I'.X) BOTANICAL XEW^. 



ratis pcdunculo longioribiis, rapsulis inflatis," and addeJ a fi-jiire 

 (tab. i.) representing the plant in two parts, natural size, with de- 

 tached lettered figures showing the flower as seen both from above and 

 from below, as well as a transverse section of the pericarp ; it was not 

 until the year 1753 that Linnoeus in the first edition of the " Species 

 Plantarum," page 931, named the plant Lobelia injlata. Another 

 inaccuracy of the same kind occurs in referring the name of Cinnamo- 

 mum zeiilanicum to J. Breynius in a work that was published in the 

 year 1676, long before the introduction of the binomial system of 

 nomenclature ; in the work referred to, Breynius called the plant by the 

 short phrase of " arbor CaricUa zeilanica.'" However, our authors in this 

 case prudently quote Breynius only on the authority of Hayne, and 

 have simply followed other writers in thus referring the name, which 

 properly belongs to Blume, Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind., p. 568 (1825). 



It seems remarkable that so well and long known a species as the 

 cultivated Mustard should bear a name {Drassica alba) which is dated 

 80 recently as 1872 ; it could at least have been ascribed to Boiss. ex 

 Benth. Handb. Brit. FL, p. 92 (1858). 



The name of Uticaria Gambler, Koxb., was first published in the 

 catalogue dated 1813 and appended to the " Hortus Ben':;alensis " 

 (1814), without description, and subsequently with description in 

 Carey's'edition of the " Flora Indica" (1824), though our authors only 

 quote the edition of the year 1832. 



The Linnean names of Iris Jlorentina and Ulicium anisatum are 

 referred to the second edition of the " Species Plantarum " (1762), 

 instead of the earlier work, namely, the tenth edition of the " Systema" 

 (1759). On the other hand, the generic name of Hagenia, Gmelin, 

 and the specific name of ^. ahjssiyiica, Willd., are rightly taken up in 

 preference to the names of Kunth, Brayera and B. anthelmintica. 



Besides the plants that are included in the official pharmacopoeias of 

 the present day, a few other plants possessing mild medicinal virtues 

 are given by our authors ; thus we find the China Tea-plant given 

 under the name of Camellia Thea, Link., and the Assam Tea-plant 

 (C. theifera. Griff".) is quoted as a synonym. The latter plant is, how- 

 ever, a well-marked variety, and in Hooker's *' Flora of British India " 

 is apparently regarded as a distinct species. 



The succeeding parts of Bentley and Trimen's *' Medicinal Plants," 

 which will bring up the plates to over 300, will be looked forward to 

 with much interest, and there can be no doubt or question as to the 

 value and usefulness of the work. "W. P. H. 



23otanical ^ctu^^. 



Articles in Journals. — April. 



Bot. Zeitiing. — T. Irmisch, " On the germinating plant of Rhipsalis 

 Cassytha and its development" (contd.). -- J. ' Weisner, "On the 

 crystalline character of the waxy covering of plant-epidermis." — H. 

 G. Holle, "On the growing-point of the roots of Angiosperms " (tab. 

 5). 



Flora. — G. Winter, " Notes on the UstilaymefR " (tab. 4-7). — C. 

 Kraus, " Olservations on hair-formation." — A. Geheeb, " Bryological 



