521 



Art. CXXVI.— Varieties. 



259. Remedial use of a Fern called " Dail llosg y Tan.'''' The fol- 

 lowing notice relative to the remedial use of a fern in connexion with 

 the late Lady Greenly, of Titley Court, Herefordshire, may perhaps be 

 interesting, as proving the advantage of a botanical acquaintance with 

 plants ; for the worthy author of the memoir of Lady Greenly, being 

 unable to give anything but the Welch name of the fern in question, 

 of course it is rather uncertain what he means. I should conjecture 

 the plant to be Cetei'ach officinarum.* Perhaps some Cambrian bo- 

 tanist may know more about it. The memoir I allude to appeared in 

 ' The Hereford Times ' of the 12th of November last, and is prefixed 

 to a Welch Marwnad or death-song to her memory, composed by the 

 Rev. J. Jones (Tegid), rector of Nevern, Pembrokeshire, and to which 

 the prize was awarded at the ninth anniversary of the Abergavenny 

 Cymreigyddion, Oct. 12, 1842. It is therein stated that — " She also 

 loved flowers, but the properties of plants was one of her favourite 

 studies, and a pursuit which she turned to the benefit of the poor. — 

 She used to cultivate a variety of herbs, and administered medicine to 

 all those who needed it in her neighbourhood. Amongst the plants 

 for which she evinced a particular regard, was that called in Wales — 

 ' Dail llosg y Tan ; ' it is a species of evergreen fem, indigenous to 

 Gwent and Morganwg ; and Lady Greenly having ascertained from 

 her excursions among the Welch peasantry, that is was (as its name 

 denotes) of value as a remedy for burns, she took pains to make it 

 grow in Herefordshire, and succeeded in getting it to floui-ish round 

 her favourite well at Titley." — E. Lees ; Church Hill Cottage, Pow- 

 ick, near Worcester, November 25, 1842. 



260. Note on Bryum Tozeri. As ' The Phytologist ' notices Bry- 

 um Tozeri being found in a barren state this year in Kent (Phytol. 

 200), perhaps it is worthy of remark that Miss A. Griffiths met with 

 the capsules of this rare moss in tolerable abundance, near Torquay, 

 last March. t — Torquay, December 15, 1842. 



261. Note on Scleranthus. Mr, Gibson (Phytol. 366) asks if these 

 plants have one or two seeds. If he will, next summer, examine the 

 plants carefully, he will find that the ovary has two ovules, but that 



* In Davies's ' Welsh Botanology ' " Rhedyn y gogofau," and " Dueg-redynen 

 feddygawl," are given as the Welsh names of Ceterach officinarum ; " Dail llosg y 

 Tan," which we do not find in Davies, is probably the local name of some common 

 species. — Ed. 



t In a letter from Miss A. Griffiths to E. Newman. 



2z 



