516 



country not unfrequently resort to the practice of planting " paigles " 

 and "primroses" together in their gardens in order to obtain these 

 hybrid " oxlips," which they always cherish as objects of great curi- 

 osity from the novel way in which they go to work to procure them. 

 I may just add, that there can be no doubt as to the Halstead plant 

 being the true P. elatior. It is perfectly identical with authentic spe- 

 cimens from Bardfield and elsewhere, now growing in my garden ; 

 indeed, the plant is altogether so distinct in appearance from the hy- 

 brids between P. vulgaris and veris that they are not easily to be 

 confounded. 



Thomas Bentall. 



April 16, 1846. 



Scirpus (Isolepis) Savii known and distinguished as a Species by 

 our older English Botanists. By W. A. Bromfield, M.D., 

 RL.S. 



That this plant, supposed to be a modem, and indeed, rather re- 

 cent addition to the British Flora, was known to and well distinguish- 

 ed by at least a couple of our earlier botanical writers, is, I apprehend, 

 clearly established on the testimony of Merrett and Parkinson. The 

 latter, in the 'Theatrura Botanicum' gives us, at p. 1270, No. 9, a 

 tolerably accurate figure, and on the next page a very fair, though 

 brief description of S. Savii, under the rather cumbrous title of Gra- 

 men junceum maritimum exile Plimostii, or " small sea rush grasse of 

 Plimmouth." He adds, " This was found as well at Plimmouth as Do- 

 ver in their wet grounds." To this Merrett correctly refers at p. 55, of 

 his ' Pinax,' a plant which he found " plentiftil where a small dril is- 

 sueth out betwixt the rocks, near the south east point of the Isle of 

 Wight." This station accords with one of the most prolific of the 

 localities for S. Savii in the island at the present day, namely, on the 

 wet, springy, slipped land under the cliff at Shanklin, where it will 

 be found in great abundance, particularly a little to the northward of 

 the Chine, beyond the baths, growing in dense, caespitose tufts, often 

 above a foot in diameter, spreading or radiating in a circular form. 

 Parkinson's figure represents the variety /3. monostachys, the only one 

 found with us here, where it is extremely common in wet, boggy 

 places, especially along the coast, somewhat rarer in plashy spots on 

 heaths, and in woods, &c., inland. Fig. 10 of the same page is evi- 

 dently that of S. setaceus, as appears also by the description, in which 



