872 



441. Note on Veronica Buxbaumii. I have noticed Veronica Bux- 

 baumii for several years past, growing in great profusion in a hop- 

 plantation in this neighbourhood : although it is frequently disturbed 

 by the tillage of the soil, it appears to be as firmly established as ever, 

 and has now as much the appearance of being a true native as its two 

 allies, V. polita and agrestis. — Thomas Bentall ; Halstead, Essex, 

 January 4, 1844. 



442. Note on the late flowering of the Fuchsia. The extraordi- 

 nary mildness of the closing months of last year has been universally 

 remarked ; and the daily and weekly papers, in noticing this peculi- 

 arity of the season, have more than once called the attention of their 

 readers to such wonders as "roses blossoming," "young potatoes of 

 the size of marbles," &c.; in addition, I may mention the following 

 instance of a Fuchsia having renewed its youth, and strangely bud- 

 ded and blossomed about a week ago. The plant is kept in a flower- 

 pot. During last summer it blossomed in its season, like other plants. 

 In autumn its foliage withered and fell, and the plant reminded us of 

 the approach of winter. But winter never came; and the Fuchsia, as 

 if hopeless of his approach, began to bud and finally to blossom. At 

 present it is clothed with leaves, — but leaves, not one of which is a 

 third the size of its summer leaves. Its flowers, too, are curious. The 

 corolla — small in any case, in this unnaturally so — retains its deep 

 purple hue ; but the beautifully developed calyx, instead of being 

 bright scarlet, as it ought, is of a pale pink colour — almost white. — 

 Robert Dick Duncan ; Vale of Almond, Mid Calder, Edinburgh- 

 shire, January 6, 1844. 



443. Note on Polypodium fragrans. In reference to the question 

 respecting Polypodium fragrans (Phytol. 839), perhaps I may venture 

 to ask Mr. Newman whether, in " collecting evidence," he has been 

 reminded of an observation made by Rousseau, in his ' Lettres sur la 

 Botanique.' I have not this work to refer to, but an extract taken 

 from it a few years ago, is as follows. " Je crois me rappeler, par ex- 

 emple, qu' il s'y trouve quelques fougeres, entre autres le Polypodium 

 fragrans, que j'ai herborisees en Angleterre, et qui ne sont pas com- 

 munes partout." There is no reference to the number of the letter, 

 but I believe it to be one towards the end of the volume. Rousseau's 

 residence, while in this country, was at Wootton-hall, Staffordshire, a 

 neighbourhood in which it is highly probable Lastraea Oreopteris 

 would be found : and it was with a view of ascertaining this that the 

 extract was made : and my attention was attracted to the subject, by 

 a note in the 7th edition of Withering's Botany, in which the editor, 



