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before it came up visibly. I gathered the seeds in Erddig woods, where, you may re- 

 member, we saw it in profuse luxuriance. It will, however, turn pink or purple when 

 very much exposed to the light, notwithstanding the remark of our learned friend, in 

 his scientific and elaborate essay; for having cut away some of the hazel branches, to 

 bring it more in view of the walk, the sunbeams in a few days turned it so very pinky 

 and purple, that some ladies were very much struck with the beauty and delicacy of its 

 colours, though the plant itself is rather of a repulsive and cadaverous aspect." 



Of Bidens tripaHita, Linn., " specimens not unfreqiiently occur, in 

 which the leaves are all undivided ; but attention to their being petio- 

 late, and to the outer involucral bracteas being unequal, serrated, and 

 many times longer than the flowers, will at once obviate any doubt 

 which may by possibility arise, as to which species the plant ought to 

 be referred." 



The list of Salopian Orchidese comprises 21 species; among which 

 we are glad to recognise the names of 17 of our oldest friends, as well 

 as of 4 rarer species with which our acquaintance commenced at a later 

 period. The former include Orchis ustulata, rare ; Habenaria viridis, 

 chlorantha and bifolia, neither of them unfrequent ; Ophrys apifera, 

 not unfrequent, and muscifera, very rare ; Neottia spiralis, not com- 

 mon ; Listera ovata, frequent ; Neottidium Nidus-avis, not common ; 

 Epipactis latifolia, not unfrequent, and palustris, not common. The 

 four rarer species are Gymnadenia albida, Ophrys aranifera, Listera 

 cordata, all very rare in Shropshire; and Cephalanthera ensifolia, rare. 



Gymnadenia albida, Scop. Orchis albida, Sm., 'Eng. Fl.' iv. 18. 

 Habenaria albida, Br., Hook. ' Brit. Fl.' 376. 



" The structure of this plant is certainly that of Gymnadenia not Habenaria. I am 

 far from being certain that this genus and Aceras ought to be retained separate from 

 Orchis. Gymn. conopsea comes so very near to Ore. pyramidalis in habit and appear- 

 ance, as often to be hardly distinguishable without examination, and the structure of 

 the anther is scarcely sufficiently diiferent to constitute a genus." — Bahington. 



Neottidium Nidus-avis, Schltd. Listera Nidus-avis, Hook. ' Fl. 

 Scot.' 253 ; ' Eng. Fl.' iv. 39 ; ' Br. Fl.' 379. The non-parasitical na- 

 ture of this plant, and its mode of propagation, have been determined 

 by the Hon. and Rev. W. H. Herbert ; the results of whose researches 

 we here lay before oiu' readers. 



" The Hon. and Rev. W. H. Herbert has investigated the economy of this plant, 

 which has been considered as parasitical on the roots of trees. He found several dead 

 flower-stalks which had grown out of bundles of fleshy fibres, diverging every way, but 

 the fibres were falling apart, and the plant appeared to have died as an annual after 

 flowering. On stirring the ground further, at a short distance, he discovered a live 

 bundle of similar fibres, with a very strong white shoot or eye, like the dormant shoot 

 of a perennial herbaceous plant, which was evidently to produce a flowering-stem in 

 the next summer. Pursuing his researches he soon discovered similar bundles of dif- 



