142 BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. \June, 



utmost, and then wasli the produce until it is perfectly white. 1 lb. of 

 Carbonate of Soda will purify 100 lbs. of Horse-Chestnuts, and produce 

 60 lbs. of flour fit for bread, as the salt removes the bitter principle from 

 the nut. — A. L. O., Ga7-d. Cliron. 



Saxifkaga tridactylites. 



A correspondent from Gal way, Ireland, writes, that the above plant was 

 in flower there, as a weed in a gravel walk, as early as the 10th day of 

 February, 1857. 



ASPLENIUM SEPTENTRIONALE IN DeVON. 



During the summer of 1856, the above rare ]?ern was found by Miss 

 Hill. The locality is Lynton, on the north side of a loose stone wall, and 

 at an elevation of 1000 to 1100 feet. It had previously been collected on 

 the Somersetshire side of the boundary by Mrs. Chanter, but not actually 

 in Devon. 



Bryum torquescens. 



Sir, — I have much pleasure in recording an entirely fresh locality for 

 the rare Bryum torquescens, Br. and Sch., which I had the good fortune 

 to find last June, near Teignmouth in Devon ; the obconical capsules are 

 of a beautiful rich red colour, with palish teeth ; inflorescence synoicous. 



M. M. Atwood. 



Anacalypta c^spitosa, Bruch. 



This species has occurred this month (April) near Anindel. Specimens 

 having been submitted to Mr. Wilson, have received that gentleman's 

 verification of their authenticity. G. Davie s. 



Afril 20, 1857. 



Orchis pyramidalis and Cardamine hirsuta. 



" At a recent meeting of the Linnean Society, G. Bentham, Esq., exhi- 

 bited two curious instances of abnormal development in plants, the one 

 being Orchis pyramidalis, having all its flowers destitute of the usual spur, 

 and the other Cardamine hirsuta, in which the leaves at the point of junc- 

 tion between the petiole and the lamina (blade) had become proliferous. 

 The latter specimens had been communicated by Miss Llewellyn, of 

 PenUergare. Dr. Lindley remarked, in reference to the Orchis, that such 

 cases had been observed, occurring, not commonly, but now and then, 

 among cultivated species of this family, especially in the instance of Ca- 

 lanthe veratrifolia, and seemed to be connected with some disturbing 

 cause, generally influencing the other parts of the floral whorls. In re- 

 ference to the proliferous Gardaviine, he adverted to the fact that some- 

 thing similar had been before recorded. These prohferous growths, he 

 suggested, were to be referred to the organizing power of the cellular 

 tissue, provided it were kept from decay for a sufiiciently lengthened 

 period for this to take eftect." — Ex Gard. Chron. 



Nymph^a alba, var. minor, and Centaurea nigra, etc. 

 Dr. Caspary, of Poppelsdorfer Schloss, Bonn, on the Ehine (Rhein), 



