Bibliographical Notices. 383 



spoken of as if they alone exhibited a difference, of course afford only 

 an artificial character to assist those who do not know the really distinct 

 plants. Don's Potentilla opaca is shown not to be the plant of Lin- 

 naeus, but the P. intermedia of Nestler, which is suspected to be " the 

 luxuriant or cultivated form" of the former : it grows wild however in 

 the South of France and of Switzerland : the name opaca is still re- 

 tained for the supposed Scottish plant. The scepticism respecting 

 Potentilla reptans and P. Tormentilla is needless ; they are well di- 

 stinguished by the carpels : P. mixta is now allowed by Nolte himself 

 to be a hybrid ; and probably similar English hybrids have seemed to 

 connect the two species. Pyrus pinnatifida and Aria var. intermedia 

 are suspected to be hybrids of P. Aria^ the former with P. aucuparia, 

 the latter with P. torminalis : but Fries says that P. intermedia (his 

 Sorbus scandica), of which he regards ^xm.i\i' ^ pinnatifida as a var.» 

 grows in Gottlaud, Norway, Sweden, &c., where P. torminalis is not 

 found ; and that the true Sorbus hybrida (L. fil.) (his S. fennicay 

 Kalm) differs by having acid fruit, resembling in appearance those 

 of P. aucuparia. Saxifraga pedatifida (Sm.) is referred to S, gera- 

 nioides (L.), and marked as not native : we are told that the form ^e- 

 datifida is never wild : but Grenier describes a plant as S. pedatifida 

 (Sm.) which grows in several places in the Cevennes, but not in the 

 Pyrenees : it differs from S. geranioides (of which he makes S. lada- 

 nifera a resinous variety) by having oval not cordate-orbicular leaves 

 with many-nerved not one-nerved petioles. Sonchus asper is called 

 "quite similar to S. oleraceus in general appearance," and so sus- 

 pected : we thought that most botanists could distinguish them at a 

 distance of ten yards. Some of Fries' s new Hicracia are introduced 

 timidly and inconsistently ; but all the British plants are virtually re- 

 ferred to seven species. No allusion is made to Achillcea tanacetifolia 

 (All.) . The genus Calystegia is needlessly separated from Convolvulus. 

 Rhinanthus major (" Ehrh.") and angusfifolius {" Gmel.") (major, 

 Sm.) are separated, the former being marked as introduced ; but both 

 considered as mere varieties : the former is identified with R. villosus 

 (Pers.) and hirsutus (Lam.) : from these synonyms and the descrip- 

 tion it seems to be R. alectorolophus (" Pollich") of Koch, who is 

 doubtful about Smith's plant, which he identifies with R. (Alectoro- 

 lophus) Reichenbachii (Drey.), Mr. Babington's R. major var. y. 

 Primula scotica is strangely stated iiot to be foreign : where but in 

 Scandinavia should we look for a plant so boreal with ourselves ? and 

 accordingly we find Fries saying (Summa, 199), " In alpibus Nor- 

 vegiae frequens m Lapponiam usque, etiam in Suecia boreali :" he adds 

 that Blytt's observations confirm his belief of its distinctness. Beta 

 maritima is called vulgaris on Moquin-Tandon's authority, without 

 allusion to the number of stems from one root or the shape of the 

 stigma. Thesium humile (Vahl) the Authors think cannot be native, 

 as being an African plant : but it grows in Lower Austria, and our 

 other species grows no further northwards in Germany than Vienna. 

 CaUitriche platycarpa is joined to C. verna without allusion to the 

 size of the fruit : we do not believe the direction of the stvles in this 



