Botanical, 7165 



Botanist's Corner. 



On the Natural Affinities of Lastrea Thelypteris. — Has the fern usually described 

 as Lastrea Thelypteris been assigned a proper position by our writers on ferns ? 

 I was forcibly impressed, on first seeing it in a wild state, with its numerous points of 

 resemblance to the common brake. Many common characters seem to bring the two 

 plants into very close afhnity. Each has its creeping rhizome, and a substantial dis- 

 tinction can scarcely be drawn between the mart^inal line of fruit in Pteris and the 

 almost confluent sori of Thelypteris. The difl'erence appears to me little more than a 

 question of qnaniity. The venation of their pinnules is identical, except that in the 

 more compound fronds of Pteris the veins are ttvice, instead of once, dichotomously 

 divided, and bearing in mind that the quantity of sori depends on the quantity of 

 veins. The fewer veins in Thelypteris would quite account for the line of fructifica- 

 tion being interrupted in it, whilst confluent in Pteris, without the difl'erence being 

 sufficient for a generic distinction. The capsules of each are partly covered by the 

 convolute margins of pinnules and the evanescent nature of the true indusium 

 common to them both. The decided difl"ereuce between the barren and fertile fronds 

 of Thelypteris would also seem to connect it with Pteris, through the allied genus 

 AUosorus. If botanists object to Mr. Newman's separation of Thelypteris into a 

 distinct genus (' British Ferns,' 3rd edition), I think they should associate it with the 

 genus Pieris rather than Lastrea, and (supposing the order in which Mr. Newman 

 describes the genera is intended to represent their affinities) that his new genus 

 Hemistheum ought to be placed more immediately adjacent to Pteris. — George 

 Maw ; Broseky, July 20, 1860. 



Discovery of Lathyrus tuberosus at Fyfield, near Ongar, Essex. 



Lathyrus tuberosus (Tuberous-rooted Vetchliug, or Everlasting Pea), Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 1033. Gerarde's Herbal^ p. 1057. Roots perennial, fibrous, with many large 

 black tubers, penetrating the soil deeply. Stems climbing two or three feet high, 

 four-sided, not winged; leaflets oval, in pairs ; stalks many-flowered; flowers a fine 

 rose-colour, with a little of the fragrance of Lathyrus odoratus; blossoms from July to 

 September. Frequent in corn-fields in many parts of Europe, especially in France, 

 Germany and Italy. Said to have been cultivated in Holland for the sake of its 

 tubers, which are edible when boiled. 



Gerarde says that it is found in Hampstead Wood, near London, Richmond 

 Heath and Coombe Park, but Babington doubts the correctness of these localities, 

 and at all events no modern botanist has found it there, nor is it mentioned as a 

 British species by Ray or Hudson. The parish of Fj^field is several miles in extent, 

 and ihe soil is a very strong heavy clay, with a subsoil of calcareous marl. The 

 plant in question is found abundantly in almost every corn-field and hedge-row in the 

 parish, and also in the adjoining one of Willingale Spain, and probably in High 

 Ongar. In some places it is so abundant as to damage the corn, and it has grown in 

 the same fields for the last sixty years, at least according to the testimony of old men 

 living -at Fyfield, so that no doubt can exist as to its being a truly wild plant. 

 I suggest that it may be called the " Fyfield Pea." 



Norton Mandeville, where Bupleurum falcatum was discovered by me many years 

 since, is in close proximity to Fyfield, and I have since found that plant in a new 



