354 BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. lOctobeV, 



nists ? I am aware that no one person's decisions would be universally 

 accepted ; but your list of contributors includes many of the leaders in 

 the science, and if these would assist with their suggestions, something- 

 like general consent might be attained. I would propose that the Glos- 

 sary should consist of two parts ; the tu'st containing the right terms, the 

 second a " black list " of terms to be avoided. 'For those who are unac- 

 quainted with Greek and Latin it would be convenient if the plural forms 

 of words in those languages were given. In this particular indeed we 

 sometimes find educated botanists tripping : in ChUds's 'Botanist's Field- 

 book,' for instance, the author, although "F.E.C.S.," uses cili(S as the 

 plural of cilium. Another error in that work and in many others is the 

 use of ocJireate for ocreate, a mistake of some importance, as it might 

 lead a novice to suppose that the term is derived from ochre instead of 

 from ocrea. K. 



Abnormal Formations of Plants. 

 From ' Bie BotaniscJie Zeitung,' Jan. 30, 1857. 



Datura Stramonium. — The fi'uit of tliis species, as also that of D. Tatula, 

 has been observed with three angles instead of the normal number. Only 

 a few apples on the same plant exhibited this variation. The greater num- 

 ber was regular. 



Fraxinus excelsior, var. pendula. — The fruit of this variety also manifests 

 considerable irregularity. These varieties consist chiefly in the length 

 and breadth of the Avings, and in the pointed or obtuse form of the apex. 

 Veiy rarely fruit with three wings has been noticed in which the vdngs are 

 at right angles to each other. 



LOLIUM TEMULENTUM. 



Can any botanist or reader of the ' Phytologist ' inform us if the above- 

 named plant is cultivated in the vicinity of London, or anywhere else ? 

 In the seventh edition of Withering's 'Arrangement of British Plants' there 

 is the following ; — " The laws of (Jhina make it a capital offence to use 

 them (the seeds of Lolium temulentum) in fermented liquors, and yet, in 

 the immediate vicinity of London, this noxious weed is cultivated by the 

 acre, and, it is to be apprehended, for no better purpose." — From the 

 'Phytologist,' vol. iv. p. 368. 



Order PoLYGONACEiE, Number of Species in. 



The above-mentioned Order is described in the 14th part of De Can- 

 dolle's ' Prodromus,' together with Proteacea and other minor Orders of 

 the Monochlamydeous plants. The number of Polygonaceous plants known 

 at the present time is 690, of which 315 belong to the genus Polygonum, 

 134 to Rumex, and 20 to Rheum. The number of the British species is 30, 

 and they form -^ of the total number of our phsenogamous plants. The 

 entire number in the universal Flora is very far from reaching that high 

 proportion, for they constitute only between -^ and -^^ part of the whole 

 phsenogamous vegetation according to the most recent census of the vege- 

 table kingdom. Hence it may be inferred that they are far more nume- 



