1862.] EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE. 189 



Palm. 

 (See ' Phytologist/ vol. v. p. 224.) —About Birmingham the 

 early flowers of the Willow were always called Palm, aud if in 

 flower, were gathered on Palm Sunday, a relic of Popish times. 

 In France the Box is the Palm ; it is sold at the church-doors 

 on Palm Sunday, after having been blessed by the priest, and is 

 then hung up in the house for the twelvemonth. — E. M. A. 



Cyclamen hedercBfoUum. 

 (See p. 343, et supra.) — Cyclamen hedercefolium. — ''Woods 

 not very far from Hythe or Cranbrook." I never heard of 

 the Cyclamen growing near Hythe. Cranbrook is a considerable 

 distance off", on the other side of the Weald. It still grows in 

 plenty in the celebrated old station of Sandhurst, near Cran- 

 brook. A relative of mine a few years ago brought many roots 

 from that station, a wood, and I have seen the plant in flower 

 in a garden at the Bower, near Maidstone; and I could see no 

 difference between the wild plant and the common garden one. 

 My aunt often sowed the seeds in a wood at Barming, near 

 Maidstone ; and I have known a fine plant brought from that 

 place, doubtless one of the seedlings from seeds which she had 

 deposited.— E. M. A. 



Odoriferous Plants. 



I have long purposed to send you a paper for the ' Phytologist,' 

 " upon the odours of certain plants as an unfailing means for the 

 determination and limitation of species." This of course could 

 only refer to the odorous plants, either good or bad smelling ; the 

 scentless could have no place in my paper. As this is a subject 

 which has occupied ray mind and observation many years, and 

 one which I have never seen mooted or brought before the public 

 or hitherto noticed by any of our botanical brethren, my object 

 is to direct the attention of the botanical world to the fact that 

 the odour of plants is a sure means for the identification of the 

 species, being unchanged and unchangeable in all plants possessed 

 of that property, whether cultivated or wild, native or exotic. 



As examples, I will adduce Viola odorata and Viola hirta ; the 

 former is always scented, the latter never. I have cultivated both 

 for some years, and culture has not changed these natural cha- 

 racters. Another example is the Wallflower, which is scented 

 with its peculiar and grateful odour, whether produced in the 



