SHORT KOTES 273- 



SHORT NOTES. 



Drepaxocladits aduncus (Hedw.) var. Whelconi Ken. tn N. 

 Somerset. Amongst other interesting mosses (see p. 2t58) Mr. C. P. 

 Hurst lias recently added this new record to the Flora of North 

 Somerset. He found it in some quantity on the Burnham sandhills, 

 opposite Borrow Church, in 1910 and since. It was described by 

 Kenauld in Mevne Bryologique, 1910, p. 29. From D. aduncus var. 

 falcafus Ken. it may be distinguished by its usually stouter habit, 

 and its distinctly dimorphous leaves, the eauline ones being erect, 

 narrow, lanceolate-subulate (8-4 mm. long), the branch leaves smaller 

 and relatively broader (l|-2 mm. long), usually more strongly 

 falcate secund. The alar cells in mature leaves are yellowish or 

 orange-coloured, and filled with granules which render them opaque. 

 All tlie plants yet examined are either sterile or bear female flowers; 

 capsules or male flowers have not yet been seen. In the Bvn-nhani 

 specimens the perichietial bracts are sometimes all entire, but occa- 

 sionally in some of the floAvers the outer or lowermost bracts have the 

 margins distantly toothed. Mr. Hurst's examples, collected on dif- 

 ferent dates in 1916 and 1917, show a considerable range of variation; 

 due to age and differing edaphic factors. Some of the more robust 

 plants, with elongate stems and leaves, diverge towards var. aquaticus 

 Sanio : these are probably due to inundation at the critical period 

 when growth is most active. Other smaller examples exactly match 

 the type-specimens from the Lancashire coast. This variety is now 

 extinct through drainage in v.c.s. Cheshire 58 and West Lancashire 

 60; it still occurs in S. Lancashire 59 (Whehlon), N. and E.. York- 

 shire 61 and 62 {Iit<^hnm) ; and in Canada (//. Dupret), where it is 

 sometimes associated with the more abundant I), aduncus vav. fal- 

 cafus f. suhpilirjera lien., a form which has not yet been detected in 

 Europe. On the Lancashire sandhills Harpidiuin cuspidatum usually 

 grows with D. aduncus var. Whcldoni, and often also S. elodes and 

 Ainhlystetjiuvi Jiliciuuin var. JVIiiteheadii, though in time these 

 more robust plants overwhelm it. It prefers damp bushy ground with 

 some shade as a rule, whereas the two last grow in more open 

 pools and ditches ; but it is not easy to pin down the " Harpies " to any 

 exact ]-ule, and they often vary greatl}^ in fades owing to slight 

 differences in the variety of habitats they select. All the varieties of 

 _D. aduncus from var. tenuis to var. aquaticus are probably dependent 

 on edaphic conditions ; as lienauld has pointed out, to understand 

 their origins, one has to work out the classification of all the forms 

 which can then be grouped naturally together, and the best place to do 

 this is in the field. — J. A. Wheldon. 



'■'• Lasses-Love." A recent novel by Mr. Halliwell Sutcliffe 

 takes this title from a plant therein referred to, the description of 

 which seemed to indicate Santolina ChamcFcyparissus L. The name, 

 howevei', is not included either in the Dictionary of Enylish Plant- 

 names or in the Enc/lish Dialect Dictionary. I therefore Avrote to 

 Mr. Sutcliffe asking if he could send me a specimen of the plant, 

 which he kindl}' did, thus confirming my suspicions, with a note 

 wliich seems of suflicient interest for publication. He writes : "' 1 am 

 Journal of 1U)ta>v. — Vol. 56. [September, 1918.] t 



