383 botanical notes, notices, and queries. [mavch, 



Hypericum calycinum 



Is, as you probably know, spread out on a bank by the side of a lane, 

 the plant having been sown or planted inside the hedge near Dorking. 

 But the escape, if it may be so termed, has to my knowledge remained 

 unaltered for more than thirty-five years. H. 



■ [I am acquainted with a less exceptional locality than the above, but I 

 have not known it so long as thirty-five years. H. calycinum grew in 

 the Dorking chalk quarries, not far from Denbies, in 1838 : »how it got 

 there I know not. The place is far from a hedge, garden, or plantation. 

 -A. I.] 



Mustard. 



In the November number of the ' Phytologist ' you have an answer to 

 the Mustard query. When it first appeared the weather was so hot that 

 one did not feel inclined to touch the subject; but if you wiU allow me 

 now to do so, I would call your con-espon dent's attention to page ] 64 of 

 'Dodonaeus,' published at Antwerp, 1553, where he will find the Sinapis 

 or Mustard, given in Greek, Latin, German, Brabant, and French. In 

 Brabant it is Mostaert, French Moutarde. It appears from this that our 

 word Mustard is derived from the Brabant or the French. 



It is stated in Miller, that the seeds when first bruised have Utile pun- 

 gency and much bitterness, but moistened with vinegar, and kept for a 

 day or two, the essential oil is evolved, and it becomes more acrid. 



The Avord mmt, derived from vuistum, signifies (according to Webster) 

 new wine ; wine pressed from the grape, but not fermented. I cannot find 

 any custom of mixing Mustard with Must. It appears from one of Shake- 

 speare's plays that mustard was formerly made at Tewkesbury, and called 

 Tewkesbury Mustard. 



Your correspondent might refer to the History of Gloucestershire for an 

 account of the manufactm'e of mustard. S. B. 



From the 'Kegensburg Flora.' 



" Nur verlange ich, dass, wer eine Pflanze als eigene Art aufstellt, nun 

 auch ein bestandiges Kennzeichen, woran man sie in alien ihren Formen 

 erkennt, angibt." 



" I only wish that every botanist who proposes a plant as a distinct 

 species, would at the same time draw up and publish a constant character, 

 whereby the new species might be recognized under all its forms." — 

 Kocli, in Fl. Reg. 



" Nature formed real species." — Koch. 



What is the meaning of species here ? What is a species ? All the in- 

 dividual plants that agree better with each other than they do with any- 

 thing else, and which have existed from the beginning, do now exist, and 

 are to be produced in the ages yet to come. Nature created some of 

 these, but some have been, if not created, at least greatly multiplied by 

 human agency. Nature, it may be gi-anted, created some individuals 

 which may be held as representatives of aU their descendants. 



Tlie view, that Nature created only forms, and that the selection of 



