476 



The College of Physicians appears to be in error in directing Aco- 

 nitum Cammarum (nnder the name of A. paniculatum) to be employed 

 exclusively, since Dr. Fleming has shown this species to be feeble and 

 unimportant in its action, and that A, Napellus is the only species of 

 any value. Both species are diuretic, but A. Napellus much the more 

 powerful of the two. See Veg. Kingdom, p. 427, &c. — Edward New- 

 man. 



Lastrea uliginosa. 



We have now so many cultivators of ferns who are qualified to give 

 an opinion of the value of this species, that all doubts on the subject 

 might be resolved by the faithful record of the results of their obser- 

 vations. I shall be very grateful for communications on the subject. 

 — Edward Newmati. 



Having paid some attention to Lastrea uliginosa, both wild and cul- 

 tivated, I unhesitatingly state that it is a species totally distinct from 

 L. cristata ; and it is a matter of surprise to me how any botanist can 

 consider these two ferns identical, or indeed confound L. cristata with 

 any other British species. If uliginosa is only a variety, it must be of 

 L. spinosa ; but I am strongly inclined to consider it a good species. 

 It grows plentifully around the margins of ponds in the forest, among 

 the sallows ; and it might at first be supposed that its peculiar, slen- 

 der, drawn-up appearance arose from the situation ; but this is not the 

 case : it preserves the same characters in my garden, planted in an 

 open border; and its appearance is widely different from a bed of spi- 

 nosa planted by its side. It begins to throw up its fronds rather ear- 

 lier in the spring than spinosa, and in this respect widely differs from 

 cristata. On the first of the present month (June) the fronds of cris- 

 tata had scarcely began to move, while those of uliginosa, growing by 

 its side, were two feet high. 1 may also observe that the fronds of 

 uliginosa begin to decay early in autumn, and quite perish in the 

 winter, in our forest, while those of spinosa continue green till the 

 spring. — Henry Douhleday. 



It will be interesting to the students and cultivators of British ferns 

 to know that Mr. Babington, in the third edition of his Manual, 

 which has just issued from the press, places this fern under L. cristata. 

 We have therefore three totally opposed opinions published by emi- 

 nent botanists on this supposed species. 



