■84 
BRISTOL FIELD BOTANY IN 1912. 
Lathyrus hirsutus L. One very fine plant on made ground by 
the Avon, near Arno's Vale, Bristol. 
Potentilla argentea L. In good quantity on grassy ground by 
Portishead Dock. No doubt introduced, but is doing well. 
Primus domestica L. The season of 191 2 has proved a prolific 
one for fruiting- shrubs and trees — raspberrv, buckthorn, plum, 
bullace, &c. — and among the rest our Portishead wild plums are 
bearing a good crop. These trees have been under observation 
many years, and are regarded as perfectly satisfactory examples of 
native P. domestica. The student, when interested in this group — 
sloe, bullace, and wild plum — must not overlook the fact that it 
is an aggreg-ate made up of a multitude of closely related and 
variable forms ; and that although in their extreme states the three 
sub-species may appear entirely distinct from each other, they are 
really connected by a series of intermediates, many of which cannot 
be named with certainty. This point is clearly brought out in the 
new French Flora by Rouy and Foucaud. The authors describe 
between sixty and seventy forms, — varieties and sub-varieties in this 
Primus aggregate, and lament their inability to class some twelve 
more, of which the characters seem insufficient. By taking a 
few strides further in the same direction one would arrive at a 
" distinctive " name for each individual bush in the country ! 
Sambucus Ebulus L. One bush in the big withy-bed on the 
Boyd at Bitton, Gloucestershire ; Miss Roper. 
Jasione montana L. Was reported from Clevedon by the late 
Mrs. Lainson, but in the absence of confirmation was unnumbered 
in the Flora. Mr. D. Williams now writes that he gathered Jasione 
at Clevedon in 1908, and forwards a specimen. Miss Livett finds 
that the described locality has since been largely built upon, and 
doubts if the plant could have escaped destruction. 
Symphytum tuberosum L. Is now known in our Somerset 
division as a probable introduction. There are several patches in 
a small plantation by the lane-side near Failand House. The 
plantation may be of less than fifty years' growth. It shelters 
several garden species. 
Veronica hybrida L. Is believed never to have effected a 
lodgment on the Somerset bank of the Avon before this year, when 
a few stems were observed on river-side rock. This will be, there- 
fore, the first county record. 
Pinguicula lusitanica L. Occurred rather plentifully in a peaty 
swamp south of Ashcot Station, in August last. 
Utricularia major Schmid. This exceedingly rare Bladder- 
wort has been obtained a second time in Somerset from a ditch on 
the peat a short distance N.N.W. of Ashcot Station. 
Carex diandra Schrank. Noticed this summer in an enclosure 
on Catcott Heath, more than a mile from the original station near 
Shapwick. 
