BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. 391 
inform a novice to which of these series the colours of the plant im ques- 
tion belong ? ScHOLASTICUS. 
A “Youngling’”’ sends us an account of a scarlet Larkspur as above, 
and the subjoined extract from some author. He wishes to know if 
there be an excess of acid in the said plant. The colours of the species 
of Delphinium are usually blue, or some shade of blue, or white or purple. 
Can any of our correspondents enlighten this youth ? 
“ Colours of Plants.—The only two fundamental or primitive colours in 
plants are blue and yellow, or, in other words, anthocyane and anthoxan- 
thine. . . . The colours of flowers can only change according to the va- 
riations of which the blue and yellow are capable. Blue passes into red 
by means of acids, and hence presents all the colours resulting from the 
mixture of blue and red: these are called the Cyanic series of colours. 
The yellow colouring matter also reddens by acids, and yellow flowers 
pass into red, and present all the shades intervening between these co- 
lours: these colours constitute the Xanthic series of colours.” 
Corydalis solida (see ‘ Phytologist,’ No. 4, New Series, August, 1855, 
p- 96).—To the Editor,—Sir,—I can assure you that C. solida is wild, or 
perfectly naturalized, in a wood at Totteridge, Herts. The gate leading 
into this wood is on the Barnet side of Totteridge Green. In the same 
wood we (a small party of botanists, who procured access through the 
friendly intervention of Mr. Mackay, of that is, as they say in Scotland) 
collected Orocus vernus (out of flower). ‘The Corydalis was in abundance. 
The Crocus, some weeks before, coloured large patches of the turf with its 
bright blue and striped blossoms. Patches of this latter are interspersed in 
various parts of Totteridge, and the area of the spots where it grows 
amounts to several acres in all. In the same locality we collected the 
Red Primrose. Yn another park, on the other side of the Green, there 
grows abundance of Fritillaria Meleagris. This fine plant was still more 
abundant in another part of this grassy slope, nearer to Mill Hill. We 
had also specimens of Narcissus biflorus, which grows in a patch near the 
bottom of a field through which the foot-path from Totteridge to Mill 
Hill passes. We were recently told that Lilimm Martagon grows ina 
wood in the same neighbourhood, and that it has grown there at least 
for two generations. The plants on Totteridge Green and in the ponds 
thereon are rarities of no ordinary occurrence; for example, Menchia 
erecta, Neottia estivalis, etc., on the Green and in the ponds; Nymphea 
alba, Acorus Calamus, Ranunculus Lingua, Villarsia nympheoides, Meny- 
anthes trifoliata, Hottonia palustris, several Gnanthes, Lemna trisulca, L. 
gibba, with the two other more common species. Linaria Cymbalaria 
grows plentifully on the old brick walls, and Vola odorata and V. odo- 
rata, var. alba, in the lanes. We also ascertained that the old locality 
of Muswell Hill, Middlesex, still produces the wild Tulip: see ‘EH. Bo- 
tany,’ vol. i. t. 63, which appears to have been its first notice as a British 
plant. Withering indeed describes it in the third edition of his valuable 
work, but refers to Sowerby. Smith says, “It is perfectly wild at pre- 
sent, though the bulbs run so far into the ground that they rarely 
flower.”’ We found one flower only, though there are in this spot hun- 
dreds of plants. We hope none of your readers will begrudge the space 
~ = 
