53 



Cnicus oleraceus a British Species. By W. A. Bromfield, M.D. 



A SPECIMEN of this plant is in the herbarium of Mrs. M. Stovin, of 

 Ashgate, near Chesterfield, gathered by herself in 1816, from a root 

 found by Mr. Oldham, nurseryman, at Sheffield, apparently wild, in 

 Lincolnshire, and by him transferred from its native locality to his 

 garden in Yorkshire. The specimen I saw when on a visit to that la- 

 dy in November last, and from her received the above particulars. 

 As this species is very widely distributed over the continent of Eu- 

 rope, it may be reasonably expected to occur in our own country, and 

 the above notice will, we hope, serve as an encouragement to look out 

 for it in that part of England. We are not aware that Cnicus olera- 

 ceus is ever cultivated, either for use or ornament, so that it may fairly 

 be presumed to have been wild in the place where it was discovered. 



Wm. Arnold Bromfield. 



Ryde, January 15, 1845. 



Discovery of Bryum roseum in fruit, at Lydford, Devon. 

 By the Rev. W. S. Hore, M.A., F.L.S. 



The Rev. C. A. Johns and myself were fortunate enough to find 

 this beautiful species of Bryum in fructification about six years since, 

 in the woods surrounding the waterfall at Lydford. At that time we 

 were accompanied by some friends, who were not botanists, which 

 prevented us from making so thorough a search as we could have 

 wished, and were therefore reluctantly compelled to quit the romantic 

 valley of the Lyd with only six specimens bearing capsules. As the 

 moss itself, in a barren state, was abundant, we determined on renew- 

 ing our search at some future opportunity, in hopes of being enabled 

 to enrich the herbaria of our muscological correspondents with speci- 

 mens of the plant. This opportunity, however, did not present itself 

 till the present month, when a visit to Plymouth by Mr. Johns ena- 

 bled us to carry our good intentions iuto efiect. The long drought 

 of the past summer held out hopes that we should be successful, as, 

 from the want of moisture, we anticipated that this moss, like other 

 plants having a tendency to increase by their roots in wet seasons, 

 would be thrown into a capsuliferous state. Whether we judged cor- 

 rectly or not, I will not say, but we managed, after a close search of 

 between three and four hours, to collect about eighty specimens. Of 

 these, one was provided with four setae ; two with three ; one with 

 three, two of which were united till within three lines of the summit, 



