 

 vandum under the International Rules : the name Alsine thus dis- 

 appears alt( gether." 



Plantago Cynops L. in Kent (p. 271). It is evident that this 

 species has maintained itself for a period of more than twenty years 

 on the hills near Luddosdown. In 1002 I found it in a fallow field 

 on the higher slopes of a hill between Cobham and Luddesdown, and 

 then noted one old plant of apparently several years' growth, and, in 

 the vicinity, several younger plants of various ages. Dui-ing the year 

 mentioned", flowers were very sparingly produced, my two examples, 

 gatliered on the 31st Aug., 1902, showing but two flower-heads between 

 them. The locality remained uncultivated for years, but in 1905 

 had been brought under the plough, and the plant ^ had disappeared. 

 It is pleasing to know that it still exists in the neighbourhood. As 

 to its status, there seems little probability of it being a native, and, 

 judging from the locality in which it occurred in 1902, it most 

 probably has been introduced with foreign seed. — C. E. Beitton. 



EuPKOREiA PLATTPHYLLOS L. When John Ray was travelling 

 through England he stayed at Bristol on two occasions, and among 

 other discoveries found this plant, which he published in his Oatit- 

 loguiis Flantarum Angliae, 1070, as— " Tithymalus phity})hyllos 

 Fuchsii, J. B. . . . Nos in Comitatu Somersetensi non longe ab 

 oppido Kinesham copiosum invenimus." This proved to be a first 

 record for Britain (see White, Flora of Bristol, p. 521) . Keynsham is 

 only G miles east of Bristol, and yet the Spurge had not been detected 

 near that town until this autumn, when I found three or four good 

 plants on neglected ground amongst modern buildings. ^ It Iips been 

 met with at rare intervals to the north of Bristol, and it is a satis- 

 faction to know that after more than two hundred and fifty years it 

 still exists in the old locality.— Iba M. Ropee. 



