12{)2 THE JOUHX.VL OF BOTAXY 



of the botanical literature of the year, mostly relating to British 

 botany ; numerous additions are, as usual, made to the list of casuals, 

 some of them swept up from early records. As we have not received 

 copies for review, we are not called upon for a detailed notice of the 

 Keports. We note, however, that this Journal is somewhat ex- 

 tensivelv laid under contribution : we do not object to this in reason, 

 but we think some limit should be observed — e. g. it is hardly fair so 

 to abstract (p. 402) Mr. A. B. Jackson's paper on Bdrharea as to 

 render consultation of the original almost unnecessary. In a special 

 supplement, which " only carries with it [his] own views and is not 

 printed at any expense to the members," Mr. Druce indulges in his 

 favourite game of "new combinations," finding fresh scope for his 

 ini^enuity among African and Australian plants. We have more 

 tlian once expressed the opinion, which is, Ave believe, entertained by 

 all systematic botanists, that this practice, which appears to be 

 based upon book-work and shows no evidence of acquaintance with 

 the plants themselves, is not in accordance with recognized botanical 

 custom, however gratifying it may be to personal ambition. Mr. Druce 

 also gives an interesting and very full account of John Good^^er, in 

 which he has brought together the various references to and quotations 

 from this excellent botanist which have appeared in Parkinson's 

 Th eat rum and elsewhere, and 4escribes his library, bequeathed to 

 Magdalen College, and MSS. 



The Qarden of June 30 contains the following item of folk- 

 lore, corresponding with that which in this country is associated 

 with Sambucus Ehnlus and Anemone Pulsatilla in their supposed 

 connection with the blood of the Danes. It is narrated by Father 

 Nicholas Velimirovic, of Belgrade, " whose love for Serbian flowers 

 and folk-lore amounts almost to a passion " : — " In June, 1389, the 

 Field of Kossovo was thickly inhabited, and a joyful people sang 

 with a choir of nightingales among the white Peonies. Many 

 rich villages, beautiful Avhite towns, stony churches, pious nobles, 

 gorgeous merchants, exporting gold and silver from a neighbouring 

 mountain of the field ; a lofty army, many visitors from Byzantium 

 and Venice admiring a youthful Christian nation — so it w^as. But 

 the storm came. A storm with hail. And the storm with hail 

 was the Turk, the Unfaithful. It was not the first struggle, but 

 the last and decisive one. The first was under. King Dushan, who 

 proceeded with the Serbian Crusaders to defend Constantinople, 

 the Orthodox Sancta Sanctorum, and sacrificed his life ; the second 

 was under King Vukashin (1371), who fought near Adrianople, 

 and gave his fife for the Cross ; the third was at Plocnik, under 

 the victorious Voivode Milosh. In June, 1389, was the last and 

 decisive one. On that twenty-eighth day of June rain was falling 

 as the two splendid armies met, the one fighting for Christ, the 

 other one against Christ. The white Peonies were bathing in 

 the warm rain. The rain stopped in the evening, and the field 

 was red with blood. The Serbians made the supreme sacrifice for 

 Christ : the King and the nobles, the dukes and the whole army 

 laid down their lives for the greatest ideal. The Serbian Kingdom 

 perished, and the Serbian material glory vanished. But Christ 



