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BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. 279 
others having a vinous flavour; the finest however are those which have 
the stalk surrounded with tender leaves. A fourth kind is known by the 
name of ‘torminalis’; it is only employed for remedial purposes. The tree 
is a good bearer, but does not resemble the latter kinds, the leaf being 
nearly that of the Plane-tree; the fruit too is particularly small. Cato, 
‘De Re Rustica,’ cc. 7 and 145, speaks of Sorbs being preserved in boiled 
wine.” Qy. Is the third sort mentioned above identical with our Sorb, 
Pyrus domestica ? SENEX. 
Will any correspondent inform “ Antiquus”’ what plant is expressed by 
the West-country term Ramains, which occurs in the following salutife- 
rous distich >— i 
“ Hat Leeks in Lide (March) and Ramains in May, VAs 
All the year after physicians go play.” _ rr 
We have seen the following distich, which is somewhat similar to the 
above :— 
“ Wad (would) they eat Nettles in March and Moggans (Mugwort) in May, 
Sae mony braw maidens wadna moul wi’ the clay.” 
To the Editor of the < Phytologist. —Sir,—In Asser’s ‘ Life of King Al- 
fred’ it is stated that the Box grew plentifully in a wood in his time. See 
‘Phytologist’ for 1853, p. 873: “ Berrocscire; quee paga taliter vocatur 
a ‘berroc,’ sylva ubi buxus abundantissimé nascitur’’—Berkshire, so called 
from Birch-woods, where the Box grows abundantly. I do not ask if the 
Box be a native of England, but beg to learn from some of your Berk- 
shire correspondents if Birch-woods are common in Berkshire, as they 
were, according to the above account, in King Alfred’s reign, and espe- 
cially if the Box grows abundantly in Birch-woods, or anywhere else in 
Berkshire ? SYLVANUS. 
Mr. Editor,—On the 1st of December, in Kensington Gardens, I ob- 
served a thorn, called the Glastonbury Thorn, with several green leaves on it 
that had only been recently developed ; it had no appearance of flower-buds. 
Will any correspondent in Somersetshire inform me, through the medium 
of the ‘ Phytologist,’ if there be any descendants of this famous tree about 
Glastonbury, and also if these do now and then show a few flowers, or 
even leaves, at Christmas ? VIATOR. 

Will any of your correspondents favour me with a few notes on the 
localities, development, mode, and time of reproduction of Batrachosper- 
mum moniliforme ? What are the recorded habitats of this beautiful Alga 
in England and Wales? Perhaps Mr. Leighton would be kind enough 
to say in what parts of Shropshire he has observed this plant. I have 
lately met with it in great abundance in a mill-stream at Hlleston, near 
Newport, in this county. W,.. i. 
Child's Ercall, Shropshire. 
Specific Types, etc—Can any of our correspondents tell us what is ge- 
nerally understood by the following phrases as applied to plants, viz. 
“typical species” or “specific types,” “specific centres” or “types of 
distribution”? ? SPHINX. 
Sir,—I can confirm the statement given in the December number of the 
‘Phytologist,’ of the Misseltoe growmg upon an Oak in the neighbour- 
