1862.] BOTANICAL NOTES^ NOTICES^ AND QUERIES. 63 



a very common Orchis in Kent, and in most of the counties in England ; 

 but, on the contrary, E. pnrpnrata is parautical to either Hazel or Beech, 

 and cannot be grown artificially even with the greatest care. Tt is also 

 very rare in Kent, having only seen one Kentish specimen, which I found 

 near Duutou Green, and was one hour and a quarter in taking it up, so 

 that I might neither by accident or haste injure its fibrous roots. It was 

 seated (if I may use the expression) upon the root of a Hazel, and re- 

 moved without "damage to my garden. I again planted it, covering it 

 with a handlight, on the root of a Hazel, and I suppose by its partial 

 contact it did just appear the following year, and then dwindled away. 

 Is E. media a parasite, or only a synonym of jE^. purpurata? If not, let 

 them be separated, and give this last its true position, viz. that of a 

 species. E. media I am unacquainted with, unless it be the same as E. 

 purpurata, which I have invariably found to be parasitical. It is fibundant 

 in Dorsetshire, etc. E. latifoUa is not a parasite. 



Erigeron canadensis. — This plant, supposed to be of exotic origin, 

 came up in the greatest profusion, together with small quantities of Aleli- 

 lot/isle/icant/ia,att\\e Beckenham station of the Mid-Kent Railway, imme- 

 diateljj after the excavation for the same. It appeared in virgin soil of sand 

 and gravel, at depths varying from five to ten feet. The above must be 

 very strong presumptive proof of its indigenous growth. 



Claytonia perfoliata. — Is this pretty delicate-looking plant known 

 to be an alien ? It has been sent to me by E. J. Lawrence, from near 

 Muddiford in Hants ; and more recently, by a lady, from near Woking 

 (December 1861) in Surrey. In both localities apparently wild, certainly 

 perfectly naturalized. 



ScROPiniLARiA vernalis. — I had the gratification of finding this plant 

 in considerable quantity in April, 1861, in the parish of Chiselhurst, Kent, 

 growing with the common Nettle (XJrtica dioica), and resembling it so nearly, 

 except in its floral spike, that any ordinary observer might easily overlook 

 it. I am not aware that this rarity is recorded for Kent, although it is 

 for the continguous counties of Surrey and Middlesex. 



lluBUs LACINIATUS. — This Bramble is a common weed in my garden, 

 seeding itself everywhere, and is too unlike any of our British lindi to lead 

 me to doubt its specific character. The fruit is much larger and of a dif- 

 ferent shape to the ordinary Blackberry. In the December number, 1861, 

 of the ' Phytologist,' Mr. T, R. A. Briggs mentions having found it near 

 Plymouth; I have also found it, August 1861, at Swinnerton, near Stone, 

 in Staffordshire. But, in my case, I am persuaded that it is a variety only 

 of one of our common Rubi {R. corylifolius ?), although the cutting of its 

 leaves exactly res.mbled those in my garden, except in their lesser size. 



OxALis AcETOSELLA versus Trifolium repens. — Although I at one 

 time fully coincided with Mr. W. J. H. Ferguson, who writes in the ' Phy- 

 tologist' for January, 1862, in supposing the Oxalis to be the Irish Sham- 

 rock, and am still doubtful on that point, I cannot by any means " safely 

 conclude" that, because the poor Irish snatched a plant of "sharp taste" 

 from the ditches, it was an Oxalis; but rather, that the plant was the 

 common Watercress {Nasturtium officinale), which has a sharp hitimj taste, 

 and grows in ditches, its natural locality. The Oxalis, on the contrary, 

 but rarely ; dry shady banks and woods being the places it delights in. 



