326 BOTANICAL NOTEs^ NOTICES, AND QUERIES. [January, 



PoLSTEAD Cherries. 



I cannot answer yoiu- correspondent's question respecting the kind of 

 tree that produces the " small black Cherries " in Buckinghamshire ; but 

 in Suffolk there are a great many small Cherries brought from the neigh- 

 bourhood of Polstead, and hence known as " Polstead Cherries." Probably 

 some reader in that neighbourhood could determine what species of Primus 

 it is that produces it. The " Polstead Cherry " is small, black, and round, 

 I T about the size of a fine Sloe. I have always presumed that it is the fruit 

 '.. of the P. PaJ«5. T. W. GissiNG. 



Wild Cherries. 



In reply to your con-espondent's question, I Avould observe that there 

 are three kinds of Chemes, commonly so called : — Primus Padiis (Bird 

 Cherry), P. avium (Wild Cherr}^), and P. Cerastis (Eed Cherry). The 

 P. avium is a large tree, found commonly in woods, and bears a small, 

 black, round fruit, called in many parts of England " merries." It is sweet, . 

 and the baskets in which the venders carry them are frequently covered 

 with branches of the Pleris aqtdlitia, as this Pern is found growing where 

 the trees grow. I believe this kind of Cherry-tree is met with on chalky 

 soils, and the western side of Buckinghamshire is on a range of chalk-hills. 

 The leaves of this Cherry, as also the Prunus Padus and P. Cerasus, 

 have two small glands, either on the leaf or on the leafstalk ; those on the 

 P. Padus are on the back of the leaf at the base, the P. Cerasus on the 

 stalk below the leaf, and the P. aviufn on the leafstalk lower down, I 

 believe these distinctions are well marked and constant. The Cheriy-trees 

 referred to in the October number of the ' Phytologist ' grow on the south 

 of Ashey Down. It is probable that the word Merry is derived from the 

 French Merise (Wild Cherry). Mr. Toilet, in a note to ' Midsummer 

 Night's Dream,' says, " We term a black cherry a morello, and a small 

 black cherry a nierry, — perhaps fi'om Maurus, a Moor, or rather fi'om 

 morum, a mulberry!" Vectis. 



PoA GLAUCA on IiujUhorougli. 



With reference to Dr. Windsor's inquiiy (' Phytologist,' N. s. vol. ii. p. 

 303), I beg to say that, so far as I am aware, there is only one Poa 

 glauca on Ingleborough, and that the plant which gi'ows so plentifully, at 

 about 600 yards of elevation, where the Silurian strata crop out on the 

 north-west flank of the hiU. The specimens given under P. Balfourii in 

 my ' PlantEe Criticae ' and the plant of Suppl. Flo. Yorks. are doubtless the 

 same as that intended by Dr. Vnndsor. E. B. 1720 is quoted by authors 

 sometimes under nemoralis, and sometimes under casta. J. G. Baker. 



Brassica oleracea. 



"A Correspondent" in a recent number of the ' Phytologist ' asks what 

 evidence there is of this being the parent of the cultivated varieties. 

 Balfoiu-, in the ' Class Book,' says : " In culinaiy vegetables, the tendency 

 to sport is very evident. In this way all the varieties of Cabbage, Cauli- 



