630 REVIEWS. [November, 



their publication. That Mr. Sowerby's subsequent numbers 

 may do this is not improbable^ but if they do not^ his subscribers 

 and the buyers of his work will have no right to complain, be- 

 cause he does not profess to publish anything not contained in a 

 work published half a century ago. 



How long is it since any of the supplements appeared ? 



It would be a libel on the present generation of British bota- 

 nists to say that they have been doing nothing for science during 

 these long periods. They have been extending the knowledge of 

 their native Flora, but the new illustrated ' British Wild Flowers ' 

 is not much the richer for their labours. 



The Friend, a Monthly Journal. 



This monthly periodical, which we believe to be the exponent 

 or the organ of a portion at least of the highly respectable body 

 who call themselves Friends, is sent to us by an obliging corre- 

 spondent. In the number for May there is an article on geo- 

 graphic botany, from which the following extract is taken : — 



" The curious wanderer on the wild cliffs of Orme's Head, or along the 

 romantic coast of South Devon, has probably often been struck and 

 amused with the little cabbages growing out of the fissures and on the 

 ledges of the rocks ; not with the hard heads, which are the effect of cul- 

 tivation, but looking like young cabbages a few weeks after they have left 

 the seed-bed, with occasionally an ancient-looking straggler. These little 

 plants, which, to the unaccustomed eye, look so unnatiiral and out of place 

 in such wild situations, are Brassica oleracea, the origin of our cabbages 

 and cauliflowers, though it would be dangerous (hazardous) to assert that 

 all the varieties in cultivation are derived exclusively from this species." 



The same writer, who evidently acts under the influence of the 

 caution which is said to characterize the religious body of which 

 this paper is the supposed organ, in treating of another maritime 

 species, says, — 



" Sea Kale {Cranibe maritima) belongs to the same Natural Order as 

 the cabbage and turnip. . . . Sea Kale is occasionally met with on our 

 coasts, frequently just above high-water mark; and when not distorted 

 and blanched, as we see it in our gardens, is quite a handsome and strik- 

 ing plant, with its large succulent leaves and white flowers. It is a com- 

 paratively recent addition to our vegetable garden, and has only become 

 at all generally distribu^ted within the present generation, though in its 

 wild state it has been used from time immemorial by the inhabitants of 

 the places where it grows." 



