717 



made a point of visiting the stream and pools at the entrance of the 

 village of Brockenhurst from Lyndhurst. I found the Nymphsea alba 

 there, in abundance, and in full flower, but not varying more than 

 usual in size. I had, however, the satisfaction of seeing in one of the 

 pools, and in a neighbouring bog, the rare Isnardia palustris, of which 

 this is, T believe, the third known British station. I may add that I 

 gathered a very small white water-lily, in the year 1810, in shallow 

 water on the margin of Loch Ard near Aberfoil, in which, the size ex- 

 cepted, T could find no difference from the common N. alba. — JV. 

 Borrer ; Henjield, August 12, 1843. 



360. Note on the Cerastium latifolium of the Linnean herbarium. 

 In 'The Phytologist' for the present month (Phytol. 677), Mr. Ed- 

 monston disputes the correctness of an idea expressed by myself in a 

 former number (Td. 586), to the effect that the Cerastium latifolium of 

 Smith and British botanists in general, is truly the species so named 

 by Linnaeus ; and further, that the Shetland plant described and fi- 

 gured by Mr. E. (Id. 495) is only another form of the same species. 

 My own copy of ' The Phytologist,' up to May last, being at present 

 in the hands of a binder, I am unable to refer back to the exact words 

 of either Mr. Edmonston or myself; but can state that the accuracy 

 of my own opinion, as formerly expressed, was afterwards fully con- 

 firmed by a reference to the Linnaean herbarium. There are three 

 specimens in that herbarium, labelled " latifolium " in the handwriting 

 of Linnaeus. One of these corresponds tolerably well with the figure 

 and description of the Shetland plant, except that the leaves are el- 

 liptic varying to ovate (not orbicular, as their length is double their 

 breadth), and that the peduncles vary from equal with the flower to 

 twice or three times the length of the latter. The other two specimens 

 depart more widely from Mr. Edmonston's Shetland plant, and arc 

 quite as well represented by that gentleman's figures of E. alpinum, 

 as by his figure of the Shetland E. latifolium. These two specimens 

 being single flowering branches, without root or capsule, do not show 

 all the characters of the species, but they correspond very closely with 

 my flowering specimens from Perth and Sutherland. Their leaves 

 vary from lanceolate acute to elliptic obtuse. Their bracts are alike 

 in size and form, being smaller and more acute than the leaves ; but 

 on one of the specimens the bracts have a broad membranous margin, 

 while on the other specimen they are herbaceous. The peduncles are 

 rather longer than the solitary flowers. In all three specimens there 

 is a well-defined membranous margin to the sepals ; but this margin 

 is not broader in these specimens of C. latifolium, than is the mem- 



