58 



IHE KATUBALIST. 



flowers; also Centaurea cyanus, and 

 the pretty, but injurious, Eanun- 

 cuius anrnsis, which, as I was in- 

 formed by a former, is here called 

 *' Starve-acre," and " Devil o' both 

 sides ; " the latter curious name hav- 

 ing been bestowed on it from the 

 circumstance that the large carpels 

 are spiny and prickly on either side. 

 On a wall opposite Little Marlow 

 church were one or two specimens 

 oiArenaria tenuifolia, growing among 

 a perfect crop of A. serpylUfoUa, Sax'i- 

 fraga tridactylites, &c. In a neigh- 

 bouring ditch, the beautiful Water 

 Violet (HoUonia palustris) grew in 

 great abundance ; it is frequent in 

 this neighbourhood. Fedia dentata 

 occurred plentifully in a cloverfield 

 near Sheej)ridge ; and in the w^oods 

 Neottia nidus-avis and Cephalan- 

 tJiera grandiflora are generally met 

 ■with. My friend had noticed a fine 

 plant of Anchusa sempervircns near 

 Great Marlow ; it was probably an 

 outcast. I have now^ enumerated 

 the principal rarities observed dur- 

 ing my spring trip into Buckingham- 

 shire ; should they be thought of 

 sufficient interest, I may possibly 

 record the fruits of my summer holi- 

 day, in the same neighbourhood, in 

 these pages. 



Uanunculus Ficaria. — With respect 

 to Mr. Sim's Query in our last num- 

 ber respecting a double-flowered 



specimen of li. Ficaria, we beg to 

 refer him to a paper by Dr. Berthold 

 Seemann on " Plants producing dou- 

 ble flowers," in the current number 

 of " The Journal of Botany," jDp. 

 177-8. This paper contains a list 

 of 279 species of plants, which have 

 been observed to produce double 

 flowers, and amongst them is the 

 one named by Mr. Sim. Dr. See- 

 mann also remarks that *' in wet 

 seasons double Uanunculi are by no 

 means uncommon." 



Another remark worthy of note is 

 that " The bulk of the plants pro- 

 ducing double flowers, is undoubted- 

 ly indigenous to the Northern Hemi- 

 sphere ; in Polynesia and the whole of 

 Australasia not a single species with 

 double flowers has turned up ; but 

 there are in South Africa and South 

 America, at least a few phints, the 

 stamens of which are converted into 

 petals." Op. cit. p. 177. — Eds. Nat. 



Eaniinculus Ficaria. — In looking 

 over the '' Naturalist " for June 1st, 

 I observed a Query on the above 

 plant producing double flowers : this 

 peculiar form is by no means new to 

 this species, as well as others of the ge- 

 nus. We find this plant mentioned 

 in the catalogue of the plants culti- 

 vated in the Edinburgh Physical 

 Garden, as far back as the year 1683. 

 At that time it was known by the 

 name oWhelidonium Minus Jlore pleno, 

 Pilewort or lesser Celandine. Since 

 then it has been cultivated in almost 



