• 580 



respect from the ordinary European state of the species, but I have 

 gathered in the West Indies (Trinidad) a variety with a more slender 

 habit and smaller flowers and berries than in the English plant, which 

 is much used by the negroes as an ingredient in their vegetable soup 

 called callaloo, and a similar use is made of S. nigrum by the blacks 

 in Africa and in the Mauritius. In this county the garden nightshade 

 passes for an active and poisonous plant, and at one time obtained 

 some repute in medicine. To judge from its appearance and smell, 

 it is the last thing one would choose to make soup of, though in the 

 process of stewing it may become as innocent, and I dare say quite 

 as palatable, as " nettle brose," which the author of the useful and 

 agreeable ' Flora of Forfarshire ' extols as delicious. The flowers of 

 S. nigrum, gathered in warm, close weather, occasionally exhale an 

 odour of musk as powerfully as do the blossoms of Mimulus moscha- 

 tus, as 1 have myself remarked, but the smell is very transient, ceasing 

 in a few moments after it becomes perceptible. 



Wm. A. B ROM field. 



Eastmount House, Ryde, Isle of Wight, 

 May, 1849. 



[To be continued.] 



On the Wiltshire locality for Lysimachia thyrsijlora. 

 By T. B. Flower, Esq., F.L.S. 



It is only within a very recent period that the attention of botanists 

 has been more especially directed to the geographical distribution of 

 British plants. And since the publication of Mr. Watson's valuable 

 ' Cybele Britannica,' together with the many excellent local floras 

 and interesting contributions to the pages of the ' Phytologist,' much 

 valuable information has been obtained, both as regards the distribu- 

 tion and range of species. And although much care has been taken 

 of late years to avoid the propagation of error, through the medium 

 of these sources, yet occasionally it cannot be prevented ; and of 

 which the following will afford a striking illustration. Having had, 

 for some time past, considerable doubts as to whether Lysimachia 

 thyrsiflora could be considered truly indigenous in Wiltshire, there is 

 now, I believe, every reason for supposing, from information I have 

 been able to collect, that this rare plant has been introduced into the 

 county, by the late Mr. Sole, of Bath. Mr. Babington, in his ' Flora 

 Bathoniensis,' gives the following station for it : — " In a marsh to the 



