23 



Anao^allis ccendea, Schreb. Weed (2nd year) in garden, 

 near Liskeard, Cornwall, v.c. 2, Sept. 16, 1900. — H. S. 

 Thompson. Most British specimens differ from the Common 

 Pimpernel only in colour. These examples, however, ap- 

 proach the S. European form in their acuminate leaves and 

 sepals longer than the ripe fruit. — S. T. Dunn. 



Symphytum officinale, L. var. patens (Sibth.) River Esk, 

 Midlothian, June 5, 1900. Colour variety of the type con- 

 forming to Sibthorp's description in Fl. Oxon. — F. C. 

 Crawford. As Mr, J. W. White has pointed out in Journ. 

 Bot., 1900, p. 279, the figure in E.B. edit. III., does not 

 represent Sibthorp's patens. Prof. I. Bayley Balfour remarks 

 as follows : " The above specimens are from one of the stations 

 mentioned by Boswell Syme whence he had obtained the 

 variety, and I think we may assert they correspond with what 

 he found. Sibthorp in his Flora of Oxford speaks of the plants 

 as the red-flowered Comfrey, and the only other distinctive 

 character he gives is one derived from the calyx. The plant 

 we always have called patens here, and which I take it Boswell 

 Syme referred to, has never to my knowledge had blue flowers 

 and one finds the typical officinale mixed with plants in which 

 the flower passes into purple. Apart from colour, the hairiness 

 is the only thing given by Hooker as a distinctive mark. This 

 character is never a constant one in the plants about here, and 

 so far as I have been able to give consideration to the matter, 

 I have come to the conclusion that there is no character by 

 which patens may be distinguished from officinale except by that 

 of colour. I think it is probable that officinale is the form which 

 is essentially that of roadsides, whilst patens is one of moister 

 localities. With regard to the length of the calyx compared to 

 the corolla-tube, my observations lead me in exactly the same 

 direction as Boswell Syme. There does not seem to be any 

 fixity in the character." 



Ciiscuta trifolii, Bab. On Rapkins Farm, near Horsham, 

 Sussex, Aug. 10, 1887.— J. W. White. As the Clover Dodder 

 is hardly distinct from the wild C. Epithymtim, it is not possible 

 to class it as an alien m the same sense as our numerous 

 species which depend everywhere upon man for their presence 

 in England. — S. T. Dunn. 



Datura Stramonium, L. (1) Biscot Path, Luton, Beds., 

 Aug. 28, 1900. (2) In a spinney, Eggington, Beds., Nov. 1, 

 1900. — D. M. Higgins. Its frequent occurrence about villages, 

 etc., is due no doubt to its former wide cultivation for medicinal 

 purposes. Its home is placed by De Candolle in the Caspian 

 region. — S.T.D. 



