338 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



and it was only owing to the war that this year access was possible 

 after the beginning of August. When the plant is not in flower 

 the small root-leaves are quite inconspicuous. In Europe the 

 plant is a native of the Alps of Switzerland and Northern Italy. 

 It is absent from the mountains of Scandinavia, hence it is unlikely 

 to be native in Caenlochan. In this Journal for 1885 (p. 26) 

 Mr. Buchanan- White wrote that, unless his memory deceived him, 

 he was told by a horticultural friend that he had sown a quantity 

 of Myosotis rupicola along with the seeds of other alpines in 

 Caenlochan ; it is possible that Aquilccjia may have been sown at 

 that time ; if so, its persistence for nearly forty years is remarkable. 

 In any case the plant is thoroughly established there, and I think 

 it well to place the fact on record. E. H. Corstorphine. 



An Overlooked Paper on Cactace^. — In Loudon's Gar- 

 dener's Magazine, xvii, pp. 313-321 (1841) is a " Catalogue of the 

 Cacti in the Collection of the Eev. Theodore Williams, at Hendon 

 Vicarage, Middlesex: by George Lawrence, Gardener there," which 

 seems to have escaped notice. Lawrence, of whom I know nothing 

 further than may be gathered from this paper, had evidently a 

 considerable knowledge of the plants, of which Mr. Williams had 

 a very large collection : his enumeration is on scientific lines, the 

 species being grouped into tribes, the genera divided into sections 

 and subsections, and the species briefly diagnosed. That the 

 paper (of whose scientific value I am unable to express an opinion, 

 though I suspect it to be slight) has been overlooked I assume 

 from the fact that one of the genera — EcJmiofossulocactus (a split 

 from EcJiinocactus) under which are placed 34 named species — 

 finds no place in the Index Keivensis. No authorities are appended 

 to any of the names ; I have not troubled to ascertain whether 

 any of them are new, contenting myself with calling attention to 

 the paper. James Britten. 



Helleborus viridis. — Will someone tell me why Green 

 Hellebore sometimes droops and fades within an hour if put into 

 water and kept in an ordinary room, but remains fresh for a week 

 in a tin ? Some similar specimens have kept tolerably fresh 

 fourteen days in a tin. Though usually the drooping is less 

 marked, of course the phenomenon can be seen in certain other 

 flowering plants, and this is one of the reasons for not putting 

 them in water if intended for the press. H. S. Thompson. 



Matricaria suaveolens Willd. — I have this year found this 

 plant in three localities — Woodberrie Hill, Loughton, Essex, in 

 abundance ; Gravel Hill, Ludlow, Salop ; and near the sea at 

 Bray, Co. Wicklow — in small quantity in both places. I have a 

 distinct recollection of having found it either at Kew Bridge or 

 near Wandsworth steamboat pier in 1862-3, although it does not 

 appear in either of my lists for those places published in Journ. 

 Bot. 1863, 376, and Phytologist, n.s. vi, 411 : I fear I then 

 regarded it as a rayless form of Antliemis Cotula. 



James Britten 



