NOTICES OF BOOKS AND MEMOIRS. 251 



Flower tells me tliat the Bath plant grows sometimes to the height 

 of a man,, so that it is not inferior to the iiiie asjjerrim urn in stature, 

 although in its leaves and flowers it seems much nearer to ofjicinalc. 

 We have the true asperrimum in the Kew herbarium from the 

 neighbom'hood of Stirling, gathered by G. Thomson. 



Chenopodiuin opulifolium. Mud-heaps at Mortlake, Surrey, G. 

 Nicholson. 



Urtica ■pilulifera. The lower branches of several vigorous 

 plants growing on rubbish-heaps at Kew had the deeply serrated 

 leaves of typical pilulifera, whilst the upper part of the plant 

 showed the entire or subentire leaves of var. Dodartii, G. Nicholson. 



Polygonum alpestre, C. A. Meyer. On the Surrey side of the 

 Thames, near Kew Bridge, where it was first gathered by Mr. 

 Naylor in 1872, G. Nicholson. It is identical with P. cognatum, 

 Meisn., and is common through Western Asia. 



Rumex. Dr. Trimen has kindly examined the critical forms of 

 Rumex received this year, and reports on them as follows : — " An 

 interesting series of specimens is sent by Eev. Augustin Ley from 

 the banks of the tidal river Wye at Tintern, collected at the end 

 of July, 1878. This Dock-vegetation in Monmouthshire is appa- 

 rently much the same, as that of the tidal Thames. 



'Rumex, form of conglomeratus, Murr.' This is a rather slender 

 form with ascending branches, but scarcely var. Borreri. 



' Rumex, hybrid. Tidal banks, Tintern.' These are various 

 forms of R. pratensis (crispus X obtusifoUus). 



' Rumex elongatus, Gussone ? Muddy tidal banks, Tintern, 

 30th July, 1878.' A fine series of large specimens of this ; quite 

 the same as the Thames i)lant. Whatever may "be its proper 

 name, it cannot be separated as a species from it. crispus. In some 

 of Mr. Ley's specimens the petals are denticulate, as in R. crispus, 

 and one has the lower leaves slightly crisped. There is a sugges- 

 tion of R. Hydrolapathum about this river-side Dock, but I do not 

 think it is a hybrid between that species and R. crispus. 



' Rumex hybrid, pidcher x obtusifoUus. Waste ground, West 

 Head, East Cornwall, near the sea, 12th July, 1878.'. Portions of 

 a large plant. I agree in the naming, but have not seen English 

 specimens of this intermediate before. R. obtusifoUus predominates. 



' Rumex hybrids. Waste ground by the sea, West Head,' and 

 * Hedgerow near MiUbrook, East Cornwall, 12th July.' These 

 are R. jjvatensis more or less typical. 'Field near Cawsand, E. 

 Cornwall.' The. same ; a curious form, close to R. crispus, and 

 with the tubercles almost entirely suppressed. 



There are now on record a number of intermediate and probably 

 hybrid forms of Rumex in England. The species which seem 

 most j)rone to cross are R. pulcher, R. crispus, and R. conglomeratus. 

 I have seen EngUsh sx^ecimens of apparently the following hybrids : 



