183 



SHORT NOTES. 



Rake Plants in Somersetshike. — Last July I gathered Cicuta 

 virosa L., and Rhyncliospora fmca Sm., on the " Turf," or Burtle, 

 Moor, near Shapwick. I am mformed by Mr. James W. White, 

 F.L.S., of Chfton, that these plants have but rarely been seen in 

 the locality of late years. Both appear in a list of Turfmoor 

 plants, published by the late Mr. Thos. Clark, of Bridgwater, in the 

 * Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History 

 Society,' for the years 1856-7, where he says of the Rhyncliospora, 

 ** In shallow, partially dry pits and reenes, in the heathy ground, 

 sparingly interspersed with B. alba.'' The plant was known also 

 to the late Wm. Sole as far back, at least, as 1782 ; for in his 

 MS. flora of that date it is recorded, under the Linnean name of 

 Schcenusfuscus, as growuig in " Burtle Moor, near Mark." A list 

 of plants gathered near Shapwick, by Broome, of Bath, about the 

 year 1855, includes C. virosa and R. fusca ; and the former was 

 found by Miss M. W. Mayow many years ago, at Burnham (Som.), 

 and at Easton in 1880, but we are not aware of any further record 

 for either plant in North Somerset. I noticed only a very few 

 plants of Rhynchospora, but there were perhaps a dozen of the 

 Cicuta growing in a ditch, which was at the time somewhat flooded. 

 I have also specimens of Rubus saxatilis L., from a wood near 

 Banwell Castle on the Mendip Hills, where it was seen in the 

 summer of 1883. This Rubus is scarce in N. Somerset, and has 

 only been seen in one other locality, viz., at " Asham Wood, S.W. 

 of Frome, in June, 1883, by the Rev. R. Murray." Althcea 

 officinalis, gathered in a ditch at Dunball last August, and Vicia 

 latkyroides in July on the Burnham Sandhills, are worthy of 

 mention. Two other good plants, of extreme rarity in the district 

 of the Bristol Coal-field, namely, Anthemis nobilis and Lepidium 

 Smithii, were observed last summer; the first on Brean Down, 

 and the latter near Uphill. Neither was plentiful. Last of all, 

 but, as I now find, of very great interest, is a specimen of Poly- 

 gonum maritimum, which I found on Burnham Sandhills in July, 

 1882. Mr. White tells me it is undoubtedly the true plant. This 

 species has never before been recorded from the county of Somerset, 

 and being one of the rarest British plants I hope that, although 

 only a single example was perceived, it may still exist on the shore 

 of the Bristol Channel.— H. S. Thompson. 



Curious Form of Corylus Avellana. — This was found near 

 Settle, Yorkshire, on March 27th last. In three or four instances, 

 on the same tree, two heads of pistillate flowers had grown at the 

 base of an undeveloped male catkin. The stigmas were numerous, 

 very large, and of a most brilliant colour, which was also the case 

 with all the gynoecia on that tree.— R. F. & F. P. Thompson. 



Irish Potamogetons. — At page 86 Mr. Scully gives some notes 

 I sent to Mr. Bennett on the Kerry Potamogetons. That on " P. 

 polygonifolius, submerged form," has accidentally been reproduced 

 in a manner which is not only misleading, but quite unintelligible 

 as it stands, and commits me to views I do not really entertain. 



