216 SPECIES DEFUNCTS. [September, 



attempting to restrict plants to the narrow limits of any particu- 

 lar geological stratum ? And when we see the Astragalus and 

 others equally affecting the English chalk and the mountain 

 limestone of the west of Ireland, would it not be safer to speak 

 of them as lime-loving species than as restricted to any one for- 

 mation? We must take a wider view of the partialities of a 

 plant, to say nothing of its Continental distribution, before any 

 permanent conclusion can be expected. 



In answer to another inquiry, apparently referring to the same 

 paper, I may mention that, by " the well-known Cuxton plants," 

 Salvia pratensis and Althtea hirsuta were intended. 



SPECIES DEFUNCTS. 

 Plants supposed to have disappeared in England. 



1. SONCHUS PALUSTRIS. 



In the ' Sylloge Florae Europseae,' published in 1854-5, and of 

 which there is a fresh supply arrived, and to be had at 45, Erith 

 Street, Soho Square, the above plant is stated to be at home in 

 Switzerland, Austria (Bohemia), Germany, Holland, Denmark, 

 England, Scotland, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy (Piedmont and 

 Lombardy), Corsica, Greece (Elis), Hungary, Transylvania, and 

 in the south and centre of Hussia. It is now upwards of a quar- 

 ter of a century since it was seen growing wild in England ; at 

 least we have not heard of a specimen gathered from a wild sta- 

 tion in the British Isles since it was found by Mr, Joseph Woods 

 and Mr. Kippist. The latter gentleman showed us a few frag- 

 ments of the plant gathered in the said place in 1830. It is not 

 in the Danish Flora of O. F. Miiller, published in 1766; but as 

 it is a Dutch plant, it may be expected in Denmark. Hudson, 

 Fl. Anglica, 1762, states its locality as follows: "Habitat ad 

 ripas Thamesis non procul Greenvico et circa Blackwall;" and 

 refers to Hay. Smith, in E. Flora, vol. iii. p. 342, says that it 

 grows " in marshes near the banks of large rivers about Green- 

 wich and Blackwall," and quotes Ray and Curtis; also near 

 Streatham Ferry, Ely, Kelham. In the valuable Salopian Flora 

 of Mr. Leighton, this rare plant is stated to have been " in a 

 wild lane, near Wellington, by E. Lees, Esq." We wish our 



