380 BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. \^March, 



Swertia perennis, Viola aJpina, etc., indorsed by Evans (see Note), 

 "would have justly impaired the value of his testimony in behalf 

 of Dry as. The matter is now set at rest, except as to the question, 

 did a notice of this plant, as a native of Wales, appear in print 

 before last January ? Such a notic^ did appear, but ? on reli- 

 able authority.] 



BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. 



Early Spking Elowees. 



This afternoon, when taking a walk in the country, I, to my great sur- 

 prise, found in beautiful flgwer Chrysosplenium oppositifolimn and Ranun- 

 culus aquatilis. I find, on referring to your work, that the former is to 

 be looked for on the 9th of March, and the latter on the 8th of April. 

 It was not merely a single flower, but several ; in fact, myself and two 

 friends were amply supplied with specimens. I also gathered rather small 

 specimens oi Mercurialis perennis with several of the flowers expanded. 



Huddersfield. S. 



Agrimonia AGEiMONOlDES, Linn. {Aremonia, DC.) 



It might be inferred from Mr. Babington's note in ' Phytologist,' vol. 

 ii. p. 272, that the plant so called had not been known by the former 

 name for generations. Yet it is described under the name Agrimonia by 

 Loudon, in his 'Encyclopsedia of Plants,' a work published within the last 

 thirty years. In the ' Flora Graeca ' it is described as an Agrimony (Fl. 

 Gr. 458). Also in Sturm's 'Deutschlands Flora' and Koemer's 'European 

 Flora.' It might be hazardous to say anything about nativity, this term 

 being so variously understood by vaiious naturalists. Mr. Sim has 

 already given all the information necessaiy about the fact of the plant's 

 growing in the Scottish woods and hedges. He has only to convince Mr. 

 Babington and the Yorkshire naturalists that he has not mistaken the 

 plant for something else. 



Orchis mascula. 



For the information of such readers of the ' Phytologist ' as take an in- 

 terest in the provincial names of plants (see ' Phytol.' for July, 1857, 

 p. 167), I may mention that Orchis viascula (the "Long Purples" of 

 Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act V.) is known among the country people in 

 some parts of Northamptonshire by the name of "Bloody Butchers." 

 The colour of the flower, and still more the dark blood-Eke" spots upon 

 the leaves, have no doubt suggested the appellation. 



I do not find the name of " Long Purples " in either Parkinson or 

 Gerard. Turner says that one kiird of Orchis (probably 0. mascula or 

 maculata) " hath many spottes in the leafe, and is called Adder Grasse in 

 Northumberland." ' W. T. Bree. 



