3o6 



NOTES — BOTANY. 



river-basin district. I did not doubt its growing therein, but never 

 having seen it myself, and there being no record in print, I did not 

 venture to assume anything not proven. 



Iris fcEtidissima L. (No. 82 ib). Not extinct, as stated by me 

 in Flora (p. 437). Miss M. Morton gathered it in Brunton's old 

 station — the bank, very near the river Yore, at the back of the house 

 known as Little Nunwick — or rather a woman brought that lady 

 some plants for her garden, and told her w^here they grew, which led 

 to Miss iMorton getting some flowers for herself. 



In this connexion, with the double view of pointing a moral as 

 well as reciting a significant tale, I may here say — with regard to 

 my quotation from Slater's Flora of the Ripon neighbourhood 

 (Flora W.Y., p. 437) to the effect that Miss Morton had sought the 

 Iris at Little Nunwick for years in vain — that Miss Morton informs 

 me she gave Mr. Slater a list of the Flora thereabouts, which he 

 thought was Miss Morton's own^ whereas that lady admittedly copied 

 it from an old History of Rip07i. This is a fair example of how 

 misconceptions undesignedly lead to false statements, for want of that 

 directness and caution which should insist on candid answers to 

 plain questions. Reticence and reservation, where records of fact 

 are to be made, should be above all things swept away and eschewed. 

 In this matter of Iris extinction I quoted positive, unquaUfied words 

 from what seemed to be a reliable source, and two years afterwards 

 I am shown to be a repeater of absolute error ! Verbtun sapienti. 



NO TES—B OTA NY. 



The Hound's -Tongue at Skipton-in-Craven. — I had the pleasure of 

 gathering last week, on one of the old rubbish-heaps in the Hawbank Quarry, 

 the Cynoi^lossjim officinale. It was discovered there a few days previously by 

 Mr. L. Rotheray, of Skipton. There is only one plant ; much eaten off by sheep. 

 No record appears in Mr. Lees' ' West Yorkshire Flora ' for the Aire river-basin, 

 for which area, therefore, it is an addition. I also noted Gentiana ama7-ella (very 

 common all over the old spoil-heaps and workings about the quarrj-), and likewise 

 the Parsley Piert {AlcJieniilla a7"oe7isis). Skipton is not given for the two latter 

 in the P'lora above-named, but Mr. Lees has seen specimens. — T. W. Edmondson, 

 September 13th, 1888. 



Spiraea filipendula in South-East Yorkshire. — In the botanical report of 

 the Market Weighton excursion there is added after Spircva filipendula ' new to 

 the East Riding.' This remark was certainly not in my manuscript, for I 

 gathered the plant forty years ago near Flamborough, on the road-side at Danes- 

 dyke, and we have also a locality for it about two miles from Malton, on the 

 Settrington road, which is also in the East Riding, and I gathered it in the latter 

 locality this summer, where it has been known to local botanists for many years. 

 I presume the remark has got in through some printer's error, and think it should 

 be corrected in next month's number. The report being put as mine, it is 

 probable some botanists wdll call attention to it, and I could hardly have 

 described it as new to the East Riding when I have known it so long. — ■ 

 Matthew B. Slater, Malton, September i6th, 1888. 



Naturalist. 



