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Contributions towards a History of a British Botrychium, considered 
as a distinct Species, and as entitled to a place in the British 
Flora. By Kywarp NEWMAN. 
As on a late occasion (Phytol. v. 36), so on the present, my object 
is rather to invite attention to a neglected plant, and to solicit infor- 
mation respecting it, than to express, much less to enforce, any pecu- 
liar views of my own. I extremely regret the paucity of materials 
collected in a field which seems to promise such an abundant har- 
vest. It appears that there are at least six species of Botrychium 
inhabiting Europe, under the same parallel as own Scottish Highlands, 
and also under a parity of climatal and geological conditions. ‘There 
can be little doubt that these will be eventually added to the British 
Flora: but, as an excuse for their having been overlooked, it may be 
urged, and perhaps with justice, that the Botrychiums are remarkably 
inconstant in their appearance, and evanescent in their duration ; and 
therefore that the man who meets with them is often rather fortunate 
than skilful. There is something yet unexplained in the history of the 
species of Botrychium, in common with that of the natural order to 
which they belong. They have all the appearance, and some of the 
characters, of root-parasites: every fact connected with their succu- 
lent nature, brief duration, capricious appearance and disappearance, 
and place of growth, suggests such a conclusion. Who ever has found 
a Botrychium except among herbage ?—who has ever succeeded in 
cultivating a Botrychium except he removed to his fernery the 
undisturbed sod which afforded it a nidus? It is true that we want 
better evidence than this: we want the working out of the problem 
from facts, and not from probabilities: and I heartily wish that those 
botanists who have the leisure would pursue the interesting subject of 
root-parasitism, in this and other instances where we are still com- 
pletely in the dark. 
Two European Botrychiums have long been known to inhabit this 
country. Their nativity, so to speak, has never been called in ques- 
tion ; but a fashion has prevailed of regarding them as identical, and 
of ignoring the very existence of a second name. This is a way of 
solving a difficult problem that appears to me rather superficial than 
satisfactory. The proper botanical standing of the blue Anagallis 
was formerly, and perhaps is still, a moot question ; but no one has 
hitherto ventured to deny its existence. Let us, then, acknowledge 
VOL. V. =) 
