268 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



longiore, filamentis corollas ori insertis, antheris exsertis, stylo 

 longiuscule exserto puberulo, stigmate anguste clavato integro. 

 Hab. Near mouth of Mizizi, south-east of Lake Albert ; 



Bagshawe, 1318. 



Folia solemniter 4*0-6-0 cm. long., 1*5-2-0 cm. lat. ; costae 

 secundaria utrinque 4-6, ascendentes, parum aspectabiles ; stipulae 

 circa 0-3 cm. long. Umbelke pluriflorae, circa 3-0 cm. diam. 

 Pedicelli 01-0-2 cm. long. Flores albi. Calycis tubus (ovarium) 

 0-1 cm. long. ; limbus totus 0*15 cm., lobi 0-08 cm. long. Corolla 

 in toto 1-7 cm. long.; tubus 1*1 cm., lobi 0*6 cm. long. Filamenta 

 crassiuscula, 0-15 cm. long.; anther© anguste lineares, apice 

 apicnlatae, 0-5 cm. long. Stylus 2-2 cm., stigma circa 0-25 cm. 

 long. 



Evidently not far away from P. lasiopeplus K. Schum., which is 

 described as having smaller leaves, bimucronulate stipules, flowers 

 on longer pedicels in umbels with a number of bracts at the base, 

 calyx-limb divided nearly to the base into subulate lobes, &c. It 

 is also near the plant called by me P. grumosa, another of Dr. 

 Bagshawe's discoveries ; but this, besides drying black, has a 

 different calyx among other points. 



(To be continued.) 



HYBRIDS AMONG BKITISH PHANEROGAMS. 



By the Rev. E. F. Linton, M.A. 



Some years ago there were those still among us who doubted 

 the occurrence of hybrids among plants in a state of nature, and 

 in a paper on the subject one might have been expected to furnish 

 proof of their being naturally produced. There is no need of this 

 now; rather the danger is the other way of too much being made of 

 hybrids, and hybridity being set up as the chief factor of variation 

 in all genera where great variety occurs. There are some cases 

 that support such a view, notably the genus Salix. But to argue 

 from the particular to the general is an old fallacy. In the case of 

 Salix we certainly have an instance in which many forms have been 

 mistaken in the past for species which were of hybrid origin. All 

 these being apparently fertile (if female), there was some reason 

 for the botanists of a generation or two ago regarding them as 

 species or varieties. Now we know, from observation and experi- 

 ment combined, that the large majority of these forms were pro- 

 duced by hybridization. 



In the genus Mentha, also, several forms have been published 

 and repeatedly described as species or varieties which are hybrids ; 

 in this genus the hybrid resultants are sterile, and the form is 

 preserved and spread by strong, rapidly-increasing suckers. 



This difference between the cases of Salix and Mentha brings 

 me to one object I have in preparing this paper. I wish to suggest 

 a line of observation which may not only be of some interest, but 



