1863.] BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. 607 



side, disclosing a number of petals, which are not produced by the ineta- 

 moi-phosis of stamens or any other organs, as the sepals, petals, and sta- 

 mens all appear in their places before the abnormal flower is developed, of 

 which the carpels act the part of calyx. This curious monstrosity was 

 first discovered by me in a field at Widford, in 1859, and has appeared 

 there every summer since, so that it may now be considered an established 

 variety, which may perhaps even be propagated by seed, as the stamens 

 are perfect, and their pollen may therefore be conveyed to other flowers ; if, 

 indeed, there is not sometimes a pod bearing seeds in a raceme whose 

 other pods are changed into double flowers. I think you will agree with 

 me in thinking these examples of variation worthy of the notice of botanists. 

 Chelmsford, June 19, 1863. JoHN GiBBS. 



Sir, — I have read your very interesting tour in North Wales with 

 much pleasure and instruction. You there state having found near Os- 

 westry Linaria Ci/inbalariu, in so great profusion as to appear " abori- 

 ginal." I also found large masses of it growing apparently wild at 

 Llanrydd, near to Kuthin, the origin of which I attributed to the following 

 cause, which it seems likely might have produced the profusion which you 

 describe. Some twenty years ago, Mr. Dovaston, of West Felton, near 

 Shrewsbury, well known in that neighbourhood for his great classical 

 learning and enthusiastic love of nature, during a pedestrian tour in 

 North Wales, desirous to naturalize this pretty plant, scattered its seeds 

 in every locality he considered likely to suit its tender and harmless 

 habits. Thirty years ago, I found it growing on the ruined walls of 

 the Abbey at Birkenhead, in Cheshire, and could only account for its 

 presence there, evidently quite wild, and its locality not easily accessible, 

 by concluding it to be a legacy from the medical herb gardens attached 

 to such seats of piety and learning. It was evidently no outcast of any 

 garden. To any one not a botanist I should be afraid to pen these 

 trifling remarks, but as among lovers of native plants I have ever found 

 a kind of botanical freemasonry, I make no apology. 



Hafod-y-coed, Llangollen, 12th June, 1863. MoNANDRIA. 



Scotch Thistle. 



Which is the Scotch Thistle ? is a question easier to ask than to answer. 

 A fool may ask a question which the seven sages of Greece, if alive, could 

 not answer. I will give the best reply I can, more Scotico, which, for 

 the benefit of the less learned, may be translated, " like a Scotchman," 

 i. e. by asking another, or several other questions. 



Primo. Is not every native Thistle growing in Scotland, properly be- 

 longing to the country, and therefore Scotch? 



Is not the nationality of every Scotchman determined by his being born 

 in the " Land of Cakes" ? 



Are not all the thistles in Scotland truly Scottish, and dependent on 

 that simple condition as produced in that country, grown north of the 

 Tweed? 



I have never observed a natural thistle exactly like the heraldic symbol 

 or emblem impressed on the current coin, etc. 



The plant in question was selected as a fit emblem of the manly spirit 

 of Scotia's sons, who resent, and sometimes punish, rough treatment. 

 This disposition is expressed both by the flower of the " Big Bur Thistle," 



