1857.] BOTANICAL NOTES^ NOTICES, AND QUERIES. 279 



ditches of the Isle of Ely before the plant got into them and after ; whether 

 there are any mud banks forming or fonned, any alteration of sluices, or 

 other alteration since they were colonized by the Anacharis, one height 

 only being given in liis pamphlet, and of that only one-half was referable 

 to the new plant. If the two papers be compared (vol. i. p. 361, and 

 vol. ii. p. 194), it will be seen there is little difference between Mr. M. 

 and myself, except in priority of suggestion. I have seen, but have not a 

 reference to the soiu'ce, a paragraph to the effect that swans had eradicated 

 the Anacharis in one part of the Whiteadder. Why does not the Duke of 

 Sutherland put some on the lake at Trentham, and try the effect ? W. C. 



Lamium amplexicaule. 



It has already been noticed that the early flowers of the above plant do 

 not expand their corollas, although the fruit (cai-pels) appears to be per- 

 fect. Apparently perfect capsules have also been frequently observed on 

 the root-shoots of Viola odorata, and perhaps V. hirta. Ai'e not these 

 common, rather than frequent, on the stemless Violets ? Has any botanist 

 ever noticed stamens and pistils where the flowers have not been developed, 

 or where, as in the Violets, they probably never existed, except, it may be, 

 in the state of a rudimentary caljrx. Dr. Bromfield, in his excellent ' Flora 

 Vectensis,' states that the later flowers of both V. odorata and V. hirta 

 are often imperfect, though fertile. It woidd be desirable to notice exactly 

 the parts ^resew^ in these fertile imperfect flowers. 



SONCHUS PALUSTRIS. 



Sir, — In case no one else has answered youi* question touching Sonchus 

 palustris in the affinnative, I beg leave to say that the plant was found 

 last year by my nephew Mr. Thomas Butler, somewhere in the fens of 

 Norfolk, I believe (I do not recoUect the precise locality, nor if I did 

 should I wish to record it), and by him shown to Mr. Babington. The 

 plant may therefore still be reckoned among existing British species. 



Kenihoorth, September 22. AnnE KussELL. 



Draba verna, Flowebing or. 



In 1854 Draba verna was observed in full flower on a waU at Tedding- 

 ton, in Middlesex, on the 3rd of January. It must have been in flower as 

 early as December 1853. Some of the Crucifers flower all the year if the 

 weather is not severe ; the Shepherd' s-pu7'se and Cardamine Mrsuta are ex- 

 amples. The Wall Whitlow-wort is not one of these : its usual time of 

 flowering in the south of England is in March, on walls ; and in April it 

 whitens sandy or gravelly fields with its myriads of pure white minute 

 flowers. This plant was observed in fidl flower on the banks of the upper 

 part of Loch Tay, near Einlarig, on the 17th July, 1856. Hence it ap- 

 pears that the range of flowering in this plant is seven months. Note, — 

 The summer of 1856 was not particularly late, but the spring of 1854 was 

 particularly early. 



Cyclamen HEDERiEFOLiUM. 

 Can any reader of the ' Phytologist,' or any botanist into whose hands 

 this may come, inform the querist if all the knoAvn examples of this plant 



