938 



which distinguishes this latter from its congener is the absence or 

 paucity of bulbills. All the British botanists seem to have accepted 

 the decision of Linnaeus, and from Hudson downwards describe this 

 plant as A. Ampeloprasum, some* adding from books or inspection 

 of foreign specimens the characters of the southern species, particu- 

 larly that of the botryoidal sack of bulbills, which assures the rapid 

 propagation of the species, and renders it so troublesome a weed in 

 the vineyards and fields of the east. Mr. Babington seems to have 

 seen the plant, and to have made his description from native speci- 

 mens : he says (Man. of Brit. Bot. p. 305), " Bulb forming 2 — 4 large 

 offsets within its coats ;" the rest of his description likewise coincides 

 with A. Porrum. I am therefore inclined to believe that this plant 

 cannot be referred to A. Ampeloprasum, L., but is merely the A. Por- 

 rum escaped from gardens. That very accurate observer, Mr. Borrer, 

 likewise supposes that the presence of this plant in the Holms or 

 islands of the Severn is the result of former cultivation ; but our fore- 

 fathers were much more likely to have cultivated leeks there than the 

 acrid and useless Ampeloprasum. T am aware that many botanists 

 are disposed to consider the leek as a mere variety of Ampeloprasum : 

 it is difficult to ascertain this with certainty, but my own observations 

 lead me to place it amongst those numerous esculent plants whose 

 origin is unknown to us. Should any of your correspondents be able 

 to visit the " Steep Holms Island," and send you from thence speci- 

 mens of this plant, the question might perhaps be elucidated : you 

 should, however, recommend to those who may undertake the task to 

 be sparing in the collection of specimens, so as to leave for posterity 

 sufficient remains of a species which has probably occupied its pre- 

 sent site for more than two centuries, and which was first described 

 by the greatest of our ancient botanists. The investigation of the 

 other habitat of A. Ampeloprasum given by Mr. Babington, — " Cliffs 

 in Guernsey," — would be also interesting, as I do not find the species 

 enumerated in any of the floras of the western departments of France. 



P. B. Webb. 



* See Smith's ' English Flora,' vol. ii. p. 134. 



