278 BOTANICAL NOTES^ NOTICES, AND QUERIES. [November, 



of, that the spadix of the Arum gives out heat at a certain period. Were 

 the learned contributors and redacteurs of the 'Phytologist' nodding when 

 they published the above as a novelty? Causticus. 



[Our correspondent Causticus might have quoted, in support of his no- 

 tice above inserted (viz. that the fact of the development of heat is one of 

 the periodic phenomena of flowers), Henslow's ' Descriptive and Physio- 

 logical Botany,' Cab. Cyclop. 1837, p. 358 : "-Development of Caloric. — 

 At the time of the flower's expansion a considerable development of heat 

 takes place in certain species, and there is also a rapid formation of car- 

 bonic acid. This phenomenon is most strikingly exhibited by some of the 

 Arum tribe. The spadix of the common Arum {A. maculatum) attains a 

 temperature of 47|-° F. above that of the atmosphere, and the A. cordifo- 

 liiim, in the Mauritius, has been observed to attain a temperature of 

 44° 49' E., or 142i° P., that of the surrounding air being at 19° E., or 

 74f° P." In Jussieu's ' Elements of Botany,' Wilson's translation, there 

 is a more detailed and probably more accm'ate account of the Liberation . 

 of heat by plants, to which those interested in the fact may refer. The 

 passage on this point is at p. 484.] 



Malta moschata. 



On the hills of Clent this is by far the commonest of all the Mallows. 

 It is as abundant on the hills, at an altitude of from 600 to 900 feet, as 

 the Foxglove and the Figwort, only it does not grow in patches where the 

 Furze has been burnt, but along the banks and hedges. There is a variety 

 in this portion of Worcestershire with the stem-leaves rounded, reniform, 

 serrated or crenated and crisp, exactly like the root-leaves. Several ex- 

 amples occurred without any deeply-divided stem-leaves, and many with 

 stem-leaves of both sorts, viz. the rounded and lobed and the deeply- 

 divided, with pinnatifid lobes. The common MaUow, M. sylvesti'is, was 

 not common here, and I believe the round-leaved dwarf Mallow, M. rotun- 

 difolia, was scarce. A. I. 



Nasturtium officinale. 



This plant appears to be a rare one in the Clent Flora. Several plan- 

 tations of it were observed in parts of Clent, and an enclosure of it near 

 the Lickey hdls. In a smaU brook descendmg from the hills between 

 them and Clent a fine colony of this popular esculent was observed. A 

 supply was obtained from this place. Here the water was not mantled 

 with Cresses, but it was literally stuffed full of them. This was the only 

 spot within a circuit of probably sixty or eighty miles where a single plant 

 of Cress was observable ; yet water is far from being scarce in these 

 parts. A. I. 



Anachakis Alsinastrum. 



With respect to the waters with which I am acquainted, my impression 

 is still the same as when I penned the statement at p. 361, vol. i. N. s. 

 Some of our waters are sluggish enough : the canal is nearly a dead level 

 between locks, the only current being when the gates are opened to admit 

 of the passage of boats, which is not very ft'equently. The Avon is a 

 very slow, and often muddy, river, much obstructed by miUs. WiU Mr. 

 Marshall have the kindness to o-ive the heioht of the water in the few 



