497 



it would seem we have something in England still different, and 

 which is the proper nigrescens of that author. This I have either 

 not fallen in with, or am unable to distinguish by description from 

 the var. (3. radiata of our common C. nigra. With regard to this 

 latter form, I have been at much pains to find a constant mark apart 

 from the sterile outer florets, by which to distinguish it from the more 

 normal state of C. nigra, but without success ; the differences as laid 

 down betwixt C. nigra and nigrescens in the Manual convey no very 

 clear conception to my mind of their dissimilarity ; the determination 

 of the radiant plant of this island to its proper place, if a species or 

 variety, must of course await a definition of C. nigra and nigrescens 

 less obscurely enunciated than it is at present. I hardly know how 

 far our var. /3. is common or otherwise on the mainland of Hants, not 

 having attended to the point. At Clanfield ; Mr. Pamplin in New 

 JBot. Guide. Mansbridge, near Southton. I once picked it with 

 white flowers near Niton, Isle of Wight. Nearly all the alleged 

 habitats for C. Jacea in Britain have turned out on inquiry to be our 

 radiate variety of C. nigra. Are the Irish stations in Fl. Hibernica 

 anything else but this form? Was more than a single plant of the 

 true C. Jacea found in Sussex ? And lastly, what is the genuine C. 

 Jacea ? 



Centaurea Cyanus. Tn corn-fields and other cultivated ground ; 

 very common throughout the island, and I believe the entire county. 



Scabiosa. On banks, by road-sides, about hedges, bor- 

 ders of fields, and amongst corn ; very common, but most abundant 

 on the chalk. Heads of flowers flesh-coloured, outer radiant florets 

 white. In a field near Yarmouth, a single specimen, September, 

 1839. Chalky fields above Sandown Bay, July, 1848. By St. Law- 

 rence's church, August, 1842; Rev. Wm. Thickens !!! A very hand- 

 some variety, well worthy of cultivation. All the florets in the head 

 white ; near Westover, Isle of Wight, August, 1843. 



X solstitialis. In cultivated land amongst corn, clover, 



lucerne, &c. ; also along the borders of fields and in waste ground ; 

 very rare, and probably not indigenous to any part of the county of 

 Hants. Found a good many years ago by my estimable friend the 

 Rev. G. E. Smith, in a newly broken up field by the road-side above 

 Bonchurch, growing to all appearance truly wild amongst Artemisia? 

 and other Composite ! Sought there unsuccessfully by me in 1837, 

 and not since observed in that or any other part of the island, nor 

 have I received intimation of its occurrence on the mainland of 

 Hants. Usually considered, and perhaps justly, as an imported 

 Vol. hi. 3 t 



