1859.] BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. 223 



"Deaths from eating Monkshood. — A lamentable event has oc- 

 cuiTed at Ecclesfield Hall, near Sheffield. The occupiers of the hall were 

 Mr. and Mrs. Greaves, the former of whom was eighty-one years of age, 

 and the latter was seventy-six. Mrs. Greaves prepared a salad for dinner, 

 and, unfortunately, when she plucked the materials for the salad in the 

 garden, she gathered with them a quantity of green leaves from a plant of 

 Monkshood. Both she and her husband ate heartily of the salad, soon 

 after doing which they were both seized with violent pains, and died 

 poisoned." S. B. 



ISTlCANDKA PHYSALODES. 



The above plant appeared in abundance in 1846, about Shalford, near 

 Guildford, Surrey, in the cottage allotments. It also sprang up the same 

 year as a weed in a garden at Guildford. There is no botanical garden in 

 that neighbourhood, and the plant does not appear to have ever been cul- 

 tivated for economical purposes. 



It is a native of Peru, and was introduced into England in 1759. It is 

 figured in Curtis's Bot. Mag. fig. 3458. It has not yet been registered 

 as a spontaneous production of Europe. Its appearance in the above loca- 

 lity was accidental. It could not be called an escape from cultivation, be- 

 cause it was not cultivated there. A. I. 



Guildford. 



CuMBKiAN Lichen. 



(See vol. ii. p. 251.) A correspondent writes, — " TeU me what Gilpui 

 means here: 'We found many old people and cluldren from the adja- 

 cent villages gathering a species of Lichen that grows on the crags, aiid 

 we heard that it Avas found very useful in dyeing a murray colour (a dark 

 or reddish purple).' " 



Dr. Lindsay, a contributor to the ' Phytologist,' is doubtless best qua- 

 lified to answer the query ; but till his attention is directed towards it, I 

 beg leave to suggest that it was probably Lecanora tartarea, Ach., a plant 

 celebrated as Cudbear, used extensively by ]\Ir. Cuthbei-t, a manufactm-er. 

 It abounds in alpine countries. If it be objected that this plant gTows in 

 more northern counties than Cumberland, it may be replied that there are 

 many other Lichens which contain colorific substances, and to one of these, 

 if not to the genuine Cudbear, the plant of Gilpin may be referred. 



ISToN-LlCHENOLOGIST. 



Viola lute a, varieties of. 



1. All the petals yeUow. 



2. All the petals yellow, the two upper ones purple on the under side. 



3. All the petals yellow, the two upper ones margined with pui-ple. 



4. The two upper petals purple, the others yellow, margined with 

 purple. 



5. The two upper petals purple, the lateral ones with a shade of blue, 

 the lower yellow. 



6. The two upper petals purple, the lateral ones blue, the lower yellow. 



