71 



Gentiana acaulis. — Mr. Townley, of Manchester, gathered this 

 plant several times on sand-hills near Liverpool, where he described 

 it as growing in abundance, far apart from any cultivation. I have 

 seen and possess some of his specimens which were brought in a living 

 state to the late Mr. Crozier. 



Datura Stramonium. — Ought we not to consider this plant as fully 

 naturalized as any of our occasional visitors ? I have known several 

 instances in this neighbourhood and near Nottingham where it has 

 made its appearance in considerable quantities, where land has been 

 cleared for building, &c. 



Castanea vulgaris. — Surely this ought not to be excluded and the 

 poplars retained in our lists. If a thousand years' residence in one 

 country is not sufficient to naturalize a species, I fear many others 

 must be similarly banished. 



J. SlDEBOTHAM. 

 Manchester, February 16, 1848. 



Notes on Shropshire Ruhi. By the Rev. W. A. Leighton, B.A., 



F.B.S. E. & L. 



In publishing a series of dried specimens* of brambles in illustra- 

 tion of my ' Flora of Shropshire,' it may be perhaps useful to those 

 who possess both these works, as well as to botanists generally, if I 

 insert in the pages of the ' Phytologist ' a few notes explanatory of 

 the changes which the valuable researches of Messrs. Babington, Dr. 

 Bell Salter and others have rendered necessary, and the additional 

 knowledge and information which continued investigation in this per- 

 plexing genus has brought to light. 



In doing this, as every trivial distinguishing mark between various 

 forms in so difficult a genus seems, in our present unsettled state of 

 knowledge, worthy of being noticed, I purpose to set down such cha- 

 racters as I have observed, which, if constant, may prove useful as 

 points of discrimination. They have been gathered from a compari- 

 son of a tolerably extensive collection of our British forms, and are 

 offered, not in a decided tone of absolute certainty, but are rather 

 thrown out as hints to students, to test them on the living plants, and 



* I may as well take the opportunity of stating that a few copies of the ' Fasciculus 

 of Shropshire Rubi ' still remain on band, and may be had on application to the 

 writer. 



