324: THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



SHORT NOTES. 



Orchis fallens in Hants. — In May, 1910, a single plant of 

 Orchis imllens appeared on a rough grass bank in the grounds of 

 East Hill, Liss. It came up again this year but did not flower; 

 the leaves, however, looked strong and healthy. The Hon. Mrs. 

 Cardew, who has lived at East Hill ever since the grounds were 

 laid out, and also her head gardener, who made the bank forty 

 years ago, both state that nothing to their knowledge has ever 

 been planted there. The only material brovight from outside the 

 grounds to make the bank was some chalk from the hills about 

 six-and-a-half miles distant. The following description of the 

 plant is translated and condensed from Schulze's Die Orchidaceen 

 Deutschlands (1894), no. 14 : — "Tubers large in proportion to the 

 plant, ovate or longish, seldom globular, with rather strong root- 

 lets. Stem 20-40 cm. high, terete or slightly angular, glabrous, 

 light green, with short, pointed, nerved scales below, leafless 

 above. Leaves broadly or narrowly obovate, somewhat narrowed 

 below, broadest above the middle, bluntish or somewhat pointed, 

 rather fleshy, of a beautiful clear green, unspotted. . . . Spike 

 oval, nearly cylindrical, with rather large, rather loose, pale yellow 

 flowers, nodding as a rule, with a very disagreeable scent, especi- 

 ally in the evening and night. Bracts as long as or longer than 

 the ovary, linear-lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, pointed, 1-nerved, 

 rarely 3-nerved, pale yellow, with scarious margins. Ovary sessile, 

 linear, twisted, light green, curved at the top. Outer perianth- 

 segments free, ovate, blunt, 1-3-nerved, pale yellow or yellowish- 

 white. . . . Lip broad, longer and not so pale a yellow as 

 the other perianth-segments, directed forwards and downwards, 

 slightly convex, shallowly 3-lobed, entire or slightly notched, 

 especially in the middle or towards the base ; more or less velvety 

 with short papillae ; side lobes rounded or almost cut short ; middle 

 lobes larger than the side lobes, undivided. Spur cylindrical, 

 blunt, seldom emarginate at the apex. . . . Column short, very 

 obtuse or shortly pointed, pale yellow ; pollen-masses pale yellow, 

 their stalks and glands whitish." Nyman [Conspectus) gives its 

 European distribution as follows : — " Germ. med. (prsec. Thuring.) 

 mer. Helv. Delph. Ital. Cont. (in centr. et mer. r.). Austr. Hung. 

 Banat. Trauss. Croat. Vallach. Bosn. Herceg. Alban. Attica? 

 (Hymettus: Fraas). Messen. (ex Boiss.)." — E. M. Cardew. 



Carex aquatilis Wahl. — It does not appear from Mr. Swing's 

 note on pp. 301-2 that he has seen a dried specimen of the 

 gathering (my No. 3472) from the bog between Ben More and Am 

 Binnein, v.-c. 88 Mid Perth, which I have named and distributed 

 as G. aquatilis forma (misprinted "former" on p. 196) ancjustata 

 Kiikenthal. This is very nearly identical with my Nos. 2103 (by 

 the Spey, below Kingussie, 96 E. Inverness, July, 1898) and 2983 

 (Gorrie Kander, 92 S. Aberdeen, at 2800 feet, July, 1906), both of 

 which are referred by Pfarrer Kukenthal to his f. angustata. I 

 can see no difference, beyond the smaller size, narrower leaves, 



