276 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



states that V. Thapsus X nigrum is " completely sterile ; small 

 abortive capsules occur through fertilization with one of the 

 parents." Sterility, therefore, may be regarded as the rule in this 

 genus. Linana repens X vulgaris is said by Mr. Druce to be 

 fertile. 



Euphrasia. Mr. F. Townsend published the following hybrids 

 at the close of his monograph on the genus (Journ. Bot. 1897, 

 321, &c): — E. Bostkoviana x nemorosa Towns. (E. glanduligera 

 Wettst.); E. Bostkoviana xbrevipila (E. notata Towns.); E. gracilis 

 X brevipila (E. difformis Towns.) ; E. occidentalis x brevipila (E. 

 pratiuscola Towns.); E. brevipila x scotica (E. venusta Towns.) ; and 

 E. scotica x gracilis (E. electa Towns.). The Rev. E. S. Marshall 

 adds, from Mr. Townsend's MS. note-book, E. brevipila x curta, 

 from Carnarvon, Kincardine, Aberdeen, W. Inverness, &c, and 

 E. brevipila x stricta, from Garlow, Kilkenny, Dublin, Tipperary, as 

 having been entered without a query ; and believes that he has 

 himself gathered E. brevipila x foulaen&is on Ben Laoghal, W. 

 Sutherland. 



Labiate. — Mentha. In this genus we have owed so much 

 occasional help to M. Ernest Malinvaud in determining British 

 forms, and not least by his brief paper in this Journal (1900, 171), 

 that I feel I cannot do better than present his views here, to which 

 I am more or less prepared to assent. With him there are five 

 cardinal species, viz., M. rotundifolia Huds., M. longifolia Hnds., 

 M. viridis L., M. aquatica L., and M. arvensis L. ; he omits 

 M. Pulegium L. as a distinct genus or sub-genus. M. rotundifolia 

 and M. longifolia cross freely in France ; M. viridis crosses with 

 M. longifolia too, and we have the resultant in gardens and ground 

 that has gone out of cultivation. "A portion of its characteristics 

 is found in M. rubra, M. piperita, M. gentilis, &c." M. aquatica 

 crosses on the one hand with M. longifolia, giving us M. pnbescens 

 Willd. and on the Continent some allied forms ; and on the other 



with M, arvensis L., producing the M. sativa group. I should have 

 been inclined myself to range M. gentilis under this latter combina- 

 tion, and also Mi pratensis Sole. Hybrid mints are usually sterile, 

 probably always ; and owe their extension and permanence to the 

 strong underground suckers they freely send out. To this we may 

 attribute a certain stability of character, greater than we should 

 expect in plants of hybrid origin, which has led to certain hybrid 

 forms passing so long for species. 



Scutellaria galericulata x minor I believe is sterile. — Stachys 

 palustris x sylvatica 9 long known as 5. ambigua Sm. — Lainiwn 

 hybridum x purpureum, which I have been inclined to take as 

 identic with S. decipiens Sond. There is, however, a form of 

 S. purpureim with more deeply-cut leaves which is not the hybrid ; 



vena 



(To be concluded.) 



