204 



growing in a place where water had evidently stood, though then dry. Induced by its 

 luxuriance I gathered a handful, but did not look at it until I had gone a considerable 

 distance, when, on examination, I found I had another plant mixed with it, which 

 proved to be Bupleurum tenuissimum, a specimen of which I enclose and beg your 

 acceptance of. — William Mitten ; 91, Blachnan St., Borough, April 14, 1842. 



[We beg our correspondent to accept our thanks for the veiy fine specimen he has 

 so obligingly sent; it is larger than any we had previously seen. On turning to Milne 

 and Gordon's ' Indigenous Botany,' we find it recorded that this species was found " by 

 Merret, at Paddington beyond the bridge in the way to Harrow upon the Hill, whence 

 it is now probably extirpated." The re-discovery of this plant in the neighbourhood 

 of the metropolis, is a very interesting circumstance. — Ed.'] 



147. Oxlips found at Bardjield, supposed to he identical with the Primula elatior of 

 LinncBus. I send you some oxlips from Bardfield, in Essex, which, from a notice in 

 the Gardener's Chronicle of the 12th of March, appear to me to be identical with what 

 the writer calls the true Primula elatior of Linuceus and the German botanists. They 

 have nodding flowers, and in no instance have I seen single-flowered stalks, as in the 

 primrose. They vary but little, and apparently owing to some having a more favour- 

 able situation than others. They cannot be hybrids, for the primrose does not exist in 

 the parish, and these oxlips grow by thousands in the meadows, and in moist woody 

 places adjoining ; in one instance a meadow of about two acres is entirely covered by 

 them, being a very mass of yellow bloom. Pagils or cowslips also occur in the neigh- 

 ■ bourhood, but prefer dry ground. — Henry Douhleday ; Epping, April 20, 1842. 



[The Primula elatior " limbo corollarum piano " of Linnaeus, is the var. /3. of his 

 P. veris ; var. a. officinalis, being our cowslip and var. y. acaulis, the primrose ; (Sp. 

 Pi. 204, ed. 3). The passage in the Gardeners' Chronicle referred to by Mr. Double- 

 day, is given below. — Ed.] 



148. The Oxlip. A notice in the Gardeners'* Chronicle (Oct. 9, 1841),* upon the 

 respective relations of an old and long-disputed family, the Primrose, Cowslip, and 

 Oxlip, although correct in the main, requires a few observations to make the state of 

 the case perfectly clear. It is probably true that the English Primula elatior or Ox- 

 lip (not that of Linnaeus and the continental botanists) is a hybrid between the com- 

 mon Primrose (P. acaulis) and the Cowslip (P. officinalis). Two reasons may be 

 adduced for this belief: 1st, That England is almost the only country in which the 

 Primrose and Cowslip are found in company with each other ; the former being on 

 the continent rather a southern plant, ranging from France to Calabria and Asia Mi- 

 nor; the latter a northern one, ranging from Finland to the top of the Alps. Both 

 species, may, indeed, be found in mountainous parts of the south of Europe ; the P. 

 officinalis on the higher parts of the Apennines, and the P, acaulis in the low waim 

 grounds of Florence and Naples — but not together, nor does the English Oxlip seem 

 to be known in those countries. The union of the Cowslip and Primrose in our banks 

 and meadows is no bad type of the climate of England, in which the representatives 

 of the northern and southern flora are found side by side, and what wonder if a hy- 

 brid be the result .■' In confirmation of this view of the true place of the English Ox- 

 lip, it must be familiar to every gatherer of wild flowers that Oxlips difl'er greatly from 

 one another, as seedling varieties and their descendants often do. Some are more like 



* No. 149, next page. 



