NOTICES OF BOOKS AND MEMOIRS. 349 



US will naturally have his attention attracted towards the species 

 of the country with which he is most familiar ; and to the English 

 botanist there is so much of interest in this first part of Dr. 

 Nyman's ' Conspectus,' that when the book is completed we may be 

 tempted to give a catalogue of the British flora as exhibited in its 

 pages. The synonymy has been most carefully gone into ; and if 

 the author, as may be suspected, has occasionally misunderstood 

 some of oiu' species, there are many cases where English botanists 

 will have to amend their nomenclature m accordance with his 

 more accurate data. Om- naturahsed species are rarely noted, but 

 special localities (counties) are often given for rarities, and Ii'eland 

 is quoted usually as distinct from Britain. 



A few notes may be made on some of our species. The West of 

 France (and Jersey) Ranunculus chcBrophyUus is referred to it. fiahel- 

 latus, Desf., var. curojjcBa; the former species being considered 

 restricted to the eastern Mediterranean. England is credited with 

 all the sixteen species of Batrachmm except B. confervoides, Fr., and 

 B. ololeucos, F. S. Caltha radicans, Forst,, is given for Scotland 

 and East Finmark only. The distribution of Arabis ciliata, Br., 

 stands as restricted to Ireland and Western England ; and that of 

 Brassica monensis, Huds., to West Britain and the Channel Islands, 

 Sinapis Cheiranthus, M. K., with which our writers usually combine 

 it, being in another genus. Coronojjus FiUelUi, AIL, takes the 

 earlier name of C. j^rocwnbens, Gil. There is some difficulty in 

 fitting our Cerastia to Nyman's views; besides C. tetrandum he 

 gives as British C. glutinosum, Fr., and C. immilum, Curt., but as 

 he regards the latter as entirely httoral, it can scarcely be what is 

 known as jmmilum in England which is a plant of grassy downs, 

 often but not always in maritime districts. C. litigiosum, De Lens, 

 is also kept distinct, but is not given as a British species. Stellaria 

 glauca, With. (1796), gives way to S. jmlustris, Ehrh. (1795), and 

 Sarjina saxatilis, Wimm. (1840), to 8. Linncei, Pr. (1835). Oxalis 

 stricta, L., and TrifoUum stellatum,, L., are given as natives, 

 and so, unfortunately, is Erucastrum Pollichii, Schp., a very 

 rare casual here, with no claims to nativity. Medicago sylvestris, 

 Fr., which occurs only in Sweden and England, is suggested 

 to be an intermediate, originally of hybrid production, between 

 M. falcata and M. satira, analogous to M. media, P. It is 

 a little surprismg to see Medicago denticulata treated as a sub- 

 species, next to 21. lappacea, Desv., whilst M. ajnculata, which we 

 are accustomed to consider but a slight variety, stands as a 

 separate full species. The nomenclatm-e of the Melilot us -species has 

 been changed, M. arvensis, Wallr., being altered to M. officinalis, 

 Desv. ; whilst M. officinalis, Willd., becomes M. altissima, Th. : does 

 not this seem to he an injudicious application of the rules of 

 priority? The name Astragalus danicus, Ketz., properly supi")lants 

 A. Hypoglottis, L., as Lange as shown. The extinct Vicia lavigata, 

 Sm., is put with a query under V. liitea, L. Spircea salicifolia, L., 

 inserted in some British Floras, is considered native in eastern 

 Europe only. The treatment of the fruticose Fmhi (51 species) 

 will prove an interesting study, but space does not allow of notes 



