1857.] BOTANICAL NOTESj NOTICES, AND QUERIES. 251 



I do not possess the means of communicating with Mr. T. E. Polwhele, 

 and so cannot learn from him the exact place at Falmouth where he ga- 

 thered the specimen now before me. That specimen is certainly not H. 

 hlrcinimi (which I have also received from Falmouth), differing in its 

 leaves, and especially in its calyx, from that plant. 



C. C. Babington. 



British Plants observed and figured by Petiver. 



" Lichen arboreus albescens, segmentis carnigeris subtiis aterrhnus. This 

 was sent me from Norway, but I have since observed it about Tunbridge 

 in two or three places. 



"Tab. 15. fig. 3. Byssus aureus Derbiensis humifusus. This elegant sort 

 of Moss my hearty friend Mr. James Ayrey found in the Peak of Derby, 

 in a lane joining to a field where the marvellous stones are, about two 

 miles from Eldenhole, on the way from thence to Buxton Wells. 



" Tab. 15. fig. 4. Fiingellus gramineus Northamptoniensls. Dr. Sloan ob- 

 served this little Mushroom springing from the leaves of dead grass, about 

 September last, on Shepherd's HiU, near Althorp, the seat of the Earl of 

 Sunderland, in Northamptonshire." 



Can any of our readers identify any or all of these plants ? 



Cumbrian Lichen. 



Please tell me what Gilpin* means here : — " These mountains " (Cum- 

 berland) "were covered with a profusion of huge stones and detached rocks, 

 among which we found many old people and children from the neighbom*- 

 ing villages, gathering a species of white Lychen, that grows upon the 

 craggs, and which we heard had been found very useful in dying a murray- 

 colour." G. 



Superstitious Uses of Plants. 



(Fyrus Aucuparia). 



In Westmoreland this tree is called the Wiggen tree, and the old people 

 place it on their pillows to charm away evU spirits. It appears that this 

 tree is best known in Scotland by the name of Eoan or Eowan tree, but 

 why is it so called ? In England it is the Mountain Ash, and was, I be- 

 lieve, the Sorbus of the old botanists. If this tree i?! found in churchyards, 

 may not the custom of planting it there be derived from theDruids, as we 

 are told it is usually found growing near the remains of their ancient 

 temples ? It would be interesting to know any other names by which 

 this tree is called in England, Scotland, and Wales. S. B. 



Distribution of Thistles. 



Professor Balfour, in his ' Phyto-Theology,' states that "the Order of 

 Composites, to wbich the Thistle belongs, is the largest and most generally 

 diffused of all known tribes of plants. Thistles are generally distributed. 

 Many species have been noticed by travellers in Syria and Palestine. 

 Hasselquist, during a short visit to Judaea, observed from eight to ten dif- 



* Gl-ilpin's ' Tour to the Mountains and Lakes of Cumberland,' etc., vol. ii. p. 39. 



