126 NOTES ON PENTAS. 



likely that Mrs. Gregory's discovery has restored to the flora of the 

 county a very interesting species, long supposed to have been lost. 



With reference to Viola villosa and Scirpiis Holosclmnm, Mrs. 

 Gregory has sent us the following notes : — " V. villosa. This occurs 

 on hillocks beyond Wiuterhead Avenue, near Shipham, growing 

 with the type, from which it differs not only in hairiness of stem 

 and leaves, but in colour of petals (a bright pink), and in the 

 smaller and darker spur and toothed bracts. The same form 

 grows on high ground in the woods at Weston-super-Mare." 



"S. Holoschcenus. On Oct. 1st, 1896, I chanced on this rare 

 plant in a marsh near Berrow, having gone in search of Scirpia 

 uniiilumia, of which I imagined I had seen specimens on a former 

 visit. The afternoon was wet and windy, and early twilight soon 

 cut short my search. Disappointed at having found nothing, I 

 hastily gathered a handful of the plants nearest to me, and on 

 looking them through a day or two later I discovered my treasure. 

 Mr. Beeby and Mr. A. Bennett have kindly examined my specimens, 

 and confirmed the name. The Berrow plant is very small and 

 depauperate, and remarkably different from the Scirpus as it grows 

 at Braunton Burrows, N. Devon," 



We have to thank Mr. Cedric Bucknall, of Clifton, for notes of 

 Fumaria densi flora, Scirpus pauciflorus, and S. jluitans ; and we are 

 indebted to Mr. C. Withers, of Saltford, for pointing out to us the 

 habitats of Hypericum Eludes, Cuscutn Epithymum, and Linaria 

 re pens. 



NOTES ON PENTAS. 

 By James Bbitten, F.L.S. 



A "revision" of a genus which contains no generic description, 

 no key to the arrangement of the species, no diagnoses of any save 

 the new species, and an incomplete synonymy, is not likely to add 

 much to scientific knowledge. When in addition the reviser an- 

 nounces that he has " examined all the species carefully as a guide 

 to their African distribution," the reason for the examination is 

 only less odd than his omission to place on record the results of his 

 investigations. All these characteristics are to be found in the 

 " Revision of the Genus Pentas'' by Mr. G. F. Scott Elliot, which 

 is printed in the Journal of the Linnean Society, vol. xxxii. pp. 431- 

 438 (1896). 



As Mr. Elliot has told us nothing about the genus he purports 

 to have revised, it is not wonderful that he should have omitted 

 any reference to its synonymy. I am inclined to think that 

 Brown's NcurocarpcEa, published in Salt's Abyssinia (Appendix iv, 

 p. Ixiv, (1814) ), will have to supersede I'entas. True, Brown gives 

 no description ; but he cites as a synonym Manettia lanccolata Vahl. 

 {SymbolcB, p. 12 (1790) ), which is based on Ophiorhiza lanceolata 

 Forsk. {FL TEgypt. Arab. p. 42 (1775)). Of this last we have a 

 specimen from Forskahl in the British Museum, and Brown's 



