316 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



Deseglisei Eouy & Camus (P. cor data Desegl. non Desv.) from 

 W. Gloucestershire — a tree which Mr. Marshall thinks is '* probably 

 a distinct species ; it is quite different from P. cordata in fruit- 

 character, and the leaves are more parallel-sided." Mr. White 

 writes : "I take this to be the aborignial wild pear of the country, 

 which I have only once before seen — in the Wye valley — and then it 

 had not flowered. The largest of the three trees found near Range- 

 worthy, from w^hich these specimens were taken, has a girth of over 

 four feet, and is about forty feet high, with a spread of thirty feet. 

 Its age probably dates from a period prior to the enclosure of the 

 district in which it stands. In characters it agrees well with those of 

 Deseglisei so far as given by Kouy and Camus, the fruit being 

 globular, about the size of a large cherry (diam. 20-25 mm.), 

 on long, erect-patent stalks. Obviously it is a very different plant 

 from the P. cordata Desv. (named Briggsii by Syme) of which 

 Mr. Briggs sent me a specimen from Plymouth in 1881. That has 

 tiny pyrif orm fruit, attenuate at the base, * au plus de la grosseur 

 d'une petite noisette ' (Eouy), and is well described by Boreau (Fl. 

 du Centre), where I find no mention of the form under notice. 

 Kouy and Camus hold, however, that Boreau's description covers 

 several of their varieties. P. Deseglisei appears to be on record 

 only from Cher in Central France." 



Mr. Marshall has notes on Saxifrages, including one on a new 

 variety, which we transcribe : " aS'. liypnoides L., n. var. {rohusta 

 ined.). Root from West Ireland, on limestone (R. LI. Praeger; 

 received through Mr. E. W. Hunnybun) ; probably from Black Head, 

 Co. Clare, v.c. 9, as I have a wild specimen, gathered there, which is 

 clearly the same thing. Cult, garden. West Monkton, May 29, 

 1916, and May 31, 1917. Much stronger than the typical plant 

 from Cheddar, grown under the same conditions. Axillary buds 

 either absent or rudimentary. Stems stouter, stiff er, as are the 

 lower cauline leaves. Flowers mostly larger." 



Specimens of Prunella laciniata L. collected by Mr. H. S. 

 Thompson in a " rough pasture above Cheddon, N. Somerset, after a 

 horde had apparently cropped many of the plants," are noted by the 

 collector as "very variable in form of leaf and colour of flowers, 

 evidently hybridising with P. vulgaris. The pale yellow floweis 

 predominate, but some were pale bluish-purple, and a few had 

 the upper lip pale purple and the lower lip pale yellow." On this 

 Mr. White notes : — " The specimens on Mr. Thompson's sheets that 

 vary in flower-colouring to tints of bluish-purple have in general sub- 

 entire leaves, a combination suggestive of hybridity with P. vtdgaris. 

 Such variations are mentioned in Fl. Brist., p. 478, and the idea 

 that they are hybrids is there rejected for reasons given. Still, at my 

 request, Mr. Bucknall has carefully dissected the flowers of these 

 recent examples, and flnds that my previous conclusion is confirmed 

 by microscope. On comparing stamens and calyces with those of 

 typical laciniata no marked deviation can be recognised, the subu- 

 late prolongation of the longer filaments and the calyx-teeth ciliation 

 being practically identical .... As stated by the collector, the bulk 

 of his contribution had been damaged by grazing, and so could not 



