Retrospective Criticism, 1.61 



,„-rf;rf ^frn 4-"^^^^ many a flower yet born to blush unseen,,,^ , ^^^^ , 



And waste its sweetness on the desert air." ^^ '^''^ ' " *'' 



Yet, in our researches, some caution is requisite ; for it appears that a race 

 of disseminators has arisen, from whose gratuitous labours we are likely to 

 have many spiirioits appendages to our list. (See a late Number of the Mag. 

 Nat. Hist.) This practice is not to be recommended, and it is earnestly 

 suggested to the individuals who adopt it (and I particularly address my- 

 self to the candid and talented writer alluded to in the Magazine), that if 

 they should hereafter discover a new and truly indigenous plant, the cir- 

 cumstance of their having been thus employed will very much weaken, if it 

 does not wholly destroy, the weight of their testimony ; for, though full 

 credit for intentional veracity may be due to them, and conceded, it may 

 -yet be doubted whether they be not mistaken in their recollection, or pur- 

 ' posely deceived by other less honest disseminators. Nor will the incon- 

 venience* be entirely removed by a timely avowal of the interpolation, sijioe 

 no botanist can hereaftter investigate the districts so contaminated without 

 having the discouraging idea that whatever he sees therey new or interesting^ 

 has perhaps been officiously conveyed thither by others: and when it is 

 considered how desirable it is that a perfect and authentic catalogue of our 

 indigenous plants should exist in print (and in no former age have such 

 favourable and adequate opportunities been possessed as in the present), 

 vsurely no true botanist will hereafter lend himself to a practice so replete 

 ^ with mischief. i—fT. ff^?7*on. Warrington, June, \^^0. 



Ap6ci/?iu7nandroscBmifdliuni. — In mentioning The Journal of a Naturalist, 

 a work from which I have derived much instruction and amusement, I 

 fTegret that there is any part which can afford opportunity for condemnation ; 

 but the account (p.8G>. 1st edit.) and engraving of that curious plant, the 

 -4p6cynum«ndros8emif61ium (Fly-catching Dog's-bane), is so very incor- 

 rect, that' I cannot think the author can ever have seen a specimen, much 

 less examined erne. From having frequently examined the plant, I can 

 recommend to the notice of your readers the description of it in p. 280. 

 j vol. viii. of Qnvtisi's Botanical Magazine, as being very accurate and clear, 

 rilt is accompanied also with a coi-rect representation of the flower. — W. C. 

 o^jivjan.28. 1830. : .r - - •■■ '. .. • 



a'^" JEV/'tttoi— Pelargoniuiti'phje'um (p. 169.), and P. lucidum and colum- 

 ifefewfar^p. 174'.), should be Geranium p.,1., and c. : there is no British species 

 I'of-^iPdargoiiium. — R. Sweet. Pomona Place, March 29. 1830. 

 'i-^^ "^MmpHdr urn pubescens.-^ A.t\i4 2^1. of Vol.1, there is a figure of this 

 -kpeoris^iifrhich ife altogether erroneous. The stem is perfectly smooth, not 

 ^Wmtg^it is. represented ,* and the rough downiness of the peduncles is 

 scarcely visible without a magnifier, while in the figure they are bristled 

 a^tronger than a thistle. The reviewer of the Flora of Berwick hints a doubt 

 !of its' distinctness from E. polystachyon, but the species are totally different 

 'both in characters and habit. The figure of the latter in English Botany is 

 very good. — - George Johnston. Berivick uj)on Tweed, March 17. 1830. 



Blue-bells of Scotland. — In the Flora of Berwick I have said that the 

 Campanula rotundifolia is the blue-bell of Scotland, an assertion ques- 

 tioned by my too favourable reviewer (Vol. II. p. 236.), who believes the 

 iS'cilla nutans to be the flower thus distinguished. I have spent nearly the 

 whole of the days of my life in the extreme north of England, and in the 

 south of Scotland, and until science had made known to me another and a 

 less interesting nomenclature, I knew the Campanula only as the blue-bell 

 'of my native land ; and a subsequent enquiry has satisfied me that I am 

 correct. These heart-stirring and endearing names, I regret to add, are 

 fast lapsing to oblivion, and, unless the local florist will conunemorate them 

 in his pages, our children will read our pastoral poets witjiout knowledge of 

 the olyect^.dpc^|^^^^ \^^^^^^^ ^^, 



