20G NOTES ox SOMK CHINESE PLANTS. 



we receive from that country contains some novelties. Last year Mr. F. 

 B. Forbes, of Shanghai, placed in my hands for determination a small 

 collection of plants from various parts of China, with the request that 

 I would publish anything of interest it might contain. I venture to 

 assume that it is not out of place here to mention tliat this gentleman, 

 who is on a visit to Europe, is devoting much time and means to the 

 elucidation of the flora of China, for which purpose I have drawn up 

 a list for him of all the Chinese plants of which there are specimens in 

 the Kew Herbarium. Moreover, it is his intention on returning to 

 China to organise a botanical club among the residents at the different 

 stations ; and with the material and knowledge he has gained here, he 

 will be in a position, in conjunction with his friend Dr. Hance, to 

 render some important services to botany. The plants in question are 

 from Kiukiang, collected by Chinese ; from Ningpo, also collected by 

 natives ; from the Feng-wang-Shan hills, eighteen miles from Shanghai, 

 and Ta-hoo Lake, about seventy-five miles south-west of Shanghai, 

 collected by Mr. Forbes himself ; and from Chefoo, collected by himself 

 and his brother-in-law. Dr. Carmichael. The Kiukiang and Ningpo 

 specimens contain several new species, but they are most of them so 

 fragmentary that I must not attempt to describe them. They include 

 most of the new species collected by Dr. Shearer, and described by 

 Mr. Moore in last year's "Journal of Botany," 1875, pp. 225-231. 

 I select the following for remark : — 



1. Thalictrum, sp. Kiukiang, insufficient for determination. 



2. Ranunculus, sp. Kiukiang, probably a variety of R. acris. 



3. Aconitum, sp, Kiukiang. This plant is in Kew Herbarium, 

 from the Amur country, labelled *^ A. Zi/cocionu>n, L., var, septen- 

 trionale, lusus volubile," Maximowicz. 



4. A., sp. Chefoo hills, above Bamboo Temple. I at first regarded 

 this as a distinct new species and drew up a description of it ; but I 

 dare not venture to publish it as such. The same plant was collected 

 by Dr. Shearer at Kiukiang, and Mr. Moore has named it "^. 

 cliine}ise, Sieb." There is also a specimen in the Kew Herbarium, 

 collected by Fortune, which perhaps belongs to the same species. 

 Indeed it bears the name, in Mr. Bentham's handwriting. But I am 

 quite unable to identify these specimens with the figures and descrip- 

 tions of ^. chinense in " Paxton's Magazine" and the "Botanical 

 Magazine," or with the garden specimens preserved at Kew," from 

 which the " Bot. Mag." plate was probably prepared. The original 

 publication of this species appears to be in " Paxton's Magazine" ; at 

 least I can find nothing anterior. Without giving this plant a name, 

 I may append the following description of the specimen from Chefoo, 

 which does not differ mateiially from the others. 



Herba peronnis erecta ; folia radicalia mihi ignota, cauliua petio- 

 lata coriacea sparse et minute pubescentia tripartita lobis lateralibus 

 profuude bifidis centrali obovato-spathulata, omnibus basi valde attenu- 

 atis lobis secundariis brevibus latis rotundatis mucronatis vel lanceo- 

 latis aciitis; floribus magnis albo-cceruleis leviter pilosis longe 

 pedicellatis, scpalis anticis obliquiter lineari-oblongis, lateralibus 

 obovato-rotundatis, postico elongato-cucullato, filamentis ad medium 

 late scarioso-alatis ; folliculis 5 erect is reticulato-nervosis stylo per- 

 «iistente coronatis. 



