144 BRISTOL MELD-BOTANY IN 1901. 
NAIADACEiE. 
Potamogeton Friesii Rupr. (P. compressus Sm., P. mucro- 
natus Schrad. Bab. Man. ed. vii.). In the canal at Midford near 
Bath, June 28, 1901 ; G. Bucknall. This pondweed is re- 
corded in Fl. Somerset, but was not pubhshed in our hst. The 
gramineus of Fl. Bathon. was doubtless this species. 
CYPERACE^. 
Gyperus longus is, I fear, hopelessly lost from its West of 
England station in the Walton Valley near Clevedon. Two 
centuries ago the place seems to have been a fishpond. Later, 
it became a marsh ; and in 1882 drainage had advanced 
sufficiently for the ground to be dug over and planted with 
potatoes. Even then the sedge continued to throw up stems 
on the ditchbanks and among the crop. In 1887 the spot 
had become still less marshy, a portion had been planted, and 
the remainder was overrun by cows and pigs. Notwithstand- 
ing the adverse human and bestial conditions many plants of 
Cyperus were in existence, but none seemed likely to flower. 
In 1893 the conditions remained the same, and at later visits 
in 1897 and 1900 the ground had been reduced to a mass of 
black mud by the trampling of animals, " main nasty," indeed, 
as the tenant said. No sign of Cyperus then. 
As if in compensation for the loss of G. longus, a surprising 
discovery of the other British member of this genus {G. fuscus) 
was made last year by Mr. S.I. Coley, in the same valley about 
a mile from the place where G. longus formerly flourished. The 
circumstances are described fully in Journ. Bot., 1900, p. 446, 
and 1901, p. 93. Nothing more unexpected could have 
happened in field-botany than this discovery of the second 
British Cyperus in North Somerset, a hundred miles or so 
from the nearest known station for the plant. 
Schoenus nigricans had been regarded as a lost Somerset 
rarity, but was restored to the flora of the county by Mr. 
