190 BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. [JunS, 



come the parent of a numerous progeny. Is this any confirmation or cor- 

 roboration of Mr. Darwin's" theory of the origin of species founded on the 

 selective or elective capabilities which the Water Crowfoot displays ? 



Perhaps, Mr. Editor, some of your learned correspondents will enlighten 

 me, and possibly some other reader, on this point. Beta. 



Cynodon Dactylon. 



Sir, — Should you deem it worthy of insertion in your valuable work, 

 the following is at your service. In visiting the habitat of the Cynodon 

 Dactylon I was rather surprised to find so many with /??;<? spikes, the usual 

 form being four. They were also of a very large size. I send you an 

 example. Should any of the readers of the ' Phytologist ' wish a speci- 

 men, I shall be happy to supply them. Wm. Curnow. 



Pembroke Cottage, Neiolyn Cliff, Penzance. 



Parnassia PALUSTRIS, i. 



This singularly beautiful plant may be grown to advantage in a common 

 flower-pot, by taking it up from its native habitat with a portion of the 

 soil, and planting it in an ordinary-sized pot, and immersing the same in 

 damp soil uj:) to the brim. The only attention necessary is to observe 

 that the plant have plenty of moisture. The plant in question being 

 scarce in this neighbourhood and a favourite of mine, I so treated a living 

 plant I collected in a small peaty bog in Scone wood the year before last 

 (1858), and the result is tliat instead of two slender flower-stalks that it 

 had produced that year, this summer (last August) it produced seven, and 

 each stalk produced one leaf crowned with a beautiful flowxr, the emblem 

 of innocence and purity. The corolla of this plant, when seen by the 

 unassisted eye, is an object of great beauty and elegance, but far more so 

 when examined by a lens of even veiy moderate power. Its nectariferous 

 glands are alike ornamental ; in short it is, to use the language of inspi- 

 ration, " altogether lovely." It is truly astonishing that this lovely gem 

 has not, by the unanimous consent of botanists, its proper place assigned it 

 in the Vegetable Kingdom. Some are for placing it among the Hypericums, 

 some among the Saxifrages, and others among the Droseras : perhaps 

 none are right. It is probably a single genus, and associated with none 

 else in the Natural Order Paniassiacece. John Sim. 



Bridge End, Perth.. 



Yarrow. 



(From Warton's Hist. Eng. Poetry, vol. ii. p. 261.) 



The poet Dunbar, in his poem ' The Thistle and the Kose,' introduces 

 Dame Nature commanding that the progress of the Spring should be no 

 longer interrupted by the chill north-easters which hindered, even then, 

 the buds from blowing. She sent the roe to collect the beasts, the swallow 

 to summon the birds, and the Yarrow to assemble the flowers. He might 

 easily have selected a more suitable messenger among the spring flowers ; 

 the Yarrow does not flower till towards the end of summer. The histo- 

 rian, Warton, praises the judgment and ingenuity of the poet in the text 

 as above, and subjoins the following note : — "The Yarrow is Achillea, ox 



