30 BOTANICAL NOTEs^ NOTICES, AND QUERIES. [January, 



I think it is quite time that some of the great guns in botany should 

 decide the line which we are to draw so as to distinguish plants indige- 

 nous and non-indigenous, for as the question is still open, it is difficult to 

 know what plants are British and what are not. I hope the Editor of the 

 ' Phytologist ' will give us some rules on this subject, for at present I do 

 not know whether to include the Castanea vulgaris in my collection of 

 British plants. S. B. 



Japanese Botany. 



" While upon the subject, I may introduce another distinguished Ger- 

 man now well known in Europe, namely, Dr. Siebold. This veteran bo- 

 tanist now lives in the country a short distance to the north of Nagasaki, 

 entirely away from Europeans, and his society consists of his plants, his 

 books, and the Japanese. He has an excellent library of works on na- 

 tural history, which he showed me with some pride, and also led me over 

 his garden, which is rich in Japanese plants, many of which are new to 

 Europe. An account of this garden, with the others about Nagasaki, 

 must form the substance of another article. On taking my leave of Dr. 

 Siebold, he accompanied me a little way down the hill. He speaks the 

 Japanese language like a native, and seems to be a great favourite with 

 the people around liim, amongst whom he has great influence. * Doctor,' 

 I said to him, ' you appear to be quite a prince amongst the people in 

 this part of the country.' He smded, and said he liked the Japanese, 

 and that he believed the regard was mutual. And with a slight cast of 

 sarcasm in his countenance, continued, ' It is not necessary for me to 

 carry a revolver in my belt like the good people in Decima or Nagasaki.' " 



E. F. 



" The Gueen Immortal Shamrock." 



In the last number of the ' Phytologist,' " S. B." says, " It is now ge- 

 nerally agreed that the true Shamrock, which St. Patrick gathered to il- 

 lustrate the doctrine of the Trinity, was Trifolhim repms" etc. Now, the 

 following extract will, I think, prove to " S. B.," and all those " now ge- 

 nerally agreed," that they are agreed wrongly. History of Ireland, from 

 1599 to 1603, by Fynes Moryson, Secretary to the Lord Mountjoy, then 

 Lord Deputy, page 375 : — " They willingly eat the herb Schamrock, being 

 of a sharp taste, which, as they run and are chased to and fro, they snatch 

 like beasts out of the ditches." The " sharp taste," which Moryson refers 

 to, is a well-known quality of the Oxalis; and, as none of the Clovers yield 

 any such, we may safely conclude that the Oxalis is the true Shamrock. 

 The above extract is also worthy of note, as it shows to what straits the 

 " poor persecuted Irish" were reduced by the op})ression of England, be- 

 fore they finally succumbed to her rule. William J. H. Ferguson. 



To the Editor of the ' Phytologist.'' 



In your number for December, at page 379, there is an incidental mention 

 of the parties who made " a Botanical Ramble on Ben Ledi" meeting 

 with abundance of Saxifraga cernua. As Ben Lawers is, perhaps, the 

 only known British locality of this plant, it is desirable that, if it have 

 been really found on Ben Ledi, the feet should be more fully confirmed, 

 or if there is any mistake about it, this may be corrected. I was once 



