806 



lax or very minute adpressed state of the bracts, or the relative situ- 

 ation of the flowers and spines, induce me to think that none of these 

 appearances may be so constant as to afford specific characters. If 

 so, why is not the var. $. major of Ulex nanus raised to the rank of a 

 species ? Its superior size, erect form, large flowers, and long and 

 strong deflexed spines, seem, equally with U. nanus, to entitle it to 

 this distinction. If they be distinct species however, why do the au- 

 tumnal flowers of Beaulieu heath appear only upon the young shoots 

 of those plants which have been cut down in the preceding autumn 

 or winter ? If only one species, why is the season of flowering dif- 

 ferent ? Do the Beaulieu plants, which, in the adult state, seem to 

 belong to U. europaeus, flowering in the spring, throw out flowering 

 shoots in the autumn, having the appearance of U. nanus, in conse- 

 quence of their not having had branches capable of bearing blossoms 

 in the spring ? — J. F. Davis, M.D. ; Batli, October 25, 1843. 



400. JS/oie on Symphytum asperrimum. In answer to Mr. Sidebo- 

 tham (Phytol. 679), I may state my belief that Francis got the name 

 of Symphytum asperrimum from my 'Flora Bathoniensis,' p. 32, where 

 it is mentioned as a naturalized plant near Bath. — C. C. Bahington ; 

 St. John's College, Cambridge, October 30, 1843. 



401. Urtica pilulifera in the Isle of Wight. In your November 

 No. (Phytol. 758), is a list by Mr. G. S. Gibson, of the rarer plants 

 found by him near Ventnor, during a week's stay at that place last 

 summer, amongst which is a notice of Urtica pilulifera, near Luc- 

 combe chine. I presume Mr. G.'s specimens were found in a field 

 between the lodge and white gate near Chine-cottage, and the bank 

 towards Rose-cliff and East end, on which Epilobium angustifolium 

 grows, as othei^wise I should esteem it a favour to be informed of a se- 

 cond locality ; but since I have little doubt of my first supposition 

 being correct, I would just beg to ask Mr. Gibson whether on exami- 

 nation he will not find his plant to be Urtica Dodartii ? — in which 

 case I can assure him he has neither made a discovery, nor secured 

 an acquisition to his herbarium, the seeds of that species having been 

 scattered by myself on the spot (till lately occupied by some ruinous 

 cottages, now cleared away) two years ago, and I imagined the plants 

 had become extinct. I gladly seize this opportunity, much as it tells 

 against myself, of this unexpected exemplification of its injurious ten- 

 dency, to condemn the practice of attempting to assist or direct Nature 

 in the dissemination of plants, by artificially sowing their seeds in 

 places where it is likely the plants produced may be taken for or con- 

 founded with the genuine natives of the soil ; a practice which, if not 



