BRITISH WILD FLOWERS 269 



described as " a handy pamphlet," no indication being given of its 

 nature. The collocation is strange : " also useful are Pritzel's Icoues 

 Plantarum, Ny man's Conspectus, and De Candolle's Brodromus, as 

 well as Just's Botanisches Jahresbericht.' n The titles given are 

 sometimes so inaccurate as to be misleading — e. g. " Mrs. Arber's 

 British BZerbals " ; and a " third " edition of Topographical Botany : 

 what is "the Oxford Plant List " ? (p. xvii). 



The sixth volume contains a full index of species under both 

 Latin and English names, but neither genera nor orders are included ; 

 there is no complete index to the plates, nor any reference to the 

 general contents of the volume. 



We had noted many other points for criticism, but this notice is 

 already too long : it seemed, however, necessary to adduce evidence 

 that our unfavourable opinion of this work is based neither on hasty 

 judgement nor superficial investigation. 



The Genus Sedum. 



The new volume (xlvi.) of the Journal of the Royal Horticul- 

 tural Society is mainly occupied by "An Account of the Genus Sedum 

 as found in cultivation," by Mr. R. Lloyd Fraeger, the value and 

 importance of which it would be difficult to over-estimate. As readers 

 of this Journal, in which some of his descriptions have appeared, arc 

 aware, Mr. Praeger has for many years made a special and intimate 

 study of the genus as represented in cultivation : " to the best of [his] 

 ability [he] ransacked the gardens of the world, until the war put an 

 end to such activities." As a result he received and grew 151 species, 

 13 of which proved to be new and were described in this Journal 

 for 1917-19. How exhaustive Mr. Praeger's work has been may be 

 gathered from the fact that he only knows of four species at 

 present in cultivation which he has not seen. Its value is immensely 

 enhanced by the figures hj Miss Eileen Barnes of every species of 

 which fresh material could be obtained : in no other way could 

 an idea of the variety presented by the genus be brought before 

 the reader, and it would be impossible to speak too highly of 

 Miss Barnes's work. The descriptions also, whenever possible, were 

 taken from living plants and checked with the descriptions given by 

 the original deseriber and by leading authorities. The introductory 

 portion, dealing with the history, distribution, statistics, variation, 

 cultivation and propagation and sources of material, is admirably 

 done ; the descriptive portion, occupying nearly three hundred pages, 

 follows. This begins with an account of the genus, which is divided 

 into nine sections, duly characterised, and proceeds to the full and 

 careful description of each species and its varieties, synonymy, re- 

 ferences to figures, notes on distribution, etc. The following notes 

 relating to our British species will, we think, be of interest to our 

 readers. 



The first species ($. roseum Scop. ; Bhodiola rosea L.) is very 

 variable, and a number of names are placed referred to it : " our 

 native form displays very little variation within the limits of our 

 islands ; it is the sub-var. continentalis of Maximowicz (Bull. 

 Acad. Petersb. xxix. 129) and appears to be the form which prevails 

 on the European mountains, spreading to Iceland and Canada." This is 



