310 EXTRACTS FROM BOTANICAL EXCHANGE CLUB REPORT, 1895. 



Teign Valley, S. Devon) it is so abundant as to seem to propagate 

 itself by seed. In the hundreds of luxuriant and abundantly 

 flowering bushes that I have seen I can recall only a single flower 

 that was not pure white, and that might merely have developed a 

 phikish tinge when fading. The flowers of B. systijla are usually 

 pink, though occasionally of as pure a white as those of L'. arvcnsis. 

 In habit li. psendo-rusticana is just intermediate between these two. 

 — W. MoYLE Rogers. 



Cawpanula rotundifulux L., forma. Limestone, S. of Lough 

 Mask, Co. Mayo, Ireland, 15th July, 1895. A pretty and distinct- 

 looking plant when growing. Mr. H. Groves writes to me: — "The 

 lesson of these specimens seems to me that leaf-characters are of 

 very little value in this species. The larger specimens seem to 

 answer fairly well to var. ImcifoHa of Mertens and Koch." To 

 myself the question of size appears of small importance, depending 

 as it does upon greater or less moisture, at any rate in the present 

 case. — Edward S. Marshall. "Growing the various forms side by 

 side, under equal conditions, seems to be the only means of really 

 finding out whether they be merely states due to situation, or 

 varieties. I suspect that a very considerable number of our cata- 

 logue varieties would, if subjected to this test, disappear from the 

 lists of those who discriminate between the state and the variety. 

 I have gathered similar forms in Surrey, near Haslemere, and else- 

 where ; but have doubted whether any are really varieties. — W. H. 

 Beeby. 



Sijringa vuhjaris L. Near Egremont, Cumberland, July, 1895. 

 The common lilac has established itself in hedges about 1^ miles 

 east of Egremont very considerably. It forms the hedge for about 

 twenty yards not far from Ulcoats Mill. Between Cote Close and 

 Moss Dalts farms it occupies the hedges in many parts to the 

 exclusion of the thorn for spaces of from five to twenty yards in 

 length in difl'erent fields. It has the appearance of having been 

 bird- sown. — Joseph Adair. 



Gcntiana germanka Willd. A small-flowered form abundant in a 

 chalk-pit at North Sydmonton, Hampshire, this year, 21st September, 

 1896. The plants varied considerably in character, and in several 

 cases there was a difiiculty in distinguishing them from robust 

 forms of G. Amarella L. — A. B. Jackson. I could not refer these 

 specimens either to G. f/ermanica or to G. Amarella, and as certain 

 features suggested a hybrid origin, I sent examples to Dr. von 

 Wettsteiu, who, after closely examining the plant, agrees in thinking 

 it a hybrid between the two above species. He arrives at this 

 conclusion because : — "1. It is completely intermediate, morpho- 

 logically, between the two species named. 2. The sterility of the 

 pollen. I could, however, only examine one flower, as the others 

 were going to seed. This one contained 48 per cent, of abortive 

 pollen-grains. 3. The small number of fully-developed seeds. 

 1 examined three capsules, of which one contained 50 per cent., 

 the second 97 per cent., and the third 88 per cent, of evidently 

 abortive seeds." Dr. Wettstein adds that for a complete determi- 



