56 NOTES ON INTERESTING PLANTS. 
berg (Flor. Jap. 33) distinguishes his F. pumila, B. (=F. erecta, 
Thb. serius, and of subsequent authors) from the true F. pumila, by 
its edible fruit. But, to say nothing of his very imperfect means of 
acquiring information, the fact of a fruit not being generally eaten by 
no means disproves its wholesomeness ; and, indeed, Thunberg himself 
at first considered his two later species inseparable. 
Doubtless F. stipulata and F. pumila are very closely allied species, 
so near, indeed, that I cannot myself pretend to distinguish sterile 
specimens. M. Schultes, in a rather scarce work (‘Hoffmann et 
Schultes, Noms indigènes d'un choix de plantes du J apon, déterminées 
d'aprés les échantillons de l'herbier des Pays-Bas, Paris, 1853), re- 
printed from the * Journal Asiatique," remarks under F, stipulata :— 
* Les échantillons de cette esp?ce conservés dans l'herbier portent les 
mêmes noms japonais et chinois que F. pumila, et elle ne parait étre 
qu'un drageon de P. pumila.’ Whatever error may exist in the 
nomenclature of the herbarium specimens referred to, no botanist who 
has examined the syconi of the two species would, I imagine, for a 
moment think of uniting them. 
8. Catapodium unilaterale, B. aristatum, Grisebach. 1 am indebted 
to the well-known Sinologue, Dr. S. W. Williams, at present Secretary 
to the United States’ Legation at Peking, for specimens of this pretty 
little grass, found sparingly by him, in July 1864, in damp places by 
the borders of fields, about twelve miles west of the capital. It had 
previously been recorded from the mountains of northern China, by 
Bunge. I notice it for the purpose of alluding to its presence in 
Peking as a singular instance of geographieal distribution, for it is 
found neither in Dahuria, Mongolia, in the Ussuri or Amur territories, 
nor in any part of the whole Russian empire, except perhaps the 
Crimea; and its occurrence there rests only on the doubtful testimony 
of Georgi. It may, at first sight, seem strange that a grass which is 
mainly confined to the south of Europe should be found at Peking, 
where the thermometer in January sometimes falls as low as 17:6? F., 
and where the advent of a rigorous winter is heralded by piercing 
northerly winds, and accompanied by the almost entire disappearance 
of herbaceous vegetation; but fugacious plants like this, which only 
exist for a short time in the height of summer, are not exposed to such 
inimical influences. The mean temperature of Peking, calculated from 
-~ thirteen years’ observations, according to Kuppfer, as quoted by Maxi- 
