94 BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. [Mavch, 



' Pliytologist,' vol. iv. p. 224. 



Sir, — Your correspondent, A. G. More, who dates Bembridge, June 2, 

 1860, writes as follows : — "Those botanists who are in the habit of refer- 

 ring to the latest (fourth) edition of the ' Manual,' or to the paper pub- 

 lished by Ml-. Babington in the ' Transactions of the Botanical Society of 

 Edinburgh,' will hardly require to be told that only twelve species of tbe 

 Batrachian section have hitherto been recognized in Great Britain." 



Perhaps not ; yet there may be some botanists, like myself, who have 

 not all the four editions of the ' Manual,' and never saw a single volume 

 nor part of the ' Transactions.' May such be excused for not knowing 

 how many Batrachian Ranunculi have been hitherto recognized in Great 

 Britain? Your correspondent may reply, "So much the worse for them." 

 I shall only say of the Batrachian s the converse of what the Orientals (see 

 Haji Baba, passim) say of their beloved friends, " May their shadows never 

 be more." Beta. 



Pteris aqutlina. 



In August last I observed a quantity of Perns in their marchantiate 

 state (newly-developed), growing upon the front wall of an area which 

 gives light to a single window in the smoky locality of Lambeth. There 

 were about thirty plants, and some of them had so far expanded their first 

 frond that I could identify them with Ptej'is aquilina. A few days ago I 

 paid a second visit to the place, and to my great disappointment found 

 that the bricklayer had been there, and with that fatal instrument to 

 Perns, a trowel, had scraped ofi^ every Pern, and stuffed the joints with 

 mortar. The question how the Pems came there is far from being an un- 

 interesting one. Clapham Common is the nearest locality where the plant 

 grows wild, and the late Dr. James Porbes Young's garden in Kennington 

 Lane is the nearest place where it was then cultivated, — the latter place 

 distant about half a mile, and the former about three miles ; and with so 

 many buildings intervening, it is scarcely possible that the spores could be 

 blo^vn from eithe;* place. A more probable solution to the mystery attend- 

 ing its origin is, that we frequently may see it upon costermoiigers' wheel- 

 barrows, used to divide the different kinds of fruit, and it is extensively 

 used in packing fruit for the London markets, John Lloyd. 



Shamrock. 



Shamrock, the national emblem of Ireland, is TrifoUum repens, not Ox- 

 alis Acetosella. (See ' Pliytologist,' N.s., vol. i. p. 366 and 519.) C. E. P., 

 Torquay, who asks(see 'Phytologist,' N. s., vol. iv. p. 319), "on what grounds 

 botanists now consider the Oxalis Acetosella to be the real Shamrock of 

 Ireland, and why it should not be a Trefoil," is hereby informed that 

 botanists do not consider the Wood Sorrel to be Ireland's Shamrock. They 

 believe, or most of them believe as the writers in the ' Phytologist ' do, as 

 quoted at the head of this note. The question might be easily answered on 

 etymological principles. Sliamrog, or Shamrock, is in the Irish language 

 the term for Trefoil. On principles of common sense the same result will 

 follow. The tradition is that St. Patrick took this plant as an illustration 

 of the doctrine of the " undivided Trinity." The humble White Clover, 



