1858.] REVIEWS. . 475 



sired Violets and Saginas muster in force^ as geologists say, there 

 being six of the one and half-a-dozen of the other. Hippophce 

 (following the London Catalogue, the 5th edition of which is not 

 remarkable for the accuracy of its orthography) is printed for Hip- 

 popha'e, and Scorduim for Scordium, tunbrigense for tunhridgense, 

 carulea for coerulea, and Hypericum linariifol. for H. linaricefol. 

 Botanists are informed that " specimens of any novelties or ex- 

 cluded species will be acceptable.''^ 



The Friend; a Religious and Literary Journal of the Society 



of Friends. 



An obliging correspondent, to whom the ' Phytologist ' owes a 

 heavy debt of gratitude for his most efficient aid, has just trans- 

 mitted the above. On page 63 of this journal there is an, 

 article on the geographic origin of the commonly used species of 

 plants. From this a few lines are here quoted, and on which 

 some remarks may be expected from some of our correspondents 

 best acquainted with such matters. 



" The multiform varieties of Cabbage and Cauliflower are usually sup- 

 posed to have been derived from Brassica oleracea, a species which grows 

 wild on "the shores of Britain and of western Europe. Two varieties are 

 mentioned by Theophrastus ; but the Latin name seems to have been 

 taken from the Celtic rather than the Greek. The cultivation of these 

 plants was widely diffused in ancient times in Europe and western Asia, 

 but to India and Cliina they seem to have' been earned at a comparatively 

 recent date. Whether they owe their origin to B. oleracea alone, or have 

 been modified from that and two or three other closely allied species 

 which inhabit southern Europe is a doubtful point, but the latter seems 

 the most likely alternative." 



Again, the writer informs us that the " Potato, Solanum tu- 

 berosum, was brought from Carolina by Raleigh in 1585 or 1586. 

 Clusius, who describes and figures the plant in a woi'k he wrote, 

 says that he received liis specimens in 1588, from the Governor 

 of Mons. It reached Italy from Spain and Portugal, and doubt- 

 less was brought to the latter, countries direct from South 

 America." From notes on Natural History, Meteorology, etc., 

 it appears that " the coldest day of last year (1857) was on the 

 1st of February, when the mean temperature was 24°5'; the 



