﻿FIRST RECORDS OF BRITISH FLOWERING PLANTS. 248 



no characters, other than that of the calyx-limb, which has been 

 seen to be untrustworthy, which separate the two genera ? Ascherson 

 sees in the elongated form of the fruit and the longitudinally furrowed 

 partial fruit a character, which for the present sanctions the main- 

 tenance of the genus Sherardia, for he was unaware of a similar 

 character in any species of Asperula, the fruits in them being either 

 spherical or broader in the transverse section. I may say that, 

 according to my limited experience, I have had no difficulty in 

 referring the specimens of Sherardia to the type or to the variety, 

 and that in our specimens the reduction in length of the calyx- 

 limb is very pronounced and fairly uniform. That it is not a 

 question of soil or conditions is shown by the occurrence of the 

 two plants growing together. 



FIRST RECORDS OF BRITISH FLOWERING PLANTS. 

 William A. Clarke, F.L.S. 



Plantago major and P. lanceolata L. Sp. PI. 112, 113 (1753). 

 1538. "Plantago . . . ejus duaj sunt species major & minor. 

 Majorem vulgus appellat waybred aut Plantane. Minorem vero 

 Rybwort, rybgyrse, aut Lancell."— Turn. Libellus. 



P. media L. Sp. PL 113 (1753). 1597. " Hoarie Plantaine 

 — almost everywhere." — Ger. 340. 



P. maritima L. Sp. PL 114 (1753). 1597. "At Gravesend; 

 at Erith neere London ; at Lee in Essex," &c— Ger. 343. 



P. Coronopus L. Sp. PL 115 (1753). 1548. " Coronopus 

 . . . called in Cambryge herbe Iue . . . groweth muche aboute 

 Shene aboue London, it loueth wel to growe by the sea banks also " 

 —Turn. Names, C v. 



i Act. Holm. xxix. 841 (1768). 1670. 

 Cambridge, on the moist fenny grounds 

 out Glastenbury, Pensans, &c."— Ray, Cat. 169. 

 IUecebrum verticillatum L. Sp. PL 206 (1753). 1670. 



noriDus aa mstar ±-oiygoni manni, ad smgulas alas albis . . . sent 

 me from Cornwall." — Merrett, 5 (1666). 



Herniaria glabra L. Sp. PL 218 (1753). 1597. " It ioyeth 

 in barren and sandie grounds, and is likewise founde in dankish 

 places that lie wide open to the sunne."— Ger. 455. 



H. ciliata Bab. in Linn. Soc. Trans, xvii. 452 (1837), 1686. 

 " Invenimus spontaneam in promontorio Cornubiensi The Lizard 

 Point dicto."— Ray, Hist. i. 214, 6. Prof. Babington (I. c.) refers 

 the Lizard plant to this H. ciliata. 



H. birsuta L. Sp. PL 218 (1753). 1880. Found by Mr. 



