BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. AT 
tions of the donors, to be available to the public, under certain restric- 
tions. Another (we suppose a still greater benefaction) has been given to 
the public by the Director, whose private herbarium (surely a very exten- 
sive and interesting one) together with his library has been placed in the 
precincts of the Garden with the same object—the accommodation of the 
public. Drawings of plants by several individuals have been presented by 
Miss Cathcart; a large collection, prepared by the late Mr. Aiton, has 
been presented by Mr. Atwell Smith; also the entire botanical correspon- 
dence of the late Dr. Wallich, of Calcutta. 
Derivation or Etymology of Orpine (Sedum Telephium).—The term in 
question is French. It is a synonym of orpiment, a sort of ochre (an 
oxide) of a deep yellow colour. Orpiment, Orpin (m.), Orpiment, a kind of 
oker of the colour of gold—See Miege in loco. Or is gold in the French 
language, and is derived from the Latin awrwm, the root, without the ter- 
mination, which the French language usually rejects in its formations from 
the Latin. Piment or pigment is from the Latin pingo, I paint, the supine 
of which is pictum, hence pigment. The Latin aurum is from the Greek 
avpov, hence thesaurus and treasury; also Aurora, an allusion to the 
ruddy or yellow colour of the sky before the rising of the sun. The French 
also employ the term Orpiz as the popular name of several species of 
Sedum, whether the colour of the flowers be yellow, lke gold, as many 
Seda are, or white or pink, as Sedum album (Orpin a@ fleurs blanches), 
Sedum acre (Orpin brilant), and our plant Sedum Telephinm (Orpin re- 
pris) or Orpin. The generally yellow colour of the flower of the Seda is 
expressed by the first part of the term Or, or avp, or Heb. "48, Aor, light; 
and the last part is probably from wap and zwvos, fat, in allusion to the 
thick or fleshy or fat leaves. 
Early-flowering Plants, April, 1855.—In Battersea Fields on the 27th 
of March the only plant in flower was Chickweed (Séellaria media). This 
species is as genuine a cosmopolite as man himself is. There are few lo- 
calities where it fails, but it is most prolific in the neighbourhood of hu- 
man habitations. The Chickweed was in flower long before Groundsel and 
Red Archangel. In mild winters these three are all found in flower before 
spring ; in severe winters the Chickweed flowers a considerable time be- 
fore the other early-flowering species. A solitary Daisy appeared on the 
9th of April in the same locality, where there appeared successively the fol- 
lowing, viz.: Shepherd’s Purse, April 12; Red Archangel, Tussilago (Far- 
fara), and Groundsel, April 13th; Lamiwm amplexicaule, Veronica hedere- 
folia, on the 14th ditto ; Dandelion, 18th; Veronica agrestis, Viola odorata, 
at Wimbledon, on the 19th. The Violet had been in flower for some time 
before it was noticed ; so had the common Furze. Glechoma hederacea, Cur- 
damine pratensis, Lamium album, and Caltha palustris appeared in flower 
on the 24th. Amygdalus Persica was in flower about Chelsea on the 17th, 
and a single Horse Chestnut-tree was in leaf in Hyde Park on the 25th. 
Note.—It is only in a very severe season that the first flowering plants 
can be certainly ascertained ; in mild weather the above and other similar 
species are always in flower. 
RutrosPective.—Was Linaria Cymbalaria (see p. 5) known to the older 
botanists as a native of Britain? Mr. Gissing, of Worcester, has called 
