]92 Dr Graham's Description of New or Rare Plants. 



green, of six acute lobes, approximating at the apex in pairs, and di- 

 verging at the base to form pairs witli the adjoining lobes. Interior of 

 the cells dry, with the numerous ovules in double rows. 



Ornitliogalum'fimbriatum is a native of the Crimea, and was sent to the Bo- 

 tanic Garden, Edinburgh, by my ever liberal friend Dr Fischer of St 

 Petersburgh, under the name of Ornithogalnm ciliare. It flowered in the 

 open border of the Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, in the beginning of 

 May. 



I have retained the specific name given to this plant in the Botanical Re- 

 gister and Botanical Magazine, and have made the references which are 

 made there to Marschall Bleberstein, Persoon, and S))rengel (the only 

 works quoted which I have it in my power to consult), but I have added 

 a mark of doubt. I really cannot believe that the plant of Willdenow 

 and of these authors is the same with that now in the British gardens, 

 and which I have here described. Dr Hooker has well remarked, that 

 it is surely an error in Marschall Bieberstein. and Mr Ker to consider 

 this plant so closely allied to Ornithogalum umbellatum, that they can 

 scarcely be distinguished but by the hairiness of the leaves : they differ, 

 as Dr Hooker says, in many essential characters. In fact, Bieberstein 

 never could have made this remark if he had been des'-ribing our plant, 

 which much more nearly a))proaches Ornithogalum refractum. In the 

 Ornithoyalum fimbriaium of Willdenow, the raceme is said to be sub-bi- 

 flowered, the peduncles spreading wide, hirsute, and scarcely longer than 

 the bractese. Sprengel adds, that the leaves are flat. In the plant of the 

 Botanical Register, Magazine, and this article, the raceme, when the 

 specimen is vigorous, is many-flowered, the peduncles more and more 

 refracted as the flowering advances ; they are perfectly smooth, except- 

 ing that a few of the lower ones have on their under side a few hairs, 

 and they are nearly twice the length of the bract* ae; the leaves are 

 nearly half cylinders. In the statement regarding the proportional 

 length of the bractese and jjeduncles, there is an inadvertent slip in the 

 Botanical Magazine, which the excellent figure will correct. 



Notwithstanding my belief that this is not the Ornithogalum fimbriatnm of 

 Willdenow, 1 think it right to retain the name given to it, because it 

 has been generally adopted, and the figures identify it; whereas Willde- 

 now's plant may, when better known, get another name without incon- 

 venience. 



Papaver nudicaule-alpinuni. 



I am induced to mention this hybrid, on rtccount of the peculiarity of its 

 appearance, and the circumstances in which it was produced. 



A strong plant of Papaver alpinum grew in an open border in the Botanic 

 Garden last year. In the same spot this spring, three very strong plants 

 rose, with leaves precisely similar, jierhaps a little less finely divided. 

 The flowers on expansion, however, were found not white, as in P. al- 

 pinum, but deep and bright yellow, with a greenish tinge in the heart. 

 For several years, many plants of P. nudicaule have blossomed freely in 

 the neighbouring borders. The plant of P. alpinum had been impreg- 

 nated by these, had died, and been succeeded by its hybrid progeny. 

 The three plants are precisely similar, the flowers as large as in P. nudi- 

 caule, and very similar to this species in colour, the leaves, as I have 

 said, almost exactly those of P. alpinum. 



A. remarkable monstrosity appears this year among some of the plants of 

 Papaver nudicaule. The flowers in some are semi-double, but in others 

 few of the outer stamens only remain, the filaments in general assuming 

 the form of fragment . of a capsule, having hairs on their outer, and 

 ovules on their inner surface; the anthers are awanting, and their place 

 supplied by fragments of stigmata. 



