I860.] PRIMROSE, OXLIP, AND COWSLIP. 37 



Trifolium arvense and Beta maritima were of course common 

 enough. I should have mentioned before that south of the town 

 the rare plant Medicago minima was common on grassy places 

 near the sea. I had nearl^ reached home, tired enough with my 

 walk, when I saw, on the bank of the road, by my side, great 

 quantities of a small pink blossom. On gathering it I at once 

 recognized it as a Trifolium, but never having seen any like it, I 

 was much puzzled to think what it could be. I have since found 

 it to be, without doubt, Trifolium resupinatum. That it was 

 spontaneous here no one who saw the plant could have doubted 

 for a moment. For about eighty yards of the roadside it was 

 very plentiful, and had I known what it was, I should have 

 gathered more than I did. This, I think, is quite a new locality 

 for this plant, which seems to be rapidly gaining ground in this 

 country as a native. 



I hope that this little memorandum of the plants of Lowestoft 

 may be useful to some reader of the ' Phytologist,' to which 

 periodical I wish all possible success and good fortune. 



Some Observations on our Common Primrose, Oxlip, and Cowslip, 

 and on their Claims as Distinct Species. 



By George Jordan. 



For many years I have wandered over their native localities, 

 in woods, meads, and commons, far distant from the habitations 

 of mankind. In those places I find them undoubtedly as un- 

 varying as when they first appeared by the command of the Cre- 

 ator of all things which adorn the earth's surface, and will con- 

 tinue so until it may please the Creator to establish a neAv order 

 of things. The physical habits of each bespeak a peculiar orga- 

 nization, obscured and incomprehensible for the limited faculties 

 of man to develope, however acute a physiologist. 



The specification of plants in the present state of botanical 

 knowledge is indefinite, and not sufiiciently comprehensive to 

 give to many of our plants their specific claims ; and the nomen- 

 clature is in many instances not sufiiciently significant ; so that 

 some good species are considered varieties, and some varieties 

 species. In a numerous tribe of plants, frequently many of them 



