198 
with  remarkably  short  spikes ;  probably  (as  Rev  E  F 
Linton  has  suggested)  it  may  be  a  hybrid  between  aquatica 
and  rotundifolia ,  and  this  individual  is  nearer  the  aquatica 
Pa^G  r  ihan  usuaL  1  Relieve,  however,  that  Mr.  Bickham 
and  I  did  gather  M.  alopecuroides  x  rotundifolia  in  the 
locality.— E.S.M.  This  may  be  so,  but  certainly  I  do  not 
see  aquatica  x  rotundifolia  in  it.  There  is  no  sign  of 
the  aquatica  section  in  the  leaves  at  all.  In  these  cases 
of  suggested  hybrids  the  gatherers  are  far  the  best 
judges. — A.B. 
M.  longifolia  Huds.,  form  or  var.  (?  mollissima  Borkh  ) 
Ongm  Lydbrook,  W.  Glos.,  v.c.  34  (A.  Ley).  Cult.  Ledbury, 
July  ^  1908-  Mr‘  Marshall  writes:  “I  should  say 
decidedly  not  mollissima.  ‘  Leaves  softly  white,  tomentose 
on  both  sides’  (Bab.  Man.  ed.  IX.  p.  325).  ‘  Spikes  short 
and  thick  (Syme,  Engl.  Bot.).  Here  the  leaves  are  not 
even  white  beneath,  and  the  spikes  are  remarkably  slender. 
Ot  our  first  three  Lond.  Cat.  forms  it  seems  clearly  to  be 
nearest  the  type,  and  I  really  do  not  see  why  it  should 
not  go  under  that,  as  a  form.”  Mr.  A.  Bennett  writes : 
Ibis  comes  near  to  the  var.  mollissima  (Borkh.)  of  Lond. 
Cat.  =  M.  villosa,  var.  secunda,  Sole’s  Brit.  Mints  (1798),* 
tab.  2  p.  5.”  Sole’s  description  is:  “  Spicis  densioribus 
obsolete  bracteatis,  foliis  superne  glabrioribus,  inf  erne 
viiiosis;  caule  rubescente,  odore  M.  viridis.”  The  colour 
of  the  flowers  is  remarkable,  and  has  not  changed  in 
drying.— S.  H.  Bickham. 
*  Cropston,  Leics.,  v.c.  55,  Sept. 
,  1908.  F.  L.  Foord-Kelcey.  Poor  specimen;  only  a 
form  of  M.  hirsuta  {aquatica).  In  the  1st  ed.  of  'the 
Species  plantar  urn  ”  (1753),  II.,  p.  576,  Linnaeus  has 
o,  IVl.  aquatica ,  but  says  “planta  non  hirta,”  and 
mentions  no  hirsuta  either  in  the  Appendix  or  the  two 
Addenda. — A.B. 
M.  pubescens  Willd.  Whitwell,  E.  Norfolk  v.c.  27 
Aug.  28,  1883.  Coll.  Rev.  Kirby  Trimmer.  Comm.  A. 
Bennett  and  C.  E.  Salmon.  Ex.  Herb.  Brit.  Mus.  A  very 
i  erent  form  of  M.  aquatica  x  longifolia ;  densely 
pubescent,  but  in  other  respects  agreeing  better  with 
pyme  s  figure  of  ft.  hircina  than  with  that  of  a.  palustris. 
It  seems  needless  to  give  special  segregate  names  to  these 
fluctuating  hybrids. — E.S.M. 
