966 



^' H. hircinum (Linn.) ; stem shrubby 2-edged much branched, 

 pedicels 2-winged, leaves ovate-ohlong, cymes few-flowered, 

 sepals lanceolate unequal, styles equalling or exceeding the 

 stamens, capsules oblong acute. 

 " H. hircinum, Linn. Sp. PL 1103 et Auct'^ 



As an observation, perhaps not altogether out of place, I may 

 remark that the St. John's-worts of the division called Androsaemum 

 are great favourites in Ireland. No flowering plants are more com- 

 mon in cultivation ; none more hardy ; and none, as it appears to rae, 

 move given to escape, and to ornament the hedge-banks in the vicinity 

 of towns, the only locality in which Irish hedge-banks can be said to 

 exist. It is almost impossible for the traveller not to be struck with 

 the frequency and beauty of these plants in such situations. I do not 

 feel quite so sure that such apparent escapes, after perhaps half a cen- 

 tury's cultivation in a very fertile soil, can safely be regarded as hav- 

 ing any very strong claim on the botanist's attention. Their original 

 source is lost in obscurity ; and their clinging to the confines of cul- 

 tivation with vigorous pertinacity, and assuming a wild and natural 

 character, is scarcely conclusive evidence of an indigenous origin. 

 The same observation applies to Hypericum calycinum, so luxuriantly 

 and abundantly naturalized in the vicinity of Killarney, and other 

 Irish localities. 



Agrimonia. 



Agrimonia odorata, Mill., introduced into the British Flora on the 

 faith of specimens found by the Rev. W. W. Newbould, in the Island 

 of Jersey, in 1842, was subsequently found by Mr. Babington, in com- 

 pany with that gentleman, on the rocky shore of Lough Neagh, in the 

 North of Ireland, and again by Mr. Joseph Woods, near Stai-t Point, 

 in Devonshire, and near Gwithian, in Cornwall. It may therefore be 

 now fairly received as geographically a British plant ; its occurrence 

 in the Channel Islands giving it a political claim only. The itali- 

 cized words in the following character serve to distinguish it from A. 

 Eupatoria : — 



" A. odorata (Mill.) ; leaves interruptedly pinnate coarsely serrate 



hairy and with many minute glands beneath, calyx-tube of the 



fruit bell-shaped not furrowed, exterior spines of the fruit 



declining. 



"A. odorata. Mill. Diet. n. S ; Koch, Si/n. 245; Mert. et Koch, 



Deutachl. Fl. iii. 376 ; De Cand. Prod. ii. 587 ? C. A. Mey. 



