212 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



as fruiting only very rarely, they knowing of only one ease of fruit 

 being produced in Europe — a record from Bordeaux. No fruiting 

 material has been found in the British Isles, although fruiting 

 A. filiculoides has more than once been described under the wrong 

 specific name. 



Azolla filiculoides was introduced into Europe in 1880 by 

 Eoze, '' who naively remarks, " Le climat de Bordeaux paralt, du 

 reste, assez bien convenir a ces deux esp^ces americaines, car 

 quelques poign6es de la premiere [.4. caroliniana] en 1879, et de 

 la seconde [A. filiculoides] en 1880, jetees qk et la dans les fosses 

 des marais de cette ville, ont donne naissance a une legion 

 innombrable de ces plantes, qui ont envahi presque tous les fosses, 

 mares et 6tangs du departement de la Gironde." 



It spread over many parts of France and then into other 

 countries. In 1896 Ascherson and Graebner knew of it only in 

 western and northern France. In 1900 it had reached Italy, f 

 In the British Isles A . filiculoides was first noticed as a distinct 

 species by Ostenfeld ]: in 1911, who found it at Woodbastwick, 

 Norfolk, and at Queenstown Junction, Co. Cork. It was, however, 

 present in this country before that time. The Sunbury record of 

 A. caroliniana in 1910 § should certainly be ascribed to the other 

 species, while the Azolla was noticed in the Norfolk Broads || 

 before Ostenfeld's identification. 



I have also seen fruiting specimens of A. filictdoides found in 

 1912 at Almondsbury, West Gloucestershire, and kindly sent me 

 by Miss I. M. Roper. The same species now occurs at Reading, 

 where it is peculiar in being without the endophytic blue-green alga, 

 AnahcBna, which usually inhabits the cavity of the upper leaf-lobe. 



At present ^4. /2ZiC2Jo/f?cs seems to be growing in importance 

 as a constituent of British vegetation, for, as the result of the 

 floods of 1912, it has been distributed over large areas in Norfolk. 

 It is described as occupying a definite position as a member of the 

 association of Typha ang^cstifolia, especially in South Walsham 

 and Ranworth Broads. T 



A. filiculoides fruits quite readily in Europe. Both the 

 specimens found by Ostenfeld were fruiting, the Almondsbury 

 and the Sunbury plants were in fruit, and I obtained fruit last 

 autumn, not only from Cambridge, but, by the kindness of 

 Mr. W. E. Palmer, of St. John's College (the author of the 

 article in Nature), also from Norfolk. Ascherson and Graebner*''' 

 also describe it as a freely fruiting species. 



* Eoze, " Contribution a I'etude de la fecondation chez les Azolla," Bull, 

 de la Soc. hot. de France, xxx. p. 198, 1883. 



f Saccardo, Cronologia, loc. cit. ; Beguinot e Traverse, loc. cit. 



+ Ostenfeld, loc. cit. ; Report of the Bot. Exch. Club for 1912, pp. 220, 301. 



§ Re}]. Bot. Exch. Clnb for 1910, p. (i09 ; Joimi. Bot. xlviii. p. 332, 1910. 



II Rep. Bot. Exch. Club'for 1910 and 1911, loc. cit. 



M Palmer, "Azolla in Norfolk," Nature, xcii. p. 233, 1913. The plant is 

 wrongly named A. caroliniana, but I have seen fruiting specimens, which prove 

 it to be A. filiculoides. 

 ** Loc. cit., p. 115. 



