hooker's students' flora. 



69 



however, been adopted in so many cases that it seems a pity any exceptions should 

 knowingly have been made. A preference for the felicitous Ranunculus hirsutus 

 Curt, over R. Sardotis can be understood ; as may Callima vulgaris ' Salisb.' 

 ( Erica vulgaris L. ), the Linnean specific appellation being for once tacked on to 

 Salisbury's generic limitation, rather than adopt De Candolle's tautological 

 compromise — Calluna Erica. There must be bounds to the application of every 

 rule, and, that of priority notwithstanding, some sort of appropriateness must be 

 insisted on. We might not now call a cabbage a Seakale, though it should turn 

 out to have been its original name ! But where no insuperable objection forbids, 

 the older should be preferred. Glaiicium lutetim Scop, should, so, be replaced by 

 the earlier G. flavum Crautz.; Polygala depressa Wend., must be P. serpyllacea 

 Weihe ; Astragalus Hypoglottis L. give way to A. danica Retz. ; Lotus uliginosus 

 Schkhr., alike with L. juajor Sm., give precedence to L. pilosus Beeke ; and Carex 

 rostrata Stokes stand before C. ampullacea, happy as the latter name is from the 

 striking resemblance of its perigynia to the long-necked big-bellied Roman pitcher. 



Of absolute error there is very little : Thlaspi perfoliattnn is 7iot ' extinct' {vide 

 p. 41) in Oxfordshire. Mr. Druce recently found it in plenty near Charlbury. 

 Thlaspi occitamim Jord. occurs in many other spots in Yorkshire besides the old 

 one of ' Settle,' and also in N. Somerset, Westmoreland, and Durham. 



AlthcBa hirsuta, L. is credited to North Somerset as ' wild,' a fact not in Bab. 

 Manual, 8th Ed. The Senecio spathiilcefoliiis of that work is stated not to be 

 identical with De Candolle's continental plant of the same name, but is referred to 

 Syme's var. maritif?ia of Senecio campestris as ' a tall form with broadly-toothed 

 leaves.' A similar large cymose-flowered form occurs in quarries near Ancaster, 

 Lincoln. We are also told that Lobelia tirens is found in Cornwall, and thdXArum 

 italicum occurs from Cornwall to Sussex. 



The forms of Callitriche verna L. are curiously classified. C. hamulata Kuetz., 

 and C. pedujtculata, DC, usually considered a variety of it, here both take rank 

 as sub-species, equal to C. verjialis, C. platycatpa, and C. obiusangula ; whilst C. 

 truncata Guss. is reduced to a mere variety of C. autumnalis L. — a course hardly 

 intelligible, since it seems to result from two incompatible lines of view. Per 

 contra^ the expositions of the sequence of forms in Pyrus Aria, and in Rosa canina 

 and arvensis (so unsatisfactory in Babington's Manual) are excellently well done. 

 Of the Willow-herbs and the Mints we are told what students in the field soon 

 discover to their confusion, that hybrids abound, and so, individuals varying almost 

 indefinitely, are difficult to discriminate. 



Lathrcea is taken out of the Broom-Rape order, and included in Scrophulariacese 

 under the Euphrasieae, with other root-parasites. The ' truly wild ' Irish 

 Sisyrinchium is described as angustifolium Miller — the earliest aggregate name 

 (1771), instead of 6". Bermudiana L., the author remarking that 'it differs entirely 

 from the Bermudian plant'. Jtmcus diffusiis Hoppe is sunk in J. glaucus as a 

 hybrid between that and effusus, perhaps not without reason, but it is still accorded 

 specific rank by Babington. 



Under Carex distafts L. we have, as a sub-species only, C. fulva Good., this 

 name being retained (the late Mr. Pryor's demonstration notwithstanding) in 

 preference to Hoppe's Hornschtichiana ; C. xanthocarpa Degl. being suggested as 

 a hybrid with C. distans ; C.Jlava with, which (in presence of fulva) it is almost 

 invariably mingled where it occurs, not being named at all as a possible co-efficient. 

 Carex Leesii Ridley [saxumhra Lees), accepted by Dr. Bos well as probably a 

 distinct species on account of its fusiform fruit and peculiar glume, is considered 

 only a ' drawn out ' shade-growing form of C. pilulifera ; whilst C. ornithopoda 

 Willd. sinks to a sub-species of C. digitata, though its occurrence in West York- 

 shire (Mackershaw Wood, Ripon, Herb. Borrer), as well as in Derby, is duly 

 registered. Both Spartina alterniflora Loisel. and S. Toxvnsendi are sunk in an 

 aggregate S. stricta, it being stated that American series show similar variations. 



Lastly, all the most recent British discoveries appear to be faithfully incorporated. 

 Now, in addition to Mr. Fowler's Lincolnshire Selinum carvifolium L. , we note 

 the following novelties accepted as either native, or sufficiently widespread and 

 well established to be deemed worthy of a place in the British Flora — apart from 

 that of the Channel Islands, the species only found there being, however, included 

 according to the indefensible custom of late years, whilst the plants of the Faroe 

 Islands a re still excluded : — Ranunculus ophioglossifolius Vill. (S. Hants) ; 

 Oct. 1884. 



