284 



SHORT NOTES. 



ToLYPELLA iNTRicATA IN OXFORDSHIRE. — 111 September, 1889, 

 I discovered this rare species growing in a ditch near Marstoii, 

 which is about two miles from Oxford. It grew in great plenty, 

 iilling the rather deep and broad ditch from one end to the other, 

 so that a cart-load of it might have been obtained. Its abundance 

 made one scornful of the idea of its not appearing in the same ditch 

 next season, but, although I carefully searched for it two or three 

 times in 1890 and in succeeding years, I have been unable to see it 

 again till this spring, when I again met with it, but much more 

 sparingly. I have been told that the ditch was cleared out last 

 autumn ; can we attribute to this fact the reappearance of this 

 erratic plant ? I have noticed the C'/uiracccc are usually the first 

 plants to appear after our marsh-ditches have been cleaned, but 

 that Callitriche, Ranunculus, and other plants subsequently prove 

 more successful in the struggle for existence. — G. Claridge Druce. 



Meconopsis cambrica in Worcestershire. — On May 29th, while 

 walking through Grey Lady's Wood, Cleeve Hill, Worcestershire, 

 I picked a specimen of this plant. It was growing among the 

 ordinary woodland vegetation, and appeared perfectly wild. Un- 

 fortunately, I did not at the moment think that the record might 

 be of interest, and, passing hurriedly through the wood, did not see 

 or look for more. But as the plant does not seem to be given for Wor- 

 cestershire, its occurrence may be worth recording. — James Britten. 



Camel-fodder Plants. — I find that the following has been omitted 

 from my list (pp. 161-172) : — Fteiiiieron liatroides Bth., var. rqwiis 

 (nob.), the variety differing from the type merely in its repent instead 

 of erect habit. Baron Mueller, on the authority of Mr. Ernest Giles 

 {Journ. Bot. 1877, 315), cites Tiichodcswa zeylanicum R. Br. as being 

 "most nutritious to dromedaries"; the number of camel-fodders 

 is thus brought up to seventy-seven. Mueller also (I. c. 276) quotes 

 Giles as the authority for the statement that the phytolaccaceous 

 Gyrostemon ramulosus Desf. is a camel-poison, as is Gastrolohium 

 spinosiun Bth., according to Mr. Helms (vide Scientific Results of the 

 Elder E.vplorinij Expedition, p. 318). — Spencer Mooke. 



Lychnis Flos-cuculi with entire petals. — Mr. W. Wise, of 

 Launceston, sends a fresh specimen of this curious form from near 

 Tower Hill Station, N. Devon. 



NOTICE OF BOOK. 



Cijtologische Studien aus deni Bonner Botanischen Institut, von Eduard 

 Strasburger, &c. Berlin : Borntraeger. 1897. 



These studies, which are reprinted from vol. xxx. of Prings- 

 heim's Jahrbuch, consist partly of observations by Prof. Strasbui'ger 

 himself, nnd partly of work carried out by various observers in his 



