16 
marked by its short seed vessels and obtuse buds from the ordinary wild form. 
Its interest consists in the fact that it has been, till lately, only known as a garden 
plant. But in the Great Doward woods the two forms grow together, clearly both 
equally native, and it would be desirable to know whether the same is the case 
elsewhere. The garden plant appears to have larger flowers than the wild one as 
growing on the Dowards; but I see no other difference. It is desirable to investi- 
gate whether intermediates, both in the length of the pods and the shape of the 
buds, do not occur. 
Myriophylium alterniflorum. ‘This plant is an addition to the County Flora, 
and it occurs in profusion in the upper course of the Wye, above Hereford. Ihave 
it from Breinton, and from Whitney, and Sir G. Cornewall pointed it out to me at 
Brobury Scaur. I suspect it to have been brought down from the higher Welsh 
districts of the river ; for it does not, that I am aware of, occur in the river in the 
Ross district, nor in any of the smaller streams of Herefordshire; though its dis- 
tribution throughout Britain, as traced by Mr. Watson, shows that it is by no 
means exclusively a hill plant. It would be worth while to investigate its distri- 
bution in the Severn, and to search for it in our other streams, distinguishing 
those which have a high-land origin from those which take their rise in low lands. 
The high-land Stream moss Fontinalis squamosa exhibits almost precisely the same 
distribution in the Wye as this Myriophyllum. 
Valeriana officinalis, var. Mikanii. I have long looked for this limestone 
variety of the Great Wild Valerian in Herefordshire in vain, but last year T came 
across a plant looking very like it on Howle Hill; and Mr. J. G. Baker, of the 
Royal Herbarium, Kew, confirms my suspicions with the verdict—‘‘ Certainly 
officinalis Mikanii.” It appears to be almost if not entirely confined to limestone, 
and on the limestone of the Derbyshire dales it is the more common form. But 
the Doward Hills do not seem to produce it, and all through the sandstone of 
Herefordshire, the var. sambucifolia seems to occupy the ground alone. 
Bartsia odontites, var. verna. Extreme forms of this are very unlike the 
common roadside variety, serotina, The name “‘ verna”’ is a little misleading, as 
leading one to expect a much greater difference in the flowering season as compared 
to serotina than really exists. I do not think that there is really more than three 
weeks between the two; the common plant beginning to flower about the middle 
of July, verna at the extreme end of June. The upright and compact mode of 
growth in verna, as compared with the straddling serotina, gives a better mark of 
distinction. With regard to the distribution of B. verna in Herefordshire, I can 
only at present say that it is abundant on the Great Doward. It is very desirable 
to have more observations concerning its distribution over the whole area, and also 
to notice whether intermediate forms between the two varieties do not occur. 
Epipactis media. I once found a single specimen of this plant (in 1866) on 
the Great Doward. Otherwise not a single record had ever been made of its 
occurrence in the county until last year, when Mr. Towndrow agreeably surprised 
me by shewing me specimens from the neighbourhood of Malvern, and assuring me 
that in that district it is the more common species. It is evident then that we 
have much yet to learn with regard to its distribution, and I should be much 
