20 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



Hagstrom divides this species into many forms of which the 

 following are British : 



f. vulgaris Tis. ; most of our sjDecimens belong here, others are 

 f . luxuriosus Hagstr., Kescohie, Forfar, 1913 (Soviervilh) ; Isle 

 of Tiree, v.e. 103, 1897, Macvicar ; near Old Man of Wick, 

 Caithness, 1893; {Kidston) — very fine 50 cm. high; Asta Loch, 

 Scalloway, Shetlands {Beehy). 



f. major Tis. Wicli, Caithness, 1885 {Grant) ; Coldingham 

 Lock, Berwick {Brotherston) ; Orkney, 1876 {Trail). '. 



f. alpinus Blytt. Camilla Loch, Fife, 1909 {West). 



SHORT NOTES. 



The Height of Caeduus (Cnicus) paltjstris. This very 

 common Tliistle is abmidant in Essex, though Gibson {Flora of 

 Essex, p. 184-, 1862) gives onJy one definite locality for it. It 

 flourishes in boggy meadows and in the open parts of damp clayey 

 woods. It grows freely in the more open glades 1 have formed in my 

 own Avood here at Chignal St. James, near Chelmsford, which is on 

 the soutli-eastern edge of the area of the Chalky Boulder-Clay. With 

 it grows a wdiite- flowered variety w^hich, though not mentioned in 

 most of the botany books, is, I believe, pretty common generally. 

 In regard to the height to which it attains, the books seem much at 

 fault ; for they all greatly understate its usual stature here. I find 

 the following statements on this point in the few books I happen to 

 have at hand : — Withering gives 5 to 6 feet and upwards (Brit. 

 Plants, ii. 874, 1787) ; J. E. Smith, 3 to 5 feet (Engl. Flora, iii. 

 386, 1825) ; Hooker & Arnott, 4 to 6 feet (Brit. Flora, 237, 1860) ; 

 Sj^me, 1 to 5 feet (Engl. Bot. v. 13, 1866) ; Babington, 3 to-f) feet 

 (Manual, 207, 8th ed., 1881) ; H. & J. Groves, 3 to 5 feet (Bab. 

 Manual, 222, 1904) ; Druce, 1 to 5 feet (Hayward's Bot. Pocket 

 Book, p. 112, 1909). There is, as will be seen, a consensus of opinion 

 that its maximum height is at most six feet. These dimensions are, 

 however, much below the nonual height to which the plant attains 

 here in the months of August and September, when it reaches its 

 fullest growth. They are, in fact, scarcely half its usual height here, 

 which I should guess at an average of seven or eight feet. Some of 

 these are little more than a third of the stature of the finest examples 



1 have seen — e.g., on 5 August, 1916, I measured three plants grow- 

 ing close together in a group in one glade, which w^ere 9 feet, 9 feet 



2 inches, and 9 feet 3 inches high, respectivel}". Since then I have 

 seen man}'' substantially higher and have measured several over 

 10 feet high ; but I have omitted to note their exact heights, with 

 the exception of one I measured on 21st SeptemJ^er, 1918, which was 

 10 feet 6 inches high. Not improbably the height of th^se examples 

 is due to the fact that they grow in glades in a wood, and that they 

 were drawn up, to some extent, by the much greater height (20 feet 

 at least) of the surrounding bushes ; but there is nothing very 

 abnormal in the circumstances, and I suggest that the average height 

 of this Thistle has been much understated. The plant is, in ordinary 

 circumstances, a very elegant one, with a slender, straight, wand-like, 



