PICRIS. — LEONTODON. 1 16 



of the latter were also much shorter, he was led to ask if these plants 

 are not distinct species ? About the same period, JVIr. Stackhouse 

 pointed out that the calyx in Cornish specimens was always much 

 longer than the blossom. Withering, Bot. Arrang, iii. p. 6/2, edit. 

 1796. — These observations received less notice than they were en- 

 titled to, and the varieties went almost unmarked*, when, in 1829, I 

 mentioned that our Berwickshire Goat's-beard presented the^ same 

 peculiarity as the Norfolk and Cornish one. Fl. Berw. i. p. 172. 

 The character appearing to my friend Dr. R. D. Thomson to be one 

 of specific value, he, in the following year, took specimens to Sir 

 William J. Hooker, and adjudged the plant to be the Tragopogon 

 major of Jacquin-)* ; and, under this name, it was, in consequence, 

 recorded in the 2nd vol. of the Flora of Berwick. Subsequently, 

 Sir William reduced the reputed species to a variety of Tr. pra- 

 tensis ; and, in 1834, we find Mr. Babington remarking that in the 

 genixs Tragopogon, " the proportional lengths of the involucrum and 

 corolla appear to be useless as specific chai'acters." Fl. Bathoniensis, 

 p. 29. The plant, then, had not been "hitherto overlooked," as 

 Mr. Leighton chooses to write in 1841. Flora of Shropshire, 

 p. 384. ^Ir. Leighton has simply the merit of giving a good descrip- 

 tion of the plant, and of ascertaining that it is the Tr. minor of Fries. 

 Mr. Watson, Professor Arnott and Dr. Bromfield continue in the 

 opinion that it is merely a variety of Tr. pratensis. Phytologist, 1849, 

 p. 520. 



339. PiCRis ECHioiDES = Helminthia echioides. — B. B}^ the 

 Pier-road near where the Lime-kiln was. This, our only station for 

 the plant north of the Tweed, has been so much tampered with and 

 misimproved of late, that I fear the rarity may have been eradicated. 

 Mr. Watson asks, " Is it indigenous near Berwick-on-Tweed ? " Cyb. 

 Brit. ii. p. 35. I know not who can answer the question. 



340. Lactuca virosa. Berw. Fl. i. 173. — Dry banks. B. and 

 D. Banks of the Tweed from the Chain-Bridge to Norham, and 

 again at Lennel, abundant ; and often attaining the height of six or 

 even of eight feet, and not without its own grace on the red naked 

 scaurs where it often loves to grow. See Smith's PI. of Kent, 

 p. 46. — B. Ayton-road near the 6 mile-stone; and on the shore near 

 Burnmouth. Lane west of Old Ladykirk, Dr. W. Baird. — D. About 

 Norham and Twizel Castles. — R. Near Melrose. Autumn. 



341. Leontodon taraxacum = Taraxacum officinale. Sanic-? 

 lion: |0€ntj)lion|: ^iii^nAisti, — a name which implies a familiar 



* In Eng. Bot. vi. 434, it is said of Tr. pratensis that " the length of 

 the outer florets is very variable." — Of the Devonshire plant, Mr. Banks 

 says that the corollas are " more frequently shorter than of the same length 

 as the involucre, — never longer." 



t Stat. Ace. Bervvicks. p. 54. 



X " Dent de lion has been corrupted to dandylion, from an idea of the 

 bold and flaunting aspect of the flower, whereas its name has reference to 

 the root." J. Wayleu in Notes and Queries, vi. p. 29.— M'^e presume 

 Mr. Wavlen is here indidging in a little rifUcule of etvmoloeists. The 



I 2 



