I860.] BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. 255 



the copper-mines. Several plants of it occur here, but they are unusually 

 stunted, and bear evidence of being closely cropped by rapacious collectors. 

 I would remark that the Cotoneaster appears to occupy the veiy same sort 

 of habitat as it occupies on the Continent, according to Keichenbach's 

 ' Flora Germanica.' The rock on which it grows is formed of the carbo- 

 niferous limestone. 1 have no hesitation in saying that the Cotoneaster 

 is a native plant, and no alien, as some have fancied. The new habitat in 

 which I have found it precludes all possibility of its having strayed from 

 cultivation. It is on a wild rocky ledge on the west side, facing Conway 

 Bay, and is fruiting profusely. Within a stone's-throw of the Cotoneaster 

 you may meet with Sllene nutans, Thalictrum flexuosum, Helianthemum 

 canum, and otlier plants that love a limestone soil. In mentioning the last 

 plant, I would just call your attention to one inflorescence (T enclose speci- 

 mens). You query " in pairs ;" you wiU find they are placed (rather) alter- 

 nately on the common stem. The flowers, as you remark, are small, and 

 come out earlier than those of H. vulgare. Indeed, I remark (June 26fch) 

 that the H. caninum is nearly over, whereas the H. vulgare is in its full 

 bloom. You do not aUude to the dotted leaves of caniim. The upper 

 surface has the appearance of being covered with dark dots ; from the 

 centre of each a seta projects. Moreover, the setae project at the tips of 

 the leaf, and give it the aspect of being bristle-pointed. The plants grow 

 intermixed, and it is easy at a glance to distinguish between canum and 

 vulgare. Canum is apt to grow in round tufts, especially on the blocks of 

 chalk. Peter Inchbald. 



TrIFOLIUM ORNITHOPODIOIDES ON BlACKHEATH. 

 To the JEditor of tlie ' Pkytologist.^ 



Sir, — I had the pleasure of gathering Trigonella or Trifolium ornithopo- 

 dioides last week, on a small mound covered with Trefoil, in a gi*avel-pit on 

 Blackheath, close to the principal entrance to Greenwich Park. As the 

 plant is mentioned in the ' Phytologist ' as not having been seen on Black- 

 heath since 1853, I thought this notice of it might not be unacceptable to 

 your readers. I saw only a small patch of the Trigonella. 



June 28,1860. ClaRA A. JOHNSON. 



Bows MADE OF LaBURNUM. 



With reference to the answer to my question in the ' Phytologist ' for 

 June last, I wish to know whether the wood which in the statute is called 

 Awhurn was Cytisus Laburnum. Did this tree at that period (Edward VI.) 

 grow in England, or was the wood imported from abroad? Haydn's 

 ' Dictionary of Dates ' says Cytisus Laburnuyn was brought into England 

 from Hungary and Austria, in 1576. In the Honom-able Daines Bar- 

 rington's ' Observations on the Statutes ' he considers Awhurn to have 

 meant Alder. Cotgrave's Dictionaiy : " Aubourt, a kind of tree called 

 Alburnus (it bears long yellow blossoms, which no bee will touch)." If 

 this Aubourt is the same as Awburn, and the Awbuni is the Cytisus La- 

 hurtium, then I ask, Are the blossoms of the latter untouched by bees, as 

 stated by Cotgrave, poisonous, as I believe seeds are, when eaten ? If so. 



