252 SHORT NOTES. 



MoLiNiA cERULEA IN THE BRISTOL Flora. — Tliis grass is but 

 little known in the vicinity of Bristol. Until last summer we sup- 

 posed that it could not be found nearer than the Mendips to the 

 south, or on Yate Common in the northern division of the district. 

 j\[oUnia is not mentioned in Swete's * Flora Bristoliensis,' nor in 

 any other list of Bristol plants with which I am acquainted : but 

 in the Stephens Herbarium there are specimens from *' Durdham 

 Down," undated. Dr. Stephens was an accurate botanist, and his 

 collection is excellent ; but unluckily for those engaged in working 

 out the distribution of local plants, he very rarely attached to his 

 specimens the place and date of their collection. All that we 

 knew, therefore, was that some thirty or forty years ago the grass 

 had been gathered on our downs, and had since been apparently 

 extirpated by some adverse influence. Consequently, in last 

 September, I was not prepared to notice a large quantity of the 

 plant flowering amongst the furze-bushes near the band-stand on 

 Clifton Down, and also in another spot close to the fountain. The 

 stems, being mostly a yard high, were noticeable at a distance, and, 

 at the latter place, could be recognized from the road. Mr. 

 Wheeler informs me that about the same time he likewise observed 

 it on Durdham Down, near the Gully. It cannot be deemed 

 possible that the conspicuous panicles of Molinia, had they been 

 regularly produced season after season, could have escaped notice 

 in spots so much frequented, and have been entirely overlooked by 

 scores of botanists who have examined the locality of late years. 

 Nor is it possible that the plant could be introduced, in such 

 abundance, over so wide an area. To account for its resuscitation 

 we must, I think, believe that this, like some other species, may be 

 uncertain in flowering, and may require for its perfect develop- 

 ment some unusual meteorological conditions. That a very wet 

 summer following the great heat of 1887 induced the plants, which 

 formerly had flowered but sparingly or not at all, to produce a 

 luxuriant crop, is, I think, a reasonable explanation of an extremely 

 curious circumstance. There is little doubt that other plants were 

 similarly affected. I observe that whereas last spring the trees of 

 ropulus tremula glabra, in Leigh Woods, produced abundance of 

 flowers, both barren and fertile, this year not a single catkin was to 

 be seen upon them, and much the same thing has occurred with 

 the hornbeams in Clifton. — James Walter White. 



Corrections. — Since correcting the proof of my article upon 

 Derbyshire Plants (p. 178), I have received a note from the Rev. 

 W. K. Linton saying that lluhus Jissus Lindl. grows in the habitat 

 assigned to 11. suherectns Anders., and that the latter is not to be 

 seen there. I am also informed that there is no specimen of H. 

 Huhcrectus in Mr. Smith's herbarium at University College, Notting- 

 ham. Ift/pcrlcum. linarii/olium: Prof. Babington says (p. 185) that 

 I sent him this : it should be Mr. J. W. Carr, B.A., of University 

 College, Nottingham. — W. Hunt Painter. 



