463 
BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. 
PTERIS AQUILINA.—(Letrospective.)—You may assure your correspon- 
dent (‘ Phytologist,’ XV. p. 390) that the specimens distributed through 
the Botanical Society of London by Mr. Kirk are genuine Péeris aquilina ; 
at least I may speak thus positively of that which reached me from this 
source. Their peculiar appearance is owing to their being in the “seedling” 
state. Cultivators of Ferns are generally conversant with the juvenile 
state of the Péeris, which makes its appearance very frequently, especially 
in hothouses, apparently in consequence of the soil employed having wild 
spores deposited amongst it. Those who have not made acquaintance 
with the plants in this state may well be excused if they do not at once 
recognize it, the appearance it presents being very unlike that under which 
the Péeris is usually observed; and yet the habit of the mature plant may 
be traced even in these infants as soon as two or three fronds are produced, 
while they show, no less than is the case in vigorous mature fronds, that 
the term “‘ three-branched,” sometimes applied to this species, is erroneous. 
T. Moore. 
P.S. At p. 380, five lines from top of page, for “suspended” read “ se- 
parated.”’ 
Centaurea nigrescens.—From the seeds of Centaurea nigrescens, gathered 
in Sandhurst parish, near Gloucester, and sown at Barming, near Maid- 
stone, the ordinary rayless form of C. nigra was produced. From the 
. seeds of C. Jacea, gathered near Tours, on dry, chalky limestone, and sown 
on heavy, wet ill at Clay Hill, Enfield, the true C. Jacea was produced, 
with the scales of the involucre silvery brown, and all jagged, not in the 
least pectinated. From this I conclude that there are two species (C. 
Jacea and C. nigra), and that nigrescens is a variety of the latter. This 
opinion differs from that of Hooker and Arnott, in the sixth edition of the 
‘ British Flora,’ who consider there are three species, and from Cosson and 
Germain, in the ‘ Flore des Environs de Paris,’ who consider the three as 
varieties of one species. E. M. A. 
Sagina maritima.—We are indebted to a kind and acute Correspondent 
for the following retrospective critique (see ‘ Phytologist’ for August, 1856, 
Descriptive British Botany, pp. 90, 91, 93, 94):— 
‘It is probable that Sagina_ maritima, Grenier, is not identical with S. 
maritima, Pon. The ‘ ae area to which you. make neforence is 
fate “Yor faye arated all mention of S. densa of J ahi for an account 
of which see the fourth edition of Babington’s ‘ Manual,’ p. 91, line 6. 
What is S. depressa ? Is not depressa a misquotation or misprint § P 
“ Alsine rubella.—It is, 1 suppose, by some awkward error of the press 
that you have got the paragraph about ‘ var. media’ printed here. Mr. 
Hort’s plant is Spergulari ia media of Linneeus, a plant common on all our 
coasts, identical specifically with Smith’s 4. marina; for specimens, vide 
my fasciculus of critical plants. 
** Alsine stricta.— Teesdale Moors, Yorkshire.’ Not known to occur 
