SHORT NOTES 225 



Iris versicolor, — In his review of Mr. Dykes's Genus Iris 

 (p. 107) the Editor remarks, "This plant finds no place even in 

 Mr. Druce's too comprehensive List." Although not included in 

 the List, it is to be found in the " Additions" to it which appeared 

 in the Report of the Botanical Exchange Club, p. 350, 1908, from 

 the locality cited by Mr. Dykes. It is surprising that the author 

 of the Monograph should have omitted any reference to the 

 occurrence of I. spuria in Lincolnshire, which was published in 

 this Journal for 1902, p. 101, by the Eev. A. Woodruffe-Peacock. 

 It has grown there for upwards of a century, and previous to the 

 publication of his work I sent Mr. Dykes freshly gathered speci- 

 mens from that county. He named them I. spuria, as did also 

 Mr. J. G. Baker, although the colour of the flowers did not appear 

 to me to agree with the descriptions in his work. Mr. Dykes 

 says that he has no doubt that my Lincolnshire specimens repre- 

 sent some form of spuria, but he adds that " the whole spuria 

 question is a puzzle." I am not quite sure that Mr. Dykes's 

 summary dismissal of the varieties of L Pseudacorus will be found 

 to be justified. It may be that in the locality where his Bastardi 

 grew that the type also occurred. In that case the plants may 

 have hybridized, and it would not be surprising if the offspring 

 were mixed. In a work of such importance some reference should 

 have been made to the variety citrina of I. foztidissima. On the 

 whole, to British botanists The Genus Iris will, I am afraid, be 

 found to be disappointing. — G. Claridge Druce. 



Culinary Mints. — A mint not mentioned by Mr. Marshall 

 (p. 143) is M. gracilis var. cardiaca Baker, which, according to an 

 article on " Oil of Spearmint " by Mr. E. M. Holmes in the 

 Perfumery and Essential Oil Becord (1911, p. 198), was one of the 

 species of garden mint cultivated in the Middle Ages. He 

 identifies it with the plant described and figured by Fuchs in 

 1513 under the name of Mentha hortensis verticilla Ocimi odore. 

 Parkinson includes it with spearmint, under which name it was 

 cultivated in gardens in his day, and is still grown as the true 

 garden mint, especially in Wiltshire, Somersetshire, and in some 

 parts of Kent, replacing M. viridis in many gardens. By the old 

 herbalists it was considered inferior to M. viridis as a febrifuge, 

 but as a stomachic and cardiac it was believed to be superior, 

 whence its name. I have tried it once or twice for mint sauce, 

 but found it somewhat inferior in flavour to M. viridis. Mr. 

 Druce says it has also been cultivated in Oxfordshire as a 

 11 mint." — A. Bruce Jackson. 



To the list of mints mentioned by the Eev. E. S. Marshall 

 M. alopecuroides may be added ; I have seen it not only in Scot- 

 land but also in England cultivated as a pea-mint. I have also 

 seen hybrids of M. longifolia so used. — G. Claridge Druce. 



Euphorbia Lathyrus L. — This plant, more often seen in 

 cottage gardens than elsewhere, occurs in some few coppiced 

 woods in various parts of England. In this kind of habitat some 

 British botanists seem disposed to accept the caper spurge as 



