971 



■fWruithoyalum umbellatum. In meadows, pastures and thickets; 

 rare, but I see no great reason to doubt its being truly indigenous in 

 Hampshire, although unquestionably most frequently seen as a gar- 

 den outcast, or at least in spots open to suspicion. Meadows about 

 Steephill in several places, appearing to be truly wild, Mr. Albert 

 Hamborough and Dr. G. A. Martin !!! A few plants found, June 13, 

 1845, in Calbourne New Barn, Hummets, apparently quite wild. In 

 a pasture by Afton House, Mr. G. Kirkpatrick (indigenous ?) !! Na- 

 turalized on the lawn behind Osborne House, and in all the subjoined 

 stations in a very questionable condition as regards nativity. In 

 North wood Park, Miss G. E. Kilderbee, but rarely flowering, and too 

 near the shrubbery '.!! In an artificial grass field at Newch inch, in 

 tolerable abundance, but on the site, some thirty years ago, of cottage 

 gardens. I have found it in similar unsatisfactory situations else- 

 where in the island. "Found at Bullington," Rev. D. Cockerton, 

 the only station I find amongst my notes for this plant on the main- 

 land of the county. Called " Wake-at-noon " in this island. O. py- 

 renaicum probably grows in the woods of this county, since it has 

 been found in the adjacent ones of Sussex, Wilts, Berks (Cat. of Pis. 

 of Newbury), and I think Dorset. In Somersetshire the Miss Sib- 

 leys have found O. pyrenaicum growing five and six feet high ! I 

 have never seen it much exceeding a foot or two in woods at Bath, 

 where, during my residence in that city about sixteen years ago, 

 I have seen the young shoots sold in the market instead of Asparagus. 

 O. nutans is likely to be naturalized in some parts, and Gagea lutea 

 may occur with us as well as in Oxfordshire. 



Scilla aulumnalis. In dry sandy or gravelly pastures, and on 

 rocks by the sea; very rare. In great plenty on the sandy pasture- 

 ground of the Spit or neck of land below St. Helen's, that stretches 

 across the entrance of Brading Harbour. Priory, Isle of Wight, Mr. 

 J. Woods, Jun., in Bot. Guide (possibly the same station as the last). 



Fritillaria, Ornithogalum, &c, proving that there is no inseparable connexion, as 

 people are apt to suppose, between beauty of form and colouring, and geniality of cli- 

 mate. We should disregard this too prevalent opinion in discussing the indigenous 

 origin of plants, and be guided by the type they present, and the geographical distri- 

 bution of the orders, genera and species they severally belong to. A most remarkable 

 instance of the prevalence of richly-coloured and extremely tropical forms of vegeta- 

 tion, under a constantly cool and sunless sky, ever dripping with rain or fog, is 

 graphically given by Dr. Hooker in his account of Sikkim Himalaya, in the 'Journal 

 of Botany' for February, 1850, pp. 58, 59. 



