1862.] BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. 319 



before a most rich and plentiful country, full of corn and cattle, he says 

 " The inhabitants were reduced to such distress, that if they found a plot 

 of Watercresses or Shamrocks, there they flocked, as to a feast, for the 

 time." From this it appears to me that the plant referred to by Fynes 

 Moryson as "having a sharp taste, called Schamrock," is the same as the 

 Shamrock noticed by Spenser, and therefore it is the Watercress, and not 

 the Oxalis Acetosella. 



Whether the Watercress can be determined to be the true Shamrock of 

 St. Patrick, must be left to heads wiser than mine to decide ; all I can say 

 is, it might have been. 



The following is in Wyther's ' Abuses Stript and Whipt,' 1613 :— 



" And for my cloatliing in a mantle goe. 

 And feed on Shamroots (Shamrocks ?) as the Irish doe." 



Winter Garden at Kew. 



Great progress has been made in the construction of this edifice. The 

 two 50-feet octagons were completed last year. Next autumn is to see 

 the completion of the grand centre, 212 feet in length by 137 feet in 

 breadth ; and votes are now to be taken in the House of Commons, of 

 £3300 for heating apparatus and £1200 for walls for the arrangement of 

 earth beds. When the two wings are also built, the several portions com- 

 municating with each other by a long central vista, the total length (in- 

 cluding the vestibules) will be 533 feet, and the superficies 48,392 feet, or 

 'about an acre and three-quarters. This temperate-house makes the vote 

 for Kew Gardens and grounds again large this year. The estimated expen- 

 diture for the financial year now just expiring was £37,398, and for the 

 year about to commence it is £22,283. 



Variety op Habenaria bifolia. 



I have found here a variety of Habenaria bifolia in which all the three 

 anthers are developed ; the flowers being of one substance and form, re- 

 sembling Goodyera, and without spurs. G. E. S, 



Harrogate, June, 1862. 



Malachium aquaticum, Fries. (Cerastium aquaticum, Linn.) 



This plant grows on the bank of the Mersey, near Warrington, along 

 with the closely allied Stellaria nemorum, L. The soil and situation ap- 

 pear to be favourable to it, for it is luxuriant. It varies considerably in 

 the number of its styles. Out of 40 specimens examined I found 22 with 

 6, 12 with 5, 5 with 7, and 1 with 8 styles. Stamens ten, alteniate, fila- 

 ments seated on glandular protuberances. Colour of the anthers greenish- 

 blue. Tlie calyx and upper portion of the stem is closely beset with stalked 

 glands, which secrete a viscid matter and retain small insects, as gnats, 

 aphides, etc. Stem above distinctly two-edged. John Peers. 



To the Editor of the ' Phi/toloffist.' 

 Sir, — I woidd beg, through your Journal, to inquire the meaning of the 

 following English names of plants : — Pat Hen ; Lamb's Quarters, Atriplex 

 patula, L. ; March Parsley, in Stanmarch, etc. ; Mercury's Moist Blood, 

 Verbena; Raspberry; Seggrum, Senecio Jacobcea,\j.; Tentworl, Asjuleuium, 

 Ruta-muraria, L.j Hollyhock; Haresbeard, Verbascmn Tha^mis, L. ; Hay- 



