I860.] CHAPTERS ON BEITISH BOTANY. 207 



Britain, viz. B. virgatwn, and of this only a few stragglers were 

 seen at Wandsworth. See ' Phytologist ' for November, 1859. 

 It has a considerable European range, viz. from the south of 

 Sweden to the south of Europe. Theophrastus observed that 

 the seeds of Elite are covered with a very thick episperm. This 

 is characteristic of the order. 



Bromus. Several species of this genus, as applied in modern 

 times, grow in Greece, and they have already been noticed under 

 the head JEgilops and Aira. (Bil. 23 ; Theo. viii. 4.) 



BuPLEURUM, ^ov7rp7]a-Tt<;. This is a very doubtful plant. 

 Sprengel states, forte (probably) B. rotundifolium. Billerbeck 

 names two species as classical plants, viz. B. longifolium and 

 B. fruticosum, but does not say that either of them is the Bu- 

 prestis of Theophrastus. Stackhouse says that even the class 

 of ^ov7rpr]aTi<i is uncertain. See Spr. 84 ; Bil. 66 ; Theo. 

 vii. 8. 



BuTOMUs. This plant, B. umbellatus, is by Sprengel identified 

 with that of Theophrastus, b. i. c. 11. Billerbeck, on the other 

 hand, says that Butomus, Th., is Sparganium ramosum, Ij., and 

 quotes Theoph. b. iv. c. 8. Possibly both these learned authors 

 may be right. Both plants grow in Greece or in its immediate 

 vicinity, and the venerable ancient botanist may have described 

 both plants under the same name. Nomenclature was not a 

 hobby in those early simple times. 



Buxus, Box (Tryfo?). This eminently beautiful shrub {B. 

 sempervirens) grows all over the middle and south of Europe, 

 from England to Greece. This is one of the few plants with 

 few aliases ; there is no question about its name and history. 



Carduus (?7 aKavOr], rj Keavoi6o<i). Sprengel (p. 101) quotes 

 Hist. Plant, iv. 11, as the authority for identifying C. arvensis 

 and the plant of Theophrastus. Billerbeck (p. 207) appears to 

 agree with Sprengel. The latter quotes F. Columna, Ecphrasis 

 (i. 12). It is (i. 46) in the edition of 1616, Eome. This is 

 probable, even though the species is not Greek, on Ny man's 

 authority (SyUoge, 25), "Omn. exc. Sard. Grsec.,'' that is, 

 " Throughout Europe, excluding Sardinia and Greece.'' Theo- 

 phrastus may have observed it as a straggler, or in some of the 

 regions adjoining Greece; but it is far more probable that he 

 merely intended to describe the Thistle in general, than that 

 he did describe any specific member of the great family of the 



