308 



Verbascum virgatum in flower. Both the Manual and 'British Flora' 

 give August for the flowering of this plant. 



July 18. — Scilla autumnalis in flower. Hooker says "September;" 

 Babington comes nearer, naming "August" as its flowering month. 



August 12. — Echium vulgare still in flower, and likely to continue 

 so for some time. The Floras restrict it to June and July. 



Whilst I concur with one of your correspondents that the flower- 

 ing-seasons of plants are loosely indicated in our Floras, I must to 

 some extent plead for the authors, believing that the irregularity and 

 variety of the climate of Great Britain beset them with difficulties. 

 At the same time, I cannot but reiterate the conviction that the true 

 average period might be more nearly attained than has hitherto been 

 done. Towards this end, let observations be made by collectors in 

 all parts of our islands, and the results made patent. We may then 

 hope to avoid such disappointment and loss of time as were experi- 

 enced by another of the writers in your last number, who walked 

 " eleven miles and back " in vain, having been deceived by the book 



which he followed as his guide. 



Isaiah W. N. Keys. 



Plymouth, August 17, 1848. 



[I believe the secret, after all, is, as I have already explained, that 

 the subject has not been held by our authors of sufficient importance 

 for personal investigation. — Edward Newman]. 



Botanical Notes for 1848. By G. S. Gibson, Esq., F.L.S. 



A few brief notices of botanical excursions, &c, during the pre- 

 sent summer, may not be uninteresting to some of the readers of the 

 ' Phytologist,' and although several of them proved unsuccessful, in 

 respect of the plants specially sought for, they may not have been 

 wholly without their use. I will begin with one to Box Hill, in 

 search of Teucrium Botrys. The locality where it once grew has 

 been kept very secret, and perhaps wisely so, but I had the opportu- 

 nity of being taken to the spot by a young friend who had gathered 

 it there himself two years ago, and who therefore well knew the situ- 

 ation. It is, as was described, a very stony and steep valley, facing 

 the south, near the farther end of Box Hill, from Burford Bridge. It 

 grew, I am informed, in tolerable plenty, over a limited space of 

 ground, but unfortunately it is now (at least temporarily) destroyed 

 by the land being ploughed up ; it may, however, possibly reappear 



