118 SHORT NOTES. 



to C. borealis) has been identified with the latter name by Prof. 

 Hackel. Further details will appear later on. It is the Calama- 

 grostis neglecta Ehrh., var. elatior Hartm., and comes under the 

 Deijeiuia neglecta Kunth as var. borealis (Laestad.) sub Calamagrostis. 

 — G. C. Druce. 



Erica mediterranea var. hibernica in Achill Island. — From a 

 correspondent, Mr. J. E. Sheridan, I have lately received some 

 specimens of the Mediterranean heath, flowering at the end of 

 January. This is, I believe, a very unusually early date for its 

 flowering. But the present has been a singularly mild winter, with 

 scarcely any frost, and, until this week, no snow in Ireland. I had 

 myself seen the Mediterranean heath when in Achill in 1872, and 

 Mr. Sheridan has recently found two new localities at the north end 

 of the island, where, in wet ground bordering on a stream, he tells 

 me that it attains the height of three feet. I may here mention 

 two other rare plants which I found in Achill Island, viz., Eriocaulon 

 septangulare, in a small lake at north end of Achill; and Potamogeton 

 nitens, in the stream flowing from Lough Keel, on south side of the 

 island. — A. G. More. 



RuBus PALLiDus W. & N. IN NoRTH SOMERSET. — In face of so 

 much uncertain nomenclature and varying opinion on the identity 

 of British Rubi, I have refrained from furnishing supplemental 

 notes on the brambles of the Bristol Coal-field since the publication 

 of the ' Flora,' although some forms at that time not clearly 

 understood have now been satisfactorily made out, two or three new 

 species gathered and identified, and many additional localities 

 recorded. An amount of general interest attaches, however, to one 

 of these later discoveries ; and it may not be premature to offer a 

 few remarks on the occurrence of R. paUidus W. & N. in North 

 Somerset, especially as I believe this species has only once been 

 previously observed in Britain, namely, in Norfolk, by the Rev. 

 E. F. Linton (see 'Reports of the Botanical Exchange Club,' 1885, 

 1886). The plant is strikingly handsome. On the barren shoot 

 the leaflets are cordate acuminate, thin, and almost glabrous on 

 both sides, and have a peculiarly crenate-dentate outline that I have 

 never remarked upon any other bramble. It grows in great 

 abundance on the marshy and wooded banks of a stream skirting 

 Downside Common, Edford, about a dozen miles south-east of 

 Bristol. The endeavour to ascertain if the plant had been already 

 described gave a good deal of trouble. Two leading consults 

 suggested that it might, perhaps, be a form of R. scaber ; to which, 

 undoubtedly, it is nearly alhed. But the true scaber W. & N. (very 

 little known in this country) has leaflets with fine and shallow 

 serration, not crenate-dentate, as in this Edford plant. Later on, 

 I learnt from Mr. Purchas that my specimens were just like some 

 from Norfolk that Dr. Focke had named pallidus, and also that they 

 corresponded well with pi. 29, ' Rubi Germanici.' On receiving 

 examples from Sprowston, I saw that the puzzle was solved ; and 

 in a recent letter Mr. Linton informs me that he is quite satisfied 

 that our plant is identical with his. That we should have in the 

 west country a plant but recently observed for the first time in the 



