MUNBY : WILD PLANTS AT WOOD GREEN, LONDON. 



181 



generally awarded to it, or which are included in recent Botanical works, 

 under the title of varieties. M. Timbal-Lagrave, of Toulouse, who has 

 had many opportunities of studying the numerous kinds of mint in France 

 from living specimens, has published a very interesting account of the diffe- 

 rent species of this genus found in his neighbourhood. Of the nine species 

 of mint described in Koch's Synopsis Floras Germanica?, six of them have 

 numerous varieties, Mentha sativa, alone having six varieties recorded. 

 This wholesale method of disposing of plants, coupled with the hybridising 

 theory, is to say the least a very slovenly method of doing business. 



Mercurialis amhigua, L. fil. I have found this plant very sparingly 

 near the Reservoir, or filtering beds of the l^ew River Company, between 

 Woodgreen and Hornsey. This species was separated from Mercurialis 

 annua, by Linngeus' son, and although not recognised by Sir J. Smith, nor 

 yet by Koch, I hold it to be a distinct and immutable species, known not 

 only by the male and female flowers being intermixed, but by the marking 

 of the seeds. There are figures of both species in Lyte's Herbal, published 

 in 1578, p. 76, as well as in Morison's Histor. Plant. Oxon. 1680, and the 

 majority of botanical writers of the present day admit this plant as speci- 

 fically distinct from M. annua. Ray calls it, " French Mercury," and states 

 that it grows plentifully on the " Sea beach near Ryde in the Isle of Wight," 

 so that from the locality, which appears to have been verified by Dr. Brom- 

 field in the present century, we may suppose that M. amhigua, was meant 

 although Ray does not, differing from Morison his contemporary, appear to 

 recognize more than one species. 



Crepis virens, L. This plant grows commonly on the banks of the 

 railway at Woodgreen : Babington seems to have been the first author in 

 Britain who recognised it, as Sir J. Smith confounded it with the Crepis 

 Tectorum, L., which although common enough in France and the continent 

 of Europe, has not yet been found in Britain. The synonyms quoted by 

 Smith from the old authors, as well as the figure of Morison, v. 3. sect. 7. 

 pi. 7. f. 29., would be as applicable to the one species as to the other. 



Carex divulsa, Good. I have found this plant associated with Carex 

 sylvatica, at the south entrance of the railway tunnel between Woodgreen and 

 Oolney Hatch ; it was regarded as a variety of C. muricata, by Wahlenberg, 

 in which opinion Sir W. Hooker seems to have concurred, as well as Cosson 

 and Germain in the Flore Parisienne; but Reichenbach, Sir J. Smith, Koch, 

 and most other modern authors have followed Goodenough's distinction. It. 

 is common in France, especially in the southern parts ; also in Spain and 



